The Maldives
The Maldives are an independent island nation in the Indian Ocean made up of 26 atolls and more than 1200 islands. With only 200 inhabited islands, this makes the Maldives a giant scuba diving destination. Let’s be absolutely honest about this: with walls and big fish, scuba diving in the Maldives is exceptional. The people of the Maldives are incredibly hospitable. Maldives resorts vary from being sumptuous, luxurious or delightfully low-key. The Liveaboard diving trips we recommend are operated by highly professional operators.
Catering to beginners and seasoned divers alike, Maldivian scuba tours are also excellent value for money. The Maldives are linked to the entire world through Velana International Airport with flights from just about everywhere. During the peak season, the Maldives can be extremely busy. We specialise in scuba diving away from the crowds. We believe that there is no point in being in your own luxury bungalow if it is one of 200 crammed onto a long pier. It is therefore vital to choose the best Maldives scuba diving tour for you.
This is where the African and Oriental Travel Company comes in. We have two main recommendations to truly experience the best scuba diving in the Maldives. The liveaboard vessel “Blue Force One”, based out of Male, operates “the best of the Maldives” charters. And for shore-based diving, this has to be with Aqua Venture; diving at Addu Atoll in the south.
Liveaboard Scuba Tours
The MV Blue Force One is a premium liveaboard dive boat. It takes the Maldives resort concept, and transports it around the islands and Atolls. It has a spacious upstairs bar, a large outdoor restaurant and an enormous air conditioned lounge with comfortable sofas.
Addu Atoll
Addu Atoll is a forgotten world, and a world class dive destination. It has steep walls, coral covered reefs and northerly passages with currents that bring in pelagics and manta rays. In addition when scuba diving in Addu Atoll you will probably see sharks on every dive. There are beautiful reefs, stingrays, barracudda, macro reefs, turtle breeding grounds, schools of horse eyed jack and sharks sharks sharks. Scuba diving tours in Addu atoll are probably the most exciting scuba tours in the Maldives. And to cap it all, in the centre of the Atoll sits the enormous wreck of the Motor Tanker, British Loyalty.