Dive Review of Bandos Island Resort in
Maldives/North Male Atoll

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Bandos Island Resort: "Great Shore Based North Male Atoll Diving", Sep, 2016, by Bill Kasischke, CO, US ( 2 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 9335 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my 19th trip to the Maldives, all to the shore based Bandos Island resort. I've traveled to the Maldives since 1995 while living in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Indonesia and Australia. Now making my trips from Colorado in the US. Even with so many past trips and seeing almost every North Male (and some South Male) dive sites many times, I was surprised by the quality of the diving this year. This included my first ever underwater Dolphin encounter and the rarely seen Ornate Eagle Ray. We encountered several grey reef sharks this year in a new area of my favorite dive site at Lankan Reef. The dive operation at Bandos is first class with free Nitrox 32 for certified divers. The primarily Maldivian divemasters are excellent with several having been with Bandos for 5 years or more. Most of the dive sites are within a 45 minute boat ride with many within 25. Even the average second dive sites can be special with a 4 nurse shark sighting at Lobster Station. Bandos offers a 2 tank morning dive and a single tank afternoon dive. While we were there 2 or 3 boat night dives were also offered. This year all the dives were drift, a giant stride entry and being picked by the boat wherever you and your buddy happen to come up. The currents can be very strong, but the divemasters will normally avoid the monsters by diving at alternate sites when very strong currents are encountered. We had several shark dives arranged with our party where we sought out some strong current areas for better shark viewing. The Bandos house reef is one of the better in the North Male atoll and the variety of fish life there is excellent. The hard corals have taken a beating over the years with the big bleaching event in 98 and another occurring presently. I find that the excellent soft corals and the fish life more than make up for the hard corals. The accommodation is mid-range for the Maldives and is priced accordingly. I normally eat from the buffet and find the food of good quality, although after 10 or 11 days it does get a bit old. Luckily there are a few other options such as Thai and a weekly BBQ at the Sunset bar. I've always been happy with the rooms which are clean, well maintained and air conditioned. As I write this I'm already looking forward to my 20th trip next year.
Websites	Bandos Island Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, Honduras, Texas lakes, Australia
Closest Airport	Male Maldives	Getting There	DEN-SFO-SIN-MLE
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-100 Ft/ 12-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Maldives max depth 30 m, 60 minutes with safety stop
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Jerome Riemann in TX, US at Mar 24, 2017 12:33 EST

Thanks for the thorough review Bill. I also dove at Bandos in January 2017. It was a short trip my current residence in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. We chose Bandos because it is close to Male, and requires only a 15-20 minute boat transfer ($100pp) as opposed to the sea plane transfers to resorts further out (~$300+pp). I was a bit disappointed with the house reef due to the bleaching you mentioned. Two years ago, I dove at Kuramathi and that house reef was much better. I wonder if all Maldivian reefs have decline in the past two years or if Bandos is in worse condition due to the location closer to Male. I may return to Bandos again sometime for a short (~4 day) trip. Otherwise, for a longer trip, I would go to a further-out location such as Kuramathi.

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Dive Review of Bandos Island Resort in Maldives/North Male Atoll

Bandos Island Resort: "Great Shore Based North Male Atoll Diving", Sep, 2016,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Bandos Island Resort in
Maldives/North Male Atoll