Liveaboard Diving in North Male Atoll

What To Expect On A North Male Atoll Liveaboard

Liveaboard diving to North Male Atoll, Maldives, offers a slightly quieter, better-preserved reef ecosystem than some of its southern counterparts. Dive cruises in the area are treated to a good representation of the Maldives' best underwater scenes - the sharks, mantas, and corals that first established the country as a SCUBA mecca. In North Male's capital city, Thulusdhoo, there's a burgeoning surfing community for those who want to ride the waves. Though North Male is accustomed to tourists, there are still local fishing villages and slow-paced island lifestyles to be found. A number of our Maldives liveaboards offer itineraries throughout the Maldives, which may include North Male Atoll.

North Male Atoll Underwater

From your North Male liveaboard's dive dhoni, you should expect to take the plunge into a wide variety of reef ecosystems; North Male's underwater topography includes drop-offs, caves, coral gardens, and even some artificial reefs that have bloomed on shipwrecks in its shipping channel. In North Male, several reefs showcase pristine hard coral coverage, and mantas and sharks can be reliably seen in large numbers.

Dive Sites Of North Male Atoll

Below is a selection of some dive sites your liveaboard may visit during the cruise itinerary. Girifushi Thila (Rainbow Reef) is recognized as one of the top sites for Maldives dive tours. It is an all-around beautiful dive, with swaying carpets of vibrant soft corals complementing the high-intensity fish activity surrounding the pinnacle. The shallowest point of Girifushi Thila is down at 12 meters, and the current is strong, given the thilaís location away from the shore of Himmafushi Island. There are plenty of cracks and overhangs to explore in the contour of the Thila, some of which provide a welcome refuge from the current; try to find one to rest in as you watch the blue water for reef sharks, eagle rays, tuna, and schools of jacks.

Victory Wreck, a 100-meter-long Singaporean cargo ship that sank in 1981 while carrying tourist goods to the Maldives. Seeing an entire shipwreck in good visibility at recreational diving depths is a special treat. Thirty years of colonization by sea creatures have made the Victory a vibrant artificial reef, with corals growing over its bow and various big fish and macro-critters calling it home. When you dive there, look for ghost pipefish, large groupers, nudibranchs, and puffers, among many others. The current can be strong, so hold the descent/ascent line tightly at the beginning and end of your dive. North Male Atoll dive cruises will almost definitely visit this dive site.

Manta Point - In the world of Maldives liveaboard diving, this site is a must-do for any North Male itinerary. Its name speaks for itself- when you visit, you likely see more mantas than you can remember, waiting in a line above a shallow coral reef where cleaner wrasses offer parasite-removal services. If you can remember to look away from the mantas, you may find reef sharks, eels, and critters on the slope below you. Napoleon wrasse even passes by, and turtles also frequent the area.

Banana Reef is one of the best-loved and first-discovered North Male Atoll dive sites, and thickets of pristine branching corals are only part of its appeal. Along the curve of this banana-shaped reef, giant groupers and morays can be found amongst soft corals and large sea fans. Farther along, your dive guide will usually take you to explore some memorable caverns and overhangs. Toward the site's eastern end, a huge school of bannerfish hangs in the current, which is best viewed from a distance; it is referred to as the Washing Machine for a reason.

Top Tips For Divers

In the Maldives, a new Green Tax of 6 USD per person per night applies to every tourist in the country. The official language is Maldivian, also called Dhivehi.

Gear to bring includes your own mask, booties, fins, and dive computer. These are personalized pieces of equipment that we donít recommend renting. An ill-fitting mask or fins can make diving virtually impossible, and a dive computer is your most important safety equipment.

Getting To North Male Atoll

Like anywhere in the Maldives, North Male Atoll is best dived by liveaboard, so your dive dhoni can hop between dive sites with the least hassle, and your cruise can sail from North Male to other destinations. The length of liveaboard itineraries in North Male Atoll usually ranges from 7 to 10 nights, with a budget of over 200 to 350 euros per night. North Male Atoll liveaboards often commit to a northern or southern loop to fit in a bit more of Ari and Baa (to the north) or Vaavu and Meemu (to the south).

Male is the main Maldives liveaboard departure location for North Male liveaboards, accessible by direct flights from Dubai, Singapore, and Colombo. Longer international flights from Europe, America, China, India, and Australia often connect through the regional airports mentioned above.

