W Retreat, North Ari Atoll

North Ari is home to some of the Maldives’ best diving, boasting plenty of dive sites, and easy access to multiple locations from almost every island. Sheltered walls and reefs can be found, but the majority of North Ari’s diving favours thilas and channels with strong currents. Manta rays, grey reef sharks, turtles, and eagle rays are all common sightings, as well as schools of barracuda, snapper, tuna, and trevally. Occasional whale sharks also make an appearance. Due to the strong currents, many of North Ari’s dive sites are only suitable for more advanced divers.

Maaya Thila is considered one of the Maldives’ top dive sites, where divers can find anything from nudibranchs and frogfish, to eagle rays, schools of barracuda, and even guitar sharks. Hafza Thila is a big draw for shark fans, boasting schools of reef sharks at a cleaning station, while Fish Head is another favourite, harbouring plenty of resident grey reef sharks. Other well known thila dives include Ukulhas Thila, Maalhos Thila and Orimas Thila. But, perhaps one of the most unique experiences occurs in Fesdu Lagoon, where a small population of manta rays congregates by the lights of liveaboards at night – allowing divers to watch as they swoop and barrel-roll in just 15-meters of water and often only inches away. Mantas are also seen at Dhonkalo Thila and Himandhoo during the NE, and at Gangehi during the SW monsoon, and North Ari also has a number of small wrecks at Fesdu, Halaveli and Kuramathi, all sunk deliberately on resort house reef. The atoll is narrow enough for the best sites to be explored from pretty much any of the resorts.