Whale Shark and Manta Ray Snorkelling Tour with Hotel Pickup, Dhigurah

Dhigurah island, your base in South Ari Atoll

Dhigurah is a long, slender local island on the eastern edge of South Ari Atoll, about three kilometres from the village at its northern end to the white sandbank at its southern tip. It is a green island of coconut groves, with a swimming beach on the lagoon side and a cluster of guesthouses and small hotels that have grown up around whale shark snorkelling Maldives trips. Every address is minutes from the harbour, which is why our pickup can collect you from any hotel on the island.

How to get to Dhigurah is the question most guests ask first. From Velana International Airport there are two routes: a shared or private speedboat direct to the island in about an hour and a half to two hours, or a short domestic flight to Maamigili at the southern tip of the atoll, then a boat ride of around twenty minutes. Both are arranged separately, and we can advise on timings so you arrive the evening before your 09:00 start.

South Ari Marine Protected Area and the whale shark grounds

The South Ari Marine Protected Area, known locally as SAMPA, was declared in 2009 along the southern reef of the atoll between Maamigili and Dhigurah. It is the largest marine protected area in the Maldives and the only reef in the country with whale sharks in every month of the year, which makes Dhigurah whale sharks far more reliable than seasonal sites elsewhere. The outer reef drops from a shallow shelf into deep water, and the sharks feed along this drop-off near the surface, where plankton gathers.

The whale shark is the largest fish in the sea and a harmless filter feeder; most individuals here are juveniles five to eight metres long, each with a spot pattern as unique as a fingerprint. The crew watch for a dark shadow near the surface, then position the boat ahead of the shark so you can enter quietly and let it swim past. Multiple sightings are possible on a good morning, and the crew stay on the reef as long as needed.

Snorkelling with a whale shark, done responsibly

Once a shark is located, the guide gives the signal and you enter the water from the side of the boat, fins first and without splashing. You float at the surface and let the whale shark set the pace; it usually moves slowly enough to follow for a few minutes before drifting into deeper water. The rules are simple and strictly kept: stay a few metres from the body and further from the tail, never block its path, never touch it and never dive down onto it.

These rules exist because the reef is protected and the same individuals return to it year after year; research teams based on Dhigurah photograph the spot patterns to track them. Your guide stays beside you throughout and the crew take photos of your experience, so your hands are free. Sightings are of wild animals and cannot be guaranteed, but the crew spend as much time as possible searching before moving on to the manta station.

The manta ray cleaning station

Manta rays in the Maldives are reef mantas, wide-winged filter feeders with a span of three to four metres that gather at cleaning stations, coral outcrops where small wrasse pick parasites from their skin and gills. The mantas circle the station slowly, often a few metres below the surface, and tolerate snorkellers floating quietly above. When plankton is thick the same animals feed at the surface in loops and somersaults, which is why the tour visits a cleaning or feeding station depending on the day.

South Ari Atoll has several well-known manta points, and the crew pick the one with the best recent sightings and the right current for the season; mantas follow the plankton with the monsoon, so the choice changes through the year. The same rules apply as with the whale shark: no touching, no chasing and no diving onto the station, which would scare the mantas away. Watching a manta bank and glide past at arm's length is, for many guests, the moment they remember longest.

Reef life along the way and the return to Dhigurah

The channel and reef edge between the whale shark grounds and the manta station are rich in other marine life, and the guide will point out what passes. Green and hawksbill turtles rest on coral heads, eagle rays glide along the slope, and schools of fusiliers and parrotfish cross the reef top in the clear water South Ari Atoll is known for. If time allows, the boat stops for a reef snorkel, with fruit snacks and water served between swims.

The best time to visit South Ari Atoll for this tour is the dry season from December to April, when the sea is calmest and visibility highest, although whale sharks are present year round and the wetter months from May to November bring more plankton and often more mantas. The boat returns to Dhigurah harbour about four hours after the start and our driver takes you back to your hotel, leaving the afternoon free for the sandbank at the southern tip of the island.