Diving North Male Atoll is possible all year round, but the northeast monsoon from December to May allows the calmest surface conditions and the least rain. The water temperature usually stays between 26 and 29ºC, and visibility between 15 and 30 meters.


North Male Atoll Diving Reviews

  • 9.2 Superb
  • 126 Verified Reviews
  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • SCOTT T
  • United States United States

Challenging currents but very good. Visibility of 30 meters or so.

Diving North Male Atoll in May on the Blue Force One

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Chris L
  • United States United States

Unusual fish live, some drift diving

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Blue Voyager

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Margaret Sheryl W
  • United States United States

The night dive with nurse sharks & sting rays is like a bar scene from Star Wars—it’s a hoot!!!

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Scubaspa Ying

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Yui W
  • United States United States

Fish tank is fun to start and finish a trip

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the Adora

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Michael C
  • United States United States

Fish factory! So much life.

Diving North Male Atoll in October on the Blue Force One

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Loras F
  • United States United States

The pinnacle dives seemed to have more coral than the other dives. We tried but never got to see whale sharks.

Diving North Male Atoll in November on the Soleil 2

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Teresa B
  • United States United States

poor viz this week. Lots of sharks, clown fish, octupi. Saw some manta rays that stuck around.

Diving North Male Atoll in March on the Carpe Novo

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Whitney H
  • United States United States

Great. Did one dive here called Fish Factory. Name speaks for itself - thousands of fish!

Diving North Male Atoll in April on the Emperor Virgo

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • David E
  • United States United States

The night dive was amazing. Nurse sharks, Rays, just snuggling up with us!

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Scubaspa Yang

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Karen J
  • United States United States

Insane number of eels and rays. Cool Guitarfish. They call them sharks, but are really a ray. But very busy.

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Princess Sara

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Katherine K
  • United States United States

Great - we saw many sharks

Diving North Male Atoll in November on the Carpe Diem

  • 6.0 Review score
  • Eric H
  • United States United States

Fair, did way too many dives there (spent three nights in port - which from itinerary was 2 too many). the check dive, was ok. I get that. Maybe even one more but not the 2.5 days worth of dives.

Diving North Male Atoll in March on the Orca M7

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Robert H
  • United States United States

Really clear water, great variety of fish

Diving North Male Atoll in April on the Emperor Serenity

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Karl E
  • United States United States

ever improving; I didn't like the fish factory as much as the other guests seemed to. For me, it was too close to a zoo or a wildlife 'park' and not a natural setting.

Diving North Male Atoll in May on the Emperor Leo

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Thomas M
  • United States United States

This area is we’re we saw the most sharks just outside of the city Male

Diving North Male Atoll in May on the Carpe Diem

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Fernando R
  • United States United States

We did a shipwreck dive. The site is totally covered with healthy coral and kept in pristine condition. Lots of life around and easy to penetrate.

Diving North Male Atoll in October on the Blue Force One

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Christopher R
  • United States United States

Three dive sites in N Male. All were fabulous with lots of sharks.

Diving North Male Atoll in October on the Emperor Serenity

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • yann M
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Great tila diving, loads of life and plenty of lion fish !

Diving North Male Atoll in March on the Scubaspa Yang

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Susan P
  • Australia Australia

All dives fantastic. Lots of sharks & rays

Diving North Male Atoll in July on the Scubaspa Yang

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Sean H
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

All great, blends into one amazing experience

Diving North Male Atoll in October on the Carpe Novo

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Damian S
  • Australia Australia

Just awesome, I will definitely be back .

Diving North Male Atoll in April on the Sachika

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Danielle D
  • Philippines Philippines

Maagiri reef was very nice and colourful with a good diversity of marine life. North Ari Atoll at Fish head was also remarkable in terms of fish life 🐠🐠🐠

Diving North Male Atoll in May on the Scubaspa Yang

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Niklas L
  • Sweden Sweden

Manta cleaning station, other than that a little boring under water. But beautiful islands above water.

Diving North Male Atoll in June on the Emperor Voyager

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Robin S
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Lovely start to the week with some epic dives, including mantas

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Blue Force One

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Travis M
  • Canada Canada

Tuna Factory dive site was a highlight for me here, so much to see!

