Southern Maldives divers — Local services in Addu Atoll

We received the ultimate service from Southern Maldives Divers! Myself and my husband only had one full day in Addu but we were treated like royalty by the crew and felt so welcome from the start. We were coming from Fuvahmulah and they organised the ferry for us, picked us up from the dock and took us to their guest house which was very well equipped and beautiful; and even had a secure outside area for us to dry our dive gear. We were then offered a tour of the island, including being taken to some of the local farms where we were gifted some delicious fruit by the very friendly locals! We got wonderful recommendations for places to eat and were given a complimentary scooter which allowed us to explore the island in our own time. The following morning we were picked up and taken to a local café where we got to try a traditional Maldivian breakfast called Masuni – coconut with smoked tuna served with soft roti bread – which was DELICIOUS! Then we were brought to the boat which already had our gear on it and we were off! We were lucky enough to be the only guests that day so we enjoyed a private dive tour and the crew took such great care of us, supplying dry towels and drinking water and helping us with gear. Our first dive was with the magnificent manta rays, after which the captain took us to a huge pod of 50+ spinner dolphins which were all playing around the boat – best surface interval ever!! Our second dive was on the British Loyalty wreck which was another amazing experience and we could hear the dolphins throughout. For lunch we returned to land and were taken for a wonderful traditional Friday home cooked meal before our final dive of the day with so many friendly nurse sharks I lost count! We left the following morning, but not before a final Masuni breakfast with the crew when they gave us a thoughtful gift bag and transported us to the ferry dock to say farewell. We really loved all the crew and wish we could have stayed longer – we will be back to see them for...

Absolutely outstanding and professional team where safety and a good experience comes first. I've been a PADI Open Water qualified diver for 5 years but without dives for 2 years and a little bit rusty....but could not pass up the opportunity to dive in the Maldives. My lifetime ambitions to swim with sharks and Manta Rays... So, a bit nervous I went to the dive centre to enquire as to what they could do for me. The first thing that struck me was how friendly and professional they were. PADI registration details and qualifications and experience were checked before anything was agreed. This filled me with a lot of confidence on them and that everything would be OK. I lined up 6 dives over 10 days with the first two the day after. The first dive was to be a kind of assessment dive to see how I coped. I was onboard with a group of experienced American divers, Robert, Troy, Dale and Anita....I forgot the last ones name, sorry. But everyone got on and after finding my feet on the first dive I remembered why I loved diving. The next five dives were excellent as usual with a brief before each dive of what to expect and what to do if things didn't go to plan. Some dives had strong currents with fast decents I hadn't experienced before. But by the end of the week I had done 6 dives, gained a lot of self confidence, including swimming against currents to see my beloved Manta Rays, drift dives, hooking on to the reefs and watching sharks and a myriad of beautiful fish and corals that have to be seen to believed. It was obvious they knew the different reefs, what was where even down to the last cave where sharks and turtles hung out and were inches away from you. I would come back to the Maldives just for the dive experience I had with this team alone. I cannot fault them and cannot recommend them highly enough. Thank you guys for the most amazing few...

I've just got back home (23 hrs travel !) but I had 9 of the best dives here that I have ever had. I visited "Mudkan Manta" 3 times, Does diving get any better than here? The 1st time Manta Rays circled above us, on some occasions only a few centimetres away, they are magnificent and perfectly harmless creatures. So serene. The second and third visits, as well as the friendly Mata's we saw white tip reef sharks. Also perfectly harmless to us, most info tells you that reef sharks are max 2.0 metres, several of the males were 3 + metres. (we have the photo's to prove it! The "Meedhoo Caves Reef" was a drift dive, with quite a strong current, But the sheer quantity of marine life was incredible. There were different species in all directions, I could have done with 360 camera cause I must have missed a lot. These are the dives you remember for life. The other dive sites I visited, were more peaceful, but beautiful coral "gardens" and colourful marine life. The Liberty ship wreck was interesting too, but for pure natural beauty I prefer coral and fish. My only complaint is that I could not stay longer and dive every site. As one of my dive buddies who'd done more than 2000 dives said "it does not get better than this!" And to complete this experience the Southern Maldive Divers are a great team, Very helpful (to an old guy like me!), so, many thanks to Teri, Azzan and...