Renowned for its exhilarating channel dives and outer atoll walls adorned with caves and overhangs, along with incredible marine biodiversity and abundance of megafauna, Lhaviyani Atoll is home to some of the country’s most famed dive sites, and many more waiting to be explored.

Naifaru boasts two beautiful sites that can be accessed from shore, and dozens that can only be accessed by boat, including manta cleaning stations, shark hot-spots, shipwrecks, caves, and pinnacles.

Adventures for Certified Divers

Scuba Diving Prices:

Shore Dive ($35pp)

Night Shore Dive ($45pp)

Boat Dive ($60pp)

Double Boat Dive ($100pp)

Night Boat Dive ($80pp)

Within 4 nautical miles. Minimum 2pax.

Excursion Dive ($90pp)

Double Excursion Dive ($130pp)

Within 10 nautical miles. Minimum 2pax.

Packages:

4 Boat Dives ($190pp)

6 Boat Dives ($270pp)

8 Boat Dives ($340pp)

4 Excursion Dives ($240pp)

6 Excursion Dives ($350pp)

8 Excursion Dives ($440pp)

Contact us for personalised packages to suit your needs.

Lhaviyani Dive Sites

Naifaru House Reef Dive Site Map

Shore Dives:

  • Our house reef is opposite the dive centre with entry from Velaa (Turtle) Beach. ‘Naifaru’ translates to ‘Mantis Shrimp Reef’ and, with a bit of luck, you can spot these critters on your dive.

    The west side of the reef is home to our coral restoration site and is teaming with fish life including damselfish, anthias, gobies, butterflyfish, surgeonfish, triggerfish, morays and more. Look out for the schools of batfish as you pass the floating marine centre.

    The east side is where we normally spot our resident hawksbill turtle and the coral blocks house giant morays, shrimps, anemones, juvenile emperor angelfish and octopus.

    Crossing the sand to the southern and deeper reef look out for garden eels swaying in the current and stingrays and eagle rays feeding - this is also where we spotted the ornate eagle ray in February and April this year. The patch of reef at 16m is adorned with coral and anemones and occasionally juvenile reef sharks are spotted here.

Boat Dives:

  • Best in the South-West monsoon season (May - November), this channel crossing has a sloping white sandy bottom down to 25m. Look into the blue for sharks, eagle rays and pelagic fish. On the North corner there is an inside ridge at 18m before a drop-off which is a great place to spot stingrays.

  • With a steep drop-off and numerous large caves and overhangs at various depths, this dive site is suited to adventurous divers off all certification levels. Look into the overhangs for resting turtles, stingrays and solider fish and into the nooks and crannies for moray eels together with cleaner shrimp. Various triggerfish and humphead wrasse frequent the reef side but don’t forget to look into the blue for passing tuna, jacks, sharks and eagle rays.

  • This channel edge has small steps, offering protection from the current, beneath which you can find groupers resting. Stingrays, fevers of eagle rays and barracuda can be seen while crossing the sandy bottom, and green turtles often rest on the ledges.

  • This reef has a steep drop-off with many caves and overhangs. The overhangs here are adorned with purple soft corals and home solider fish, angle fish and resting green turtles. The length of the reef houses many species of moray eels but make sure you keep one eye on the blue to see tuna and eagle rays passing by.

  • This small, shallow channel has overhangs, full of yellow and blue soft corals, dropping from the channel edge. Watch for large napoleons passing the channel edge in the blue, while fields of garden eels and stingrays can be spotted on the sandy bottom.

  • This sheltered cleaning station is comprised of many smaller coral blocks on the sandy 18m bottom. The blocks host a great variety of hard coral housing small reef like such as juvenile fish, cleaner wrasse, triggerfish, shrimps and nudibranchs. The cleaning station are frequented by eagle rays, sea turtles and, in the right season, manta rays.

  • This unique dive site hosts two shipwrecks, both accidentally sunk.

    SkipJack 1 (Gaaffaru) which lies on its side between 20-30m used to serve as a refrigerated fishing vessel and caught on fire and sank on its way to be purposefully sank in deeper water.

    Posing dramatically on the sandy bottom, it is now encrusted in sea fans, hand and soft coral hosting macro life.

