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The marine life on the dive sites of the Lhaviyani Atoll is quite simply stunning with everything from mantas, sharks and turtles to nudibranchs, morays and frogfish residing on some of the most varied and interesting reef formations of the Maldives – it’s an underwater photographer’s dream.

The well-known cliché ‘every dive is different’ certainly holds true when you have a camera in your hand – marine life comes and goes, currents change and different things may catch a divers eye, and it’s therefore quite a task to put together a definitive list of ‘best photography sites’ but here are the ‘Top 10’ favourites of our instructors:

Anemone Thila

Anemones • Scorpionfish • Lionfish • Blue-striped Snappers • Trevallies • Glassfish • Shrimps • Crabs • Clownfish

Caves

Green Sea Turtles • Hawksbill Turtles • Nurse Shark • Stingrays • Soft Corals • Soldier Fish • Napoleons • Porcupine Fish • Lionfish • Moray Eels • Scorpionfish • Leaf Fish

Maagiri

Abundance of Schooling Fish • Moray Eels • Oriental Sweetlips • Blue-striped Snappers • Schooling Bannerfish • Neon Fusiliers • Anemones • Clownfish • Stingrays • Napoleons • Tuna

Fushivaru Thila

Manta Rays • Humpback Snappers • Blue-striped Snappers • Oriental Sweetlips • Collared Butterflyfish • Yellow-back and Neon Fusiliers • Giant Trevally • Barracuda

Muda Thila

Leather Coral • Bubble Anemones • Blue-striped Snappers • Two-spotted Snappers • Fusiliers • Mantis Shrimps

Latheef

Soft Corals • Leopard Sharks • Nudibranchs • Shrimps • Moray Eels • Green Turtles • Bat Fish

Kudamas Giri Innahura only

Clownfish • Porcelain Crabs • Nudibranch • Lobster • Nurse Shark • Fusiliers

Turtle Rock Innahura only

Hawksbill Turtles • Nurse Shark • Eagle Ray • Grey & Blacktip Reef Sharks • Tuna • Snappers

Fadhoo Corner Innahura only

Blue-Striped Snappers • Eagle Rays • Barracuda • Grey Reef Sharks • Turtles • Fusiliers • Tuna

Maduvvari Corner Innahura only

Blue-Striped Snappers • Eagle Rays • Tuna • Turtles • Grey Reef Sharks • Napoleon

If you’re new to underwater photography and would like some tips to improve your underwater paparazzi skills, consider joining the Digital Underwater Photography Course.

You don’t have to splash out all the gear, try your hand at underwater photography with our rental cameras, just pop into the dive center and ask the team.