whale sharks at Dhigurah

Dhigurah, a local island in The Maldives lies in the South Ari Atoll with about 600 inhabitants. Dhigurah means long island and at 3km, the longest island in the atoll — long beach, protected lagoon and a sandbar at southern end. One of the few places in the world where you can see large numbers of whale sharks and that was the purpose of our trip.

Visited    Maldives couple times, stayed at resorts and experiences at local islands vs luxury resorts are very different. Secluded within the resort that occupied the entire island emerged into the local culture and living environment, see and feel what local island-life is like. I guess depends on the occasion like honeymoon or family trip vs. diving trip. Definitely suggest to stay at local islands for diving trips. 

 
Important notes
Maldives is a Muslim country…
dress code covers shoulder and knees for men and women
alcohol unavailable on local islands
bikini not allow to be worn on local islands unless at “bikini beach” 

Where to stay
3 of us stayed with Boutique Beach All-inclusive Dive Hotel. A very nice boutique guesthouse owned by a super friendly British lady, who loves diving there. Hotel runs by divers, stylish design, very clean and staff were very friendly as well. Dining area was at the rooftop and food was descent with different selection everyday.

Our all-Inclusive package per person dives per day breakfast, lunch and dinner unlimited soft drinks and water unlimited coffee and tea welcome drink ? Molton Brown amenities

Did some research and price comparison before decided to stay here. Nearby Islands like Maamigili and Dhangethi also have dives at same dive sites for seeing whale sharks. Depends on the number of people, a la carte may be cheaper than all-inclusive. 

How to get there
3 options return transfer or mix and match either booked with your resort or your own
≈20mins domestic flight with Flyme or
≈2.5hrs speedboat with Atoll Transfer or
≈7hr ferry  

Overnight a Male
Arrived Maldives at 2130 so we had to stay overnight at Male as most boat transfers don’t operate night time. Stayed at Novina Hotel, had the biggest room at the top floor — spacious, nice and clean with Complimentary transfer to/from airport. Next day noon, Boutique Beach Hotel representative guided us to the port, took ≈2.5hrs speedboat ride to Dhigurah with a few stops in between.  

Arrived Dhigurah just before sunset, greeted and picked up by hotel staff. We took a short 3mins car ride, passed through local village and to the guesthouse. Like any other diving trip, completed paper work, got to know the island and guesthouse, then settled in our room. Also dumped my diving gears in a basket ready for tomorrow. Each night before dinner, they hosted a dive briefing to talk about what tomorrow’s day will be like. What’s nice was they try to accommodate your requests or personalized your dive plans. One of our friend was diving for one day only, so they were able to make dives in one day.  

Meeting time was 8am at the dive boat, ate breakfast, walked from hotel passed the village, got on the boat and set up my gears. Time to dive site was short <15mins. dives in one day on our first day was pretty exhausting, and also the luckiest day ever to have seen whale shark, manta rays, dolphins, mobula, eagle rays and turtles

Our boat captain is so persistence and we love it! He never gave up searching for ? whale sharks until he found one Had our snorkeling gears ready, he screamed, we jumped and swam right next to it.

It was truly amazing swimming with that wild beast up close, keeping up with it was another issue thou. It didn’t seem fast, but after 5mins I was running out of breath.

Few snapshots below, click here for trip album or feel free to continue reading.

Crazy right As for my friend, he was pretty satisfied, excited and thrilled to see all that in just one day PLUS he was diving for one day only, lucky guy! Next day, we did dives, saw as much marina life —   nurse shark, mantis shrimps, squat shrimps, nudibranchs, octopus, eel and much more. I always love diving in Maldives, waters are so clear and warm, one of the best places to dive in.

Few snapshots below taken by my friend or click here for trip album

End of the island
Like always, had to wait 24hrs before flying so we decided to explore the island and walked to the southern end. It was more of a hike than walk and definitely worth it. ≈45mins hiked passed bushes, trees, a sandbank and finally reached to the end of the island. Watching the ? sunset at the end of an island was the best way to end this trip.

Few snapshots below taken by my friend or click here for trip album.