Dive Review of Ocean Divers/Conrad Rangali in
Maldives/South Ari atoll

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Ocean Divers/Conrad Rangali: "Great Whale Shark encounters in the Maldives", Feb, 2023, by Graham McGregor, Kilmacolm, GB ( Top Contributor 44 reports with 27 Helpful votes). Report 12370 has 2 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was my 6th trip to Conrad Rangali. Really nice resort with a really good variety of restaurants. Very expensive for food and drink. Ocean Divers are the on site dive and watersports operator. A very professional set up with strong focus on safety and the environment. I was on holiday for 12 nights, so my focus wasn't entirely on diving. However, I managed 14 dives in total, either a two tank morning trip or the 1 tank afternoon trip. They have new dive dhonis. These are fibreglass rather than the traditional wooden Maldivian dhonis. They are well set up, with plenty of kitting up space. They are also much faster than the traditional wooden dhonis. The result is that the morning two tank dives depart at 0900 and we were never later back than 1230, allowing more leisure time. Most dive sites are close, including a usually very reliable manta point. Large (15 litre tanks) are available and NItrox is free if you are Nitrox certified. Nitrox fills were consistently 32 and 200Bar tank fills. The crew help you, set up your gear and bring it to you. Entry is by a giant stride off the dhoni and entry is up a sturdy ladder. The visibility was generally not that good by Maldives standards - 10 - 15 metres and current was moderate apart from one pinnacle dive where it was ripping, requiring hooking in but rewarded by a dozen grey reef sharks close by. About half my dives were at the local manta point. First three yielded no mantas at all but nice turtles and a few grey sharks and whitetips. I also saw a large silver tip on one dive. After a few days mantas started to appear and we had a couple of dives when they were hanging around the cleaning station and I got some great, close, photos. The highlight of the diving was seeing a Whale Shark on 3 separate dives! The first was in a channel and the encounter was quite brief. The second two sightings were in comparatively shallow depth, close to the reef and were really close. They were all decent sized juveniles, about 8metres. The corals were in reasonable shape and there was loads of reef fish on top of the turtles, sharks, mantas and whale sharks. The dive set up is excellent with water, coffee, tea, cookies and fruit offered between dives. The diving worked out at about $100 per dive including service charge and tax. Not cheap but the service and the diving was first rate. On about half of the dives, I was the only diver. Snorkellers go out on separate boats.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Galapagos; Socorro; Palau; Sipadan; Truk; Malapascua; Komodo; Ticao Island; Maldives; Red Sea; various Caribbean; Cuba; Hawaii; Florida; Cozumel; Spain, Seychelles, Mauritius, Oman, GBR; Raja Ampat
Closest Airport	Male	Getting There	Straightforward from UK. Direct flight to Male from London then a 35 minute seaplane to the resort
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	28-29°C / 82-84°F	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	10-20 M / 33-66 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Max 1 hour
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
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	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Camilla J Goble in FL, US at Jun 04, 2023 15:08 EST

We were last there September 2022 on our 8th trip but our first in the fall season. Lucked out with wonderful, sunny, calm weather. No mantas but lots of sharks including lemon, silver, white and black tips. Large rays and schools of larger fish. It was worth the risk going in September. Rangali is special as is Ocean Divers.

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Dive Review of Ocean Divers/Conrad Rangali in Maldives/South Ari atoll

Ocean Divers/Conrad Rangali: "Great Whale Shark encounters in the Maldives", Feb, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Ocean Divers/Conrad Rangali in
Maldives/South Ari atoll