When choosing a holiday in the Maldives it is important to know what snorkeling and diving opportunities are available and here we highlight the best house reef destinations - for those of you considering an underwater adventure on your next trip to the Maldives.
Located in the North Male Atoll Dhawa Ihuru offers an expansive range of diving and snorkelling sites for its guests. Snorkellers will spend hours exploring the expansive house reef! Angsana Ihuru have established a house reef conservation project focused on preserving one of the best house reefs for snorkelling in the Maldives. Qualified divers, or those looking to learn to dive with Dhawa Ihuru’s dedicated dive instructors, can experience the deeper waters surrounding the Island.
Coco Bodu Hithi is located in the North Male Atoll of the Maldives, renowned for its Marine life, clear waters and being home to some of the best house reefs for snorkelling in the Maldives. With a strong emphasis on Marine Conservation, Chaira Fumagalli, the resident Marine Biologist is happy to educate guests on the importance of the preserving the reef and the chance to help build it up through their coral nursery program. The reef itself offers fantastic snorkelling and diving with plenty to see and vibrant corals. Ocean Bodu Hithi is the resort’s PADI certified dive school with multilingual staff trained to the highest international standards. Children can also be part of the diving holiday, as the resort offers kid friendly Bubblemaker and Junior programmes.
Filitheyo Resort in Faafu Atoll is world renowned for being home to one of the best house reefs for snorkelling in the Maldives. With seven access points and an abundance of marine life to see Filitheyo is a great resort for both snorkellers and divers. The resort holds a range of boat excursions to neighbouring snorkelling and dive sites if you wish to explore even more and their comprehensive dive school is always on hand. The resort boasts a spaciously built diving centre and an abundance of fish life just waiting for divers to come and admire them, making it one of the best house reefs in the Maldives. The reef also houses 2 boat wrecks which attract a wealth of fascinating marine life. 3 – 4 dhonis depart daily in the morning and afternoon to the various diving spots that can be reached in anywhere between 5 – 60 mins, with varying dive difficulties – allowing you to choose the dive spot that best suits your abilities. With more than 30 dive sites on offer, these pristine reefs are exclusive to divers from Filitheyo.
For many of the guests here, diving is a priority – and the resort caters to all levels of divers from complete first timers that just want to learn the basics, to experienced divers that would like to fine tune their technique. The dive centre is run by Ocean Pro and they operate to over 40 great diving spots, with a multilingual team and assured personal service. It is easy to see why Mirihi is considered to have one of the best house reefs in the Maldives – head underwater in search of dolphins and whale sharks in this enchanting diving location that also has a breathtaking top reef ready and waiting for you to explore.
The unique feature of Helengeli house reef, is that it sits between two channels, hence the reef hosts a huge number of species. Staying at OBLU provides a house reef in one of the best locations in the Maldives for an exotic dive. The PADI diving school offers a team of multi-lingual dive experts who can guide beginners into taking their first breaths under water, to a well-seasoned diver who just wants to explore and make the most of the world famous reef. Atmosphere Aqua Club can arrange the perfect dive to suit you.
Although not strictly a house reef, there is a reef in Lhaviyani Atoll which is only a five-minute boat ride away from Atmopshere Kanifushi and is totally worth the short trip to visit. The resort offers free twice-daily snorkelling trips to various nearby snorkelling sites and a PADI certified DIVE centre with close dive sites nearby including The Shipyard, Anemone Thila and Fushuvaru.