    SkipJack 2, the star on this site, lies along the wall. The aft of the ship sits at 25m and the broken bow, which used to penetrate the surface, now rests just north of the main wreck whereas the engine block of the ship is found on the sandy floor just south of it. This was a fishing boat that encountered problems on its route from Colombo to Maldives and sank just before it reached land.

    ShipJack2 is adorned in coral and fish life, with boxfish, wrasse, butterflyfish, moorish idols, damselfish and more feeding off the algae. Thousands of glass fish can be seen inside the entrances and scorpion fish and leaf scorpion fish have made it their home. Batfish shelter here and stingrays and nurse sharks can be spotted resting underneath. A white tip reef shark frequents this spot, eagle rays can be seen passing overhead and napoleon wrasse often visit. ShipJack 2 is also home to a resident green turtle that can usually be seen resting at around 14m.

  • This steep drop off offers you the chance to explore large caves and overhangs. Green turtles, moray eels, nudibranchs and leaf fish can be found inside the extensive overhang structure and with swim-throughs dotted throughout the dive it is difficult not to admire this unique reef. In the blue you can spot tuna, barracuda and fevers of eagle rays passing by.

  • This sandy channel crossing has deep overhangs around 30m, while on the sandy bottom you can find stingrays resting and the occasional while tip reef shark. Grey reef sharks swim along the channel edge and check for eagle rays flying overhead. In the channel corners you can find schools of snappers and triggerfish.

  • This pinnacle is flourishing with new coral growth and the walls, overhangs, and sloping areas are covered in hard and soft coral. The overhangs are teaming with glass fish, disguising fish cleaning stations and moray eels. Schools of blue stripped snappers and humpback snappers can be spotted along the slopes. Nurse sharks occasionally rest in the coral blocks and stone fish and scorpion fish can be found on top of the reef.

  • This small deep pinnacle is home to an abundance of macro life making it ideal for photographers. The sides are full over overhangs, with huge schools of glass fish, blue stripped fusiliers and the occasional sleeping nurse shark, while the top of the pinnacle hosts octopus, mantis shrimp, juvenile yellow box fish, lion fish and stonefish. The large block of anemones is home to many clown fish while colourful reef fish circulate. Blue fin jacks patrol the reef hunting the huge clouds of tiny bait fish. Make sure you look over the sides of this pinnacle as eagle rays frequently pass by!

Excursion Dives:

  • Packed with colourful reef fish, this dive site is great for finding the smaller things on the reef. Mantis shrimp have made it their home, while octopus and scorpion fish can be found camouflaged between the rocks. Butterflyfish, colourful snappers and unicorn fish swarm over the reef while clouds of glass fish gather as trevallies hunt.

  • Famous for the green turtle that seem to have called this reef home, Lhoni Corner is also a great site for spotting reef sharks, rays, fusiliers, rainbow runners, snappers, surgeonfish and huge schools of other reef fish.

  • One of the most famous dive sites in Lhaviyani Atoll, this sandy channel has a series of terraces at different depths which are ideal for stoping and watching the action. Grey reef sharks, eagle rays, tuna, napoleons, stingrays, barracuda and schools of jackfish are all found here, along with green turtles often seen resting on the ledges.

  • Kuredu Caves, also known as the Green Turtle Airport, is famous for its large populations of green sea turtles - with over 45 individuals known to permanently reside in the area and even more visiting.

    This dive site has a series of overhangs, starting at 8m down to 25m, where the turtles rest. You can stop and watch the turtles leaving their resting spots, coming up for air, drifting past and then ‘landing’ with precision. The ceilings of the overhangs are covered in soft coral and solider fish can be spotted swimming upside-down, along with the porcupine fish, lion fish, moray eels, leaf fish and scorpion fish who have made these overhangs their home. Stingrays and Napoleons can be spotted on the deeper ledges and in the blue reef sharks often circle while eagle rays cruise by.

  • This sheltered dive spot has a sloping reef down to 25m and, as its name suggests, is teaming with schools of brightly coloured reef fish. Schooling blue stripped snappers and humpback snappers can be seen swimming around the coral blocks and hawksbill turtles often stop by to feed on algae and sponges. This site also has regular sitings of guitar fish who utilise the cleaning stations at the deeper coral blocks.

  • This tongue shaped sticks out into the channel and the profile changes through terraces, walls, slopes and drop-offs throughout the dive. Along the reef some small overhangs are home to red whip coral and tiger cowry shells while leaf fish, banner fish and collared butterfly fish school above the ledges. At the channel edge eagle rays, tuna and jackfish can be seen along with grey reef sharks.

