These 7000 low-lying coral islands in a 1200-mile chain southeast of India will be the first to disappear if global warming raises sea levels significantly. About 200 of the islands are inhabited (although visitors have very little interaction with the 175,000 predominantly-Muslim residents), and several are devoted entirely to small resorts that offer average to excellent tropical reef diving with big fish action if the resort has a knowledgeable staff that knows where and when to find it. However, the Maldives are best dived from live-aboards.... Given its large influx of European divers, this could be one of the most dived regions of the world.... Dive rules are strict for this part of the world.... Expect year-round daily temperatures of roughly 85 degrees and abundant rainfall, which is distributed evenly from May through December....

For full reviews of the following Maldives live-aboards, see:
" Aboard the Barutheela, Manthiri", August 1998
"The Maldives aboard the Manthiri", May, 2001

Bandos Island Resort, September 1997, N.K. Tong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Of my four trips to Maldives, Bandos has the best food! Great dive sites-Banana Reef, Barracuda Giri, Paradise Roc -within 30 minutes. Very comfortable resort. Two tennis courts, a squash court, gym. A lot of facilities/amenities by Maldivan standards. Great shore dives: turtles, white tips, schooling banner fish, many cleaning stations cleaning action (groupers, parrot fish). Accompanied on one boat dive by Napoleon wrasses. Fish approachable. Schooling bat fish, blue lined snappers, even schooling oriental sweetlips! . . . Bad: Rainy season: Rain for 10 minutes, sunny for two hours, repetitive as wind blows clouds over. Three of eight boat dives, cloudy. Vis: Poorer, but I came for mantas. Was there the week before, but disappeared for me. Almost guaranteed in October. Low season affordable. Not dedicated dive resort. Three boats take twenty divers each. Had one boat of ten to ourselves. For great vis. and best weather (but higher cost), go Feb/March. (Also stronger currents then) For mantas, 40-70 ft. vis. and less divers/lower costs, August-October. Dive restrictions enforced throughout the Maldives, max. 30 m., 60 minutes.

Bandos Island Resort, December 1997, Jim Parkhill, McAllen, TX. Dive operation seems overly restrictive and regimented. Regardless of certification or dives logged, a full-blown check out dive is required on the house reef so you lose first half day of boat diving. Depth limit 100', average depth 75'; average bottom time 45 minutes. Limited to close in sites near Male, not the best the Maldives have to offer. Diving not much different than diving from a typical Caribbean resort catering to the tourist who works in a few dives on vacation. Sites, while less spectacular than southern atolls, still offer a wonderful variety of small reef fish and beautiful soft corals. Vis: 60-100 feet, water: 78-82 degrees. . . . Resort is a small island less than half an hour boat ride from Male. Setting and beaches are picturesque and the food is good. Rooms are modest but comfortable and location may require long walk to restaurants or dive shop. One of the nicest resorts in Maldives, but expensive and not a good value. Distance and expense to Maldives deserves a live-aboard to dive the fabulous but more remote southern atolls. (Ph: 011-960-44-00-88,

Fax 011-960-44-38-77,

e-mail: bandos@dhivehinet.net.mv, Website: www.bandos.com)

Bandos Island Resort, April 1998, Edward & Debra Suityl, Abu Dhari, United Arab Emirates. At all costs avoid the resort diving; while waiting a day early for the Manthiri, we were herded onto a cattle boat and did a dive that could have also been used for a newly certified open water diver. Price gouging rampant-US $36 for tank and weights, not to mention comparable prices for food and drink. Male can be seen in 15 minutes if you take your time.

Kuda Rah/Club Vacanze, February 1998, E.M. Matter, Allison Park, PA. Need a current diving physical from an MD. We got very thorough one for $25. It helps to speak Italian but English works. Boats not modern but worked fine. Lots of colorful Indian Ocean fish. Vis: 80-100 ft, water: 88 degrees. Excellent operation.

Lohifushi Resort, December 1997, Marilyn Koukol, FPO, AE. The resort was very pleasant and encompassed the entire little island. Air conditioned too! Bungalows were beach side and private. You could walk around the island in 30 minutes. Buffet good and varied. Christmas dinner was superb! The dive guides/instructors were concerned that we stay within an arm's length from our buddy. (As a photographer, I would like to be farther away!) We saw a large school of bumphead parrot fish; we were in 10 ft of water, but they made us surface because we'd reached 59 minutes. The Napoleon wrasse were friendly and some groupers were quite large. Water: 77 degrees, vis: 50-80 ft. Several coral crunching turtles, and usual tropical fish. The school of 12+ sting ray were memorable. We had fun diving despite the nervous attitude and restrictions of the guides. These islands are beautiful, a little island paradise.

Soneva Fushi, April 1998, Robert Haak, Herrenberg, Germany. Luxury resort (small luxury hotels of the world). Food, accommodations, services are outstanding. Dive operations pretty well managed. Underwater world is untouched, there is no other resort. It can be reached via Seaplane from Male only. Usually two dives per day by 30 minute to l-1/2 hours boat ride. Vis: medium, water: 95+ degrees. once a week full day dive excursion with 2 dives. Night dive of house reef. (Ph: 011-960-230-3-4, Fax 011-960-230-7-4,

e-mail: soneva@dhivehinet.net.mv, Website: www. soneva-pavillion.com)

Olhuveli View Resort, February 1998, Jack Switzer, Toronto, Ontario. All dives escorted. I do not recommend land-based diving for the Maldives. I fell victim to their famous overbooking syndrome and was shuffled to Olhuveli View instead of Bolifushi Resort, which I had prepaid two months in advance, through Ceylon Express International in Huntington Beach, CA and through their agent in the Maldives: Sea 'n See. At the end of my 15 days in the Maldives; Sea 'n See refunded me $526 after much bickering. . . . Diving not very good at the south end of the south atoll. Resort catered mostly to Japanese, although 3 of the 5 divemasters were Europeans who spoke good English. Divers into 3 groups of 6. Currents very strong. Coral in terrible shape. Only hard corals. Vis: 70-120 feet. Although water was 80-83 degrees, the Japanese wore full wet suits and gloves and don't respect the coral and kick, knee and grab it often. Definitely saw a different variety of all sizes of marine life, but spotty sightings. Lots of clownfish, wrasses, white tip shark. No noticeable macro. No camera equipment rentals. Currents too strong for beginners and serious photographers. . . .

Paradise Island, February 1998, Jack Switzer, Toronto, Ontario. Beautiful 5-star resort, too big for serious divers. German-run dive operation and most guests are German. 18 divers broken into 3 groups of six. Coral in slightly better shape than Olhuveli, but still abused by people clinging to it to slow down in fast currents. Cattle boat. No consideration for experience orinterest levels, such as photography. It is difficult to hold onto a coral head with both hands and commandeer a camera at the same time. These land based operations usually have a 10-dive package and they push themselves through the dives regardless of conditions. They only do 2 dives a day: 8:30 am and 2:30 pm. After the package, it's repeat time. No camera rentals. Except for the different marine life, I find any Caribbean land based dive resort to be far superior.

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