Maldives · MV

Kandooma Thila

Kandooma Thila is a submerged coral pinnacle in South Malé Atoll, a few minutes' boat ride off the resort island once known as Kandooma (now part of the Guraidhoo/Cocoa area). In the Maldives a "thila" is a lone rock spire rising from the sandy lagoon floor, and this one is widely ranked among the best dive sites in the country—and by many guides, the world. The reward here is not a calm shallow garden but raw energy: a channel current that funnels grey reef sharks, schooling eagle rays, trevallies and turtles right past a diver holding on to the rock. The pinnacle is roughly 250–300 metres long, its coral-capped top lying at about 12–16 metres while the flanks drop steeply to a sandy base around 30–40 metres. Strong to very strong currents sweep through the narrow channel beside it, which is exactly what concentrates the big-animal action and makes the dive an advanced-level drift, best timed around the new and full moon and run mostly from December to April.