  • This dramatically vertical reef sits inside a channel and is covered with soft corals where you can find various species of nudibranchs. Bush corals hang down from the wall providing homes for the long nose hawkfish and trumpetfish. There are many small overhangs hiding moray eels and pufferfish, boxfish, schooling banner fish and frog fish can also be found here. Look up and into the blue to see passing reef sharks and eagle rays and check the sandy bottom for the elusive guitar fish.

  • In a calm incoming current it is possible to cross this sandy channel, seeing large schools of rainbow runners, tuna and jackfish. Stingrays rest on the sandy bottom while eagle rays and reef sharks can be seen passing through.

  • This sandy channel has a thila touching the channel edge. While crossing the channel you can see stingrays in the sandy bottom while fevers of eagle rays cruise above. Batfish are often on the edges of the reef and the thila is frequently visited by hawksbill turtles. Small overhangs along the edge of the thila are filled with lion fish, soilder fish while the ridges along the side of the channel are known for resting nurse sharks.

  • This large and sheltered underwater pinnacle offers divers an abundance of schooling fish - butterfly fish, oriental sweetlips, coral groupers, moorish idols and blue stripped snappers - along with a variety of coral growth. Neon fusiliers use the reef for protection as blue-fin jacks and tuna hunt. Lobsters hide under the rocks, napoleon wrasse cruise by and unicorn fish school above.

  • This sheltered and shallow reef drops off at the edge down to a sandy bottom at 25m. A large caves provides shelter to painted rock lobsters and the large coral blocks are surrounded by glass fish and blue stripped snappers. The top of the pinnacle hosts more coral blocks, with schooling colourful reef fish and large anemones.

  • This small underwater pinnacle has a unique topography, with a wall, slopes and overhangs. The overhangs are filled with glass fish, disguising the moray eels and cleaner shrimp behind them, while mantis shrimp, ribbon eels, porcelain crabs, scorpion fish, octopus and clownfish all call this reef home.

  • This small underwater pinnacle lies inside a channel. The steep walls at both sides have many overhangs, full of glass fish and moray eels while nudibranchs can be spotted along the walls. In the middle the reef slopes, groupers can be seen by the three large coral blocks, being cleaned by cleaner fish and shrimp.

  • The north side of Maa Giri is made up of walls and overhangs. Morays and cleaner shrimp can be found along the wall while small gobies walk up and down the whip coral and small whip coral cowries can be seen. Towards the eastern side large schools of blue stripped snappers and banner fish congregate and many species of parrotfish can be seen scraping the rocks on the top reef.

  • The south side of Maa Giri is subject to the currents flowing in and out of the atoll, causing an incredible concentration of fish in one spot. Towards the east side a large outcrop is covered in anemones and teaming with clownfish, while moray eels and stingrays can be seen in the overhangs.

  • This dive site lies within a Marine Protected Area and has a staggering amount of fish life. Shivers of reef sharks and fevers of eagle rays can be seen here. Large schools of snappers and jackfish are found at the corner, tuna and schooling barracuda hang in the current, morays hide under the coral blocks and napoleon wrasse cruise the reef.

  • Lying deep in the channel, this thila is known for its manta ray cleaning stations during the North-East monsoon period. Alongside mantas you can see huge schools of humpback snappers, oriental sweetlips, collared butterfly fish, and neon fusiliers while giant trevally and barracuda hunt these smaller fish.

  • The sloping areas and coral blocks on this pinnacle make canyons large enough to swim through. Snappers, solider fish, squirrel fish, butterfly fish school while large napoleon wrasse pass by and groupers rest on the bottom.

  • This stunningly colourful pinnacle has an abundance of fish life. It is fringed with overhangs and terraces which are home to blue stripe snappers and the occasional nurse shark. Huge numbers of glass fish swarm the reef while trevallies hunt. Cornetfish hover on top of the reef and many species of shrimp and crabs can be found within the corals while the top of the reef is adorned in countless species of anemones, ranging in colour and size and home to thousands of anemone fish.

  • This small pinnacle has a steep drop off on the north side where morays and lobsters are found within overhangs along with solider fish and shrimp. Pipefish and nudibranchs can be spotted along the reef and an abundance of lion fish patrol.