Now is the Season to Swim with Manta Rays!
While there’s never really a bad time to spend a holiday in the Maldives, there is however a better time to visit: when the manta rays make regular encounters, and in Lhaviyani Atoll, where Innahura is located, that’s generally between October and March.
As Innahura only opened in March 2019, there is not so much information available yet about manta rays’ behaviour in this part of the atoll, but based on patterns observed by the Prodivers Maldives’ teams and Manta Trust researchers, our hopes are high for magnificent manta ray encounters also here in the south-east corner of the atoll. In fact, our dive center team already spotted the first mantas, right here on the resort’s outreef as well as as o Faadhoo and Meyyafushi corners – at the latter, the manta was even being cleaned at 5 metres on a coral block, so we may even be lucky to have an ‘official’ cleaning station nearby – a location where mantas are known to regularly return to have their bodies cleaned by the cleaner fish. A manta spa so to say!
Until that’s confirmed, we keep piggybacking on the famous Fushivaru Thila, a renowned manta cleaning station (and a beautiful site even without mantas!), which we regularly go to on our 2-tank diving trips. Recently, our divers experienced epic manta action with over 10 of them during a single dive! There is a second place on the west side of the atoll that’s especially convenient for snorkellers as it’s a shallow lagoon that is a manta ray feeding area. A trip there is doable as a full day excursion, which is organised depending on reported sightings and guests’ interest.
Stay tuned for more manta ray updates through our Facebook page!