Diving North Male Atoll in January on the Blue Force One

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Rachel T
  • Singapore Singapore

Mediocre coral reef condition, guide mentioned it's still recovering from 2016's El Nino event. Plenty of fish, sharks, Jacks, Trevally, Tuna and occasional rays. Water visibility ranged approx. 10-15m.

Diving North Male Atoll in February on the Emperor Leo

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Lui C
  • Hong Kong Hong Kong

Not the best visibility but still worth diving with different experience with sharks and some current.

Diving North Male Atoll in February on the Scubaspa Yang

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Gina M
  • Australia Australia

This was were we had our check out dive which was treated as a normal dive. The dive covered some reef area and also an area of muck diving where I found a snake eel

Diving North Male Atoll in May on the Scubaspa Yang

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Gabrielle S
  • France France

Nice spots - unfortunately no whale shark

Diving North Male Atoll in July on the Emperor Voyager

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Xuechuan S
  • Singapore Singapore

Fun to see the reef under the Fish Factory

Diving North Male Atoll in August on the Emperor Voyager

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Marija A
  • Croatia Croatia

Perfect, great visibility and amazing marine life

Diving North Male Atoll in August on the Blue Force One

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Wesley C
  • Singapore Singapore

More current diving. Good to leaen how to use reef hooks if havent.

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Emperor Voyager

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Bastiaan D
  • Netherlands Netherlands

Wonderful! We loved the amount of rays and the beautiful guitar sharks at our sunset at the dive site “Fish Factory”

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Blue Force One

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Lee A
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Calm and plenty of fish plus Mantas.

Diving North Male Atoll in November on the Carpe Vita

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Chris L
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Best I have ever experienced

Diving North Male Atoll in January on the Emperor Serenity

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Natalie B
  • Australia Australia

Very nice first dive location and one of the few places we came across some turtles.

Diving North Male Atoll in February on the Emperor Serenity

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Martin D
  • Ireland Ireland

Incredible Ray dive with the most eels in one spot.

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Blue Force One

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Florian W
  • Germany Germany

As I remember the weather wasn’t that good and visibility underwater was rather bad.

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Carpe Vita

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Florian H
  • Germany Germany

We had great dives starting with Fish Head and others

Diving North Male Atoll in October on the Carpe Novo

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Vasilij S
  • Lithuania Lithuania

Yeah was good, more easier dives with lots of corals and reefs and of course sharks :)

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the Emperor Leo

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Karin S
  • Germany Germany

many schools of fish, sharks

Diving North Male Atoll in April on the Carpe Diem

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Miklos H
  • Hungary Hungary

Channel dives, with focus on megafauna, but still interesting reef life

Diving North Male Atoll in June on the Amba Liveaboard

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Amay K
  • India India

Good shark and fish action, currents may be challenging

Diving North Male Atoll in July on the Carpe Diem

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Kai E
  • Netherlands Netherlands

okey, we did feedingspots which were not that interesting. We spent a lot of time here, better to only do check dives here and then leave for the colourful and more 'freedom' spots like ari atoll

Diving North Male Atoll in August on the Blue Force One

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Christopher A
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Good given very high winds and rain.

Diving North Male Atoll in October on the Carpe Diem

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Tejasvi R
  • India India

Male Atolls were more on the average side - they were crowded, with poor visibility and heavy currents

Diving North Male Atoll in November on the Princess Dhonkamana

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Claire B
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Our first and last dive were here and they weee fantastic. Manta rays on the first dive and stingrays on the last

Diving North Male Atoll in November on the Blue Force One

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Richard C
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Mantas! What ore is there to say? I could have spent all day watching these beautiful creatures.

Diving North Male Atoll in November on the Emperor Serenity

  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Roald V
  • Netherlands Netherlands

No whale sharks but the nurse shark dive is epic.

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the Amba Liveaboard

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Gary C
  • Australia Australia

Channel dives very good, lots of great action with sharks & barracuda

Diving North Male Atoll in January on the Scubaspa Yang

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Antoine C
  • France France

All diving were very nice, from North to South !!

