Guineafowl pufferfish at Vakarufalhi Beru Thila, Maldives dive site – Vakarufalhi Beru Thila,

Dive Site: Vakarufalhi Beru Thila

Location: Dhigurashu Channel, South Ari Atoll, Maldives

Description: Thila dive

Length: 40 x 300 metres (130 x 900 feet)

Depth: 12 – 30 metres (40 – 100 feet)

Visibility: 25 metres (80 feet)

The corals were particularly beautiful. There are moray eels, plus lots of black, pink and yellow coral and lots of reef fish – scorpionfish, harlequin sweetlips, triggerfish, coral groupers, peacock groupers, emperor angelfish, unicornfish, anemonefish (on a red anemone), pufferfish and white tip reef sharks.

Scuba Diving in the Maldives – Thinefushi Etere Thila, Dhigurashu Channel, South Ari Atoll

Dive Site: Thinefushi Etere Thila
Location: Dhigurashu Channel, South Ari Atoll, Maldives
Description: Thila dive

Length: 40 x 200 metres (130 – 650 feet)

Depth: 8 – 30 metres (26 – 100 feet)

Visibility: 25 metres (80 feet)

This is an interesting dive on a very large thila with lovely corals and sea fans and overhangs to explore. There are some great pufferfish, including a bright yellow one, groupers, turtle, scribbled filefish, scorpionfish and a mantis shrimp.

Scuba Diving in the Maldives

Dive Site: Kuda Rah Thila
Location: Dhigurashu Channel, South Ari Atoll, Maldives
Description: Reef dive from a boat
Depth: 13 – 30 metres (43 – 100 feet)
Visibility: 15 – 25 metres (50 – 80 feet)

This is a really beautiful dive. As you started by going through a beautiful arch covered in coral. There were coral and reef fish of all colours on top and lots of snappers, fusilier and anthias. On the top of the thila was a large turtle, moray eels, angelfish, coral groupers, soldierfish, nudibranchs, triggerfish and various pufferfish. There are also large overhangs with beautiful coral in the roof.

I have never seen so many blue striped snappers, they were weaving in and out of the overhangs in a continuous stream. There was also a circling white tip shark. In addition all the corals were doing the equivalent of flowering. Visibility was poorer but this dive was incredibly exciting.

I had the good fortune to dive this reef again on 26/02/07 with a medium/strong current. From the onset at about 6m there were schools of lieutenant surgeonfish taking notice of us and just coming to see us and trying to sit on our heads. There were thousands of blue striped snappers below hugging the reef slope and overhangs waiting for our approach down. I passed honeycombe morays, banner shrimps and hawksbills on the way not quite knowing where to look next. The young sleeping white tips never made a murmur as i drifted past, around and upwards towards the end of the reef tip where the current was at its strongest. I hovered looking over and into the blue following with my eyes the 1.2m long white tips rushing backwards and forwards hunting.

There seemed to be a pecking order for food as the large schools of jacks a stem in for the kill as three massive giant trevallys stood their ground and took the spoils. The corals described by Anna Wright is still an accurate description of this reef and i would recommend this dive to advanced and over if the current is medium to strong but can also be perfect for open water divers when the conditions are more favorable.

Scuba Diving in the Maldives

Dive Site: AA Thila

Location: Dhigurashu Channel, South Ari Atoll, Maldives

Description: Small thila

Depth: 12 – 30 metres (40 – 100 feet)

Visibility: 15 – 25 metres (50 – 80 feet)

A small thila starting at 12 metres and going to 30m. There are lots of overhangs and coral blocks. Three baby sharks under some table coral hiding. A giant moray swimming free, a honeycomb moray, scorpionfish, an anemone crab, turtle, lyretail grouper, boxer shrimps, Batfish and a Napoleon wrasse..

The dive ends at White Sands and finding all the interesting inhabitants of this thila.