Bandos Diving Medicine Course

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Diving

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Dive school

The resort has a fully equipped dive school with these facilities and products:

  • Dive school training PADI divining competency including open water diver (OWD, Price Nov 2008 USD 440), advanced open water diver (AOWD, Price Nov 2008 USD 320) and Rescue diver course (Price Nov 2008 USD 430).  Though it is possible to take the theoretical part of your dive course back home and complete the in-water training in Bandos we would strongly suggest that you try to obtain your diving certificate before arriving.  You may otherwise miss some of the dive tours due to tight schedule and varying availability for instructors.

  • You are not charged extra for Nitrox (31%). There is an opportunity to take a Nitrox course (basic or advanced) during your stay.

  • Equipment for rent (BCD, regulator, tanks, weight belt, wet suit, depth gauge). The dive school stocks a limited number of dive computers, lamps and UW cameras/flash.

  • Dive trips.  Two daily dive trips with a modified "Dhony" (traditional Maldivian boat