Kandooma Thila

Kandooma Thila is South Malé's blue-water grandstand. The teardrop-shaped pinnacle lies in a channel mouth, and on an incoming tide its up-current point turns into a theater: gray reef sharks stacked in the flow, eagle rays flapping past in formation, tuna and trevally cutting through bait clouds. The reef itself is in fine shape, with sea fans and soft coral under the ledges and turtles resting out of the current. It is a protected site, a demanding one, and on the right tide one of the country's great dives.

اللحظة التي جئت من أجلها: Shark and eagle-ray action at the up-current point; healthy ledges and fans

التضاريس: Elongated pinnacle with overhangs and coral-covered ledges falling to a sandy channel floor

التيار: An exposed channel-mouth thila; expect a negative entry and a hooked-in stretch when the tide runs.

المخاطر: Strong current with possible down-currents on the corners; blue-water descents.

الحفاظ على البيئة البحرية: Protected marine area; hook only into bare rock and give the shark line right of way.

نيتروكس: يستحق الأمر هنا: الملفات الشخصية تقع في النطاق الذي يُمدّد فيه الهواء المدعّم (نيتروكس) وقت الغوص دون توقف تمديدًا ملموسًا، مع التدريب اللازم لاستخدامه.