Diving North Male Atoll in February on the Sachika

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • nestor K
  • Serbia Serbia

nothing special compared to Ari and Rashdoo. aldough great dive "maldive wonder " on the last day

Diving North Male Atoll in March on the Soleil 2

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Henrik S
  • Sweden Sweden

It was surprisingly exciting! Saw lot of spinner sharks and even more stingrays at the Nerumathi dive site. Clearly recommended!

Diving North Male Atoll in March on the Carpe Novo

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Rindra R
  • Madagascar Madagascar

Big schools of fishes, hunted by jack fishes, tunas.... lots of actions

Diving North Male Atoll in May on the Emperor Serenity

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Zinaida B
  • Sweden Sweden

Exellent, especially Maaya Thila

Diving North Male Atoll in May on the Amba Liveaboard

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Lyu J
  • South Korea South Korea

Fish factory it was impressive

Diving North Male Atoll in May on the Emperor Serenity

  • 7.2 Good
  • Stephen S
  • Australia Australia

reasonable, with poor visibility

Diving North Male Atoll in June on the Carpe Vita

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Lucas M
  • Germany Germany

We did only two dives there (FishFabric and Nassimo Thila). But those two dives were awesome.

Diving North Male Atoll in June on the Emperor Leo

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Josje A
  • Netherlands Netherlands

Oké. We wanted to do a night dive with the manta’s but unfortunately there was only one. The dive guide decided that we would not go night diving.

Diving North Male Atoll in July on the Princess Sara

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Michael B
  • Germany Germany

Great, the variety of fishes, sharks, corals, are incredible!

Diving North Male Atoll in July on the Emperor Virgo

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Guy H
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Check dive was very relaxing

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Blue Force One

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Pat H
  • Germany Germany

Reefs are amazingly healthy, variety of many species.

Diving North Male Atoll in September on the Princess Dhonkamana

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Cheuk Min C
  • Hong Kong Hong Kong

Superb. We saw hammerhead shark and tiger shark.

Diving North Male Atoll in November on the Carpe Diem

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Beatriz M
  • Spain Spain

Very interesting to see how much life could be so close to Male and Hulumale!

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the Soleil 2

  • 5.6 Review score
  • Petr O
  • Russia Russia

Nice dives, many great highlights (like Tiger sharks) in unexpected places.

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the Soleil 2

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Peter B
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Crowded! Get away from Male as fast and as far as possible.

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the Soleil 2

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Elaine K
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

excellent life however this time of year visibility can be compromised and currents running through the channel dives, a trip for the more experienced diver.

Diving North Male Atoll in January on the Soleil 2

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Jody H
  • Malaysia Malaysia

nothing much, visibility was super sad

Diving North Male Atoll in January on the Carpe Vita

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Tan A
  • Malaysia Malaysia

Happy. encounter with 4 guitar sharks, hammer head and shoal of sting ray.

Diving North Male Atoll in May on the Carpe Diem

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Darren B
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

There was a strong current, but still enjoyed the dive. Saw a turtle pass us by.

Diving North Male Atoll in July on the Emperor Voyager

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Daniel B
  • Switzerland Switzerland

Especially the dive at Hulumale Wall was amazing, we got to see a tiger shark, 2 bull sharks, a hammerhead shark and dozens of stingrays.

Diving North Male Atoll in August on the Sachika

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Shiyu H
  • China China

Amazing, saw so many sharks

Diving North Male Atoll in August on the Soleil 2

  • 10.0 Exceptional
  • Melissa R
  • Canada Canada

Good variety of sharks, visibility a bit poor due to sandy bottom and lots of activity

Diving North Male Atoll in October on the Princess Sara

  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Ryan R
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Very good, with particular fondness for the Phase 1 dive at Hulhumale where there was a tiger shark

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the Princess Sara

  • 8.0 Very good
  • Harri W
  • Finland Finland

Nice manta cleaning stations

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the EcoPro Mariana

  • 8.4 Very good
  • Adam Desmond W
  • Burundi Burundi

A bit of bad luck when it came to visibility. The area had experienced bad weather, but the diving was still very good, but not as good as it usually is.

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the Sunseeker

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Kee Wee T
  • Singapore Singapore

more sharks than you can imagine and a true reflection of pristine health of the reef.

Diving North Male Atoll in December on the Princess Sara

  • 9.2 Superb
  • Derek N
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom

Good nice reefs and corals abundant marine life

Diving North Male Atoll in January on the Emperor Serenity