Bandos House Reef

The house reef wrapping Bandos island in North Malé (Kaafu) Atoll, one of the closest dive sites to Malé and the airport — about 10–15 minutes by boat, or straight off the beach. The reef top sits around 3–5 m and slopes through hard-coral gardens to a sandy bottom past 25–30 m, with a standout feature on the eastern side: Bandos Rock, a coral pinnacle set just off the main reef and split from it by a small canyon you can swim through. It's an easy, all-levels reef and a classic for training, check dives and night dives. The shallows teem with reef fish — butterflyfish, angelfish, parrotfish, surgeonfish, Moorish idols, anemonefish and damsels — while juvenile blacktip reef sharks patrol the coral tops and hawksbill turtles, blue-spotted stingrays, octopus and moray eels work the reef. Schools of bannerfish, fusiliers and batfish gather around the pinnacle, with whitetip and blacktip reef sharks and hunting jacks. Currents are usually gentle, building only when the channel pushes. Shore or boat entry.

Also known as: Bandos Rock