More than 7000 low lying coral islands in a 1200 mile chain southeast of India, the Maldives will be the first to disappear if global warming raises sea levels significantly. About 200 islands are inhabited and several are devoted entirely to small resorts that offer average to excellent tropical reef diving with big fish action. Year-round daily temperature is roughly 85 degrees and there is abundant rainfall distributed evenly from May through December. It's a popular holiday spot for Europeans. The population of 175,000 is predominately Muslim. Best for live-aboard diving. . . .

Bathald Atoll/Rashuda Atoll, February 1997, Peter Louwerse, Switzerland. "Last year I wrote about the big fish around Rashdu Atoll. This year spent first week at Bathald, on the East side of Ari Atoll. Not a drop of rain, quiet seas. Transfer from the international airport at Male is by float plane, which makes visiting the Maldives more pleasant than years ago when everything was done by dhoni (native boat). . . . Diving splendid. Island has excellent reef that teems with life, reef sharks, turtles, lobsters: all the fish in the book. 5 large stingrays at one pier visit when divers go in. Kitchen staff turned on lights on the pier and threw leftovers into the water. Soon it was full of deep water sharks and we got out, suspecting they weren't of the same friendly type as those of Grand Bahama you just wrote about!"

Club Med Maldives, May 1997, Jay Stewart, New Castle, DE. "For people that want to see big things. Return trip. I ran a diving school there in 1985 for a year (500+ dives). vis: 100-150 ft. water: 75-85 degrees Every dive or Free Dive I've ever made there I've seen at least one shark."

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