‘The Maldives Islands Provide a Safe Habitat for Young Sharks’- PADI

Sunday 7th of June 2020

‘The Maldives Islands Provide a Safe Habitat for Young Sharks’- PADI

In 2016, Diviac Magazine, now named PADI Travel, had ranked the best diving sites in the world for whale shark diving and in 4th place was Sun Island in South Ari Atoll of Maldives, where the southern shore boasts a shallow plateau where whale sharks can be easily spotted.

The Sun Island Resort & Spa dive center, DiveOceanus, is one of the largest in the region, and its priceless location means that divers have a high chance of encountering mantas, stingrays, sharks, and a variety of other marine life. The resort offers a range of day and night dive excursions, snorkelling trips, and diving courses that range from Discover Scuba Diving right through to PADI Dive Master.

Although whale shark sightings are possible all year in the Maldives, for the best conditions both above and below the water, you’ll want to travel between December and May and during the week building up to the full moon, according to PADI Travel.

The majority of the whale sharks in the Maldives have been found to be between 4 and 8 meters, comparatively small for the species. It is believed that the Maldives provides a safe ground with a consistent food source for these younger sharks.

In 2019, it was reported that the team of researchers of the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme (MWSRP) discovered and identified 298 whale sharks since 2006, and have recorded 4063 different encounters.