North Male Atoll (Kaafu) – Maldives Dive Region

About North Male Atoll (Kaafu)

North Male Atoll is the birthplace of Maldivian diving, home to legendary sites like Banana Reef, the original Maldives dive site, and the iconic Victory Wreck, a 110-metre freighter sunk in 1981. The atoll offers extraordinary diversity from manta cleaning stations at Lankanfinolhu where reef mantas gather reliably from May to November, to the stunning soft-coral covered crevices of HP Reef at Girifushi Thila. Nassimo Thila features iconic overhangs with nurse sharks and sweetlips, while Okobe Thila delivers grey reef sharks and napoleon wrasse in strong currents. Kuda Haa offers outstanding macro diving with frogfish and leaf scorpionfish, and Hulhangu Kandu provides deep channel encounters with sharks and tuna. The proximity to Male and Velana International Airport makes this the most accessible diving region in the Maldives with outstanding infrastructure and diverse accommodation options.

Highlights

• ✓Banana Reef (Gaathugiri) is the original Maldives dive site with caves, schooling bannerfish, and fusiliers
• ✓Victory Wreck is a 110-metre freighter sunk in 1981, upright at 20 to 35 metres with penetrable holds
• ✓Manta Point at Lankanfinolhu offers reliable reef manta encounters at 10 to 15 metres from May to November
• ✓HP Reef features stunning soft-coral covered crevices and swim-throughs with glassfish and jack schools
• ✓Kuda Haa provides outstanding macro diving with frogfish, leaf scorpionfish, and nudibranchs

Getting There

Directly accessible from Velana International Airport (MLE) by speedboat (30 to 60 minutes). The closest diving region to Male with excellent infrastructure and multiple daily dive boat departures.