Scuba Diving
If you are an avid scuba diver then Maldives is your perfect destination. The islands offer a wide variety of marine life- manta rays, angels, stingrays, dolphins, turtles and reef fish, lion fish, hammerhead and other sharks. The warm and clear water offers visibility upto 70 metres and hence ideal for you. The amazing coral reefs and the multitude of fish life along with turtles, moray eels, manta rays, sharks and leviathans create a rich kaleidoscope of colour which is unsurpassable.

Best season for scuba dives
From the month of May to November you will witness the calmest seas and bluest skies. The best underwater visibility occurs towards the end of the north west monsoon, from March to April, when forty meters is normal. On some occasions it is possible to see seventy meters down the coral edge. However, in April when planktons bloom the visibility recedes upto 20 metres, but this is possibly the most interesting time on the eastern side of the atolls to see manta rays and whale sharks.

Visibility Facts
Local visibility is affected by the ebb and flow of the tides, incoming tides bring clear water, while the falling tide is filled with plankton and sediments. In order to appreciate the full beauty, you should bear in mind the effects of water on sunlight. As you descend deeper into the sea more light is filtered out by water, absorbing different colors at different rates. You should always take a torch on any dive so as to bring out the true colors of the marine ambience.

Learn scuba diving
Most resort islands maintain well equipped diving centers with experienced instructors. The schools offer 'resort courses', which give three lessons in scuba diving.

Night Diving
Night diving in Maldives is mesmerizing. When the sun goes down, corals open up and extend their flower-like tentacles, spiders and shrimps along with the other nocturnal predators are on the prowl you can have miraculous visions with the aid of the narrow beam of your torchlight.

Restrictions
You can dive upto a maximum depth of forty meters. Some resorts have fixed their own limit to thirty meters. The underwater temptation is always irresistible, but it is fatally easy to succumb to an excess of nitrogen in the blood.