Kuda Giri

A relaxed wreck-and-pinnacle dive in South Malé (Kaafu) Atoll, just southwest of Dhigu island, reached by boat from Maafushi, Gulhi and the South Malé resorts. The site pairs a small giri (coral pinnacle) with a steel cargo boat sunk on purpose as an artificial reef around 1988, now lying upright against the giri's slope — bow at about 15–18 m, stern near 30 m, with a small dark hold (bring a torch). The hull is crusted in orange, red and yellow sponges, tube and cup corals and packed with glassfish, while a resident school of batfish circles outside. Currents are usually very light, so it's an easy, all-levels dive and a favourite for training and night dives. The real reward is the small stuff: frogfish, leaf fish and Maldivian clownfish, nudibranchs, shrimp, gobies, lionfish, moray eels and octopus across the wreck and the giri's hard corals and overhangs, with the odd turtle or resting reef shark on the sand nearby. Visibility runs around 10–20 m, best December to April. Boat entry.

Also known as: Kuda Giri Wreck