Fuvamulah - Tiger Sharks and more

No, this island/atoll in the South of the Maldives is not one for honeymooners. Fuvamulah is about 1.5 hours by plane from Male's International Airport. Fuvamulah is a standalone island in the middle of the Idian Ocean. It is large, both in terms of population and area (for the Maldives standard) and has surprisingly lots to offer; including 2 fresh water lakes, a black sand beach - and lots of unpredictable currents. 

People come here to dive with large marine creatures including pelagic mantas, thresher sharks, hammerhead sharks, and of course, the unmissable notorious tiger sharks. Divers from all over the world come here to dive with the tiger sharks at a shallow depth, in a location where they are fed and divers are positioned in a circle all around the feeding place, the sharks come and go for up to 45 minutes. 

The island does not have a bikini beach, but many restaurants and hotels scattered accross the island. This is the only place where we had to rent a scooter to navigate the island, considering the distances are not easily walkable. There are plenty of fresh fruits and the inhabitants are very proud of their local produce. There's also a lot of fishing as in most other parts of the Maldives. 

We came here to dive with tiger sharks. Ticked it off the bucket list. The tiger shark dive is more expensive than other dives as all dive centers have allocated time slots to bring their clients and it's relatively well managed. It is a nice experience overall but we found the other dives disappointing, here's why:

- Most divers are in the pursuit of thrilling experiences and what to see the rather big animals (sharks mostly - and there are many species in the waters around Fuvamulah), rather than the beautiful coral gardens and abundant fishlife. The dive centers offer mostly dives 'in the blue' where it's a hit or miss. You wake up early, with the chance to encounter some hammerheads for example, and you end up swimming in blue waters, with sometimes a jelly fish or two and the shadow of a shark in the distance.

- And when you don't see anything, you go deeper than the limit - in the Maldives the legal limit is 30m, but you end up doing as everyone else, and spending your time on deco, watching your dive computer. It can be of course thrilling when you end up seeing what you came for, but that's not my idea of fun, when it becomes the regular practice.

- The currents around Fuvamulah can be tricky, especially around Plateau, a famous diving place. This means the currents can bring you deeper than you had originally planned, or push you up to the surface unexpectedly. And in some places you have to fin hard. 

- There are beautiful dive sites, with lots of nudis, beautiful corals, magnificent fish life left untouched, but you kind of have to beg the dive centers to program a dive at those places where you can actually enjoy.

- Tiger sharks come here as they are opportunistic feeders, and lazy hunters. Most of the repertoriated individulas are migrating pregnant females, and there are said to be about 300 different tiger sharks that have passed through the atoll. During the feeding session you can see as many as 12 individuals pass by. They are also sees in some of the dives in the blue, and even in the port entrance. This abundance of tiger sharks means that other shy species are harder to find and move away.

Tips: When you do the Tiger Shark dive, take extra weight as there is a surge current and you want to hang on to something on the reef for the whole dive. Some centers charge as much as 90$ for this dive. Residents pay less.

We stayed at the Tiger Shark Residence, a decent place with very good food and a nice pool for relaxing in the afternoons.

Maldivian Airlines flies to Fuvamulah and the flights at the time were only at night or early morning. 

We dived with Fuvamulah Dive School and they are knowledgeable and have a marine biologist in their team.