Marine Center Vabbinfaru-Ihuru

North Malé Atoll, Maldives

The team at Marine Center Vabbinfaru-Ihuru are the kind of patient, knowledgeable instructors we always hope to find. We love their dual-island setup, splitting operations between Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru and Dhawa Ihuru, just a quick boat ride apart. It feels like you’re getting two house reefs for the price of one, and both are excellent for easy, relaxed diving straight off the beach. Their house reef at Ihuru, particularly, is a personal favourite. We’ve spent hours there, exploring the intact thila, watching a constant parade of reef sharks, turtles, and eagle rays glide past. The hard coral formations are really impressive, and if you go early, just after sunrise, you might even catch a glimpse of nurse sharks still lingering after their night hunt. They’re PADI 5 Star, so they're solid for courses, but we think their real strength lies in guiding divers who want to avoid the crowds. You often get a whole site to yourselves. We’d suggest opting for a night dive on either house reef; it’s a completely different world after dark, with hunting morays and sleeping parrotfish tucked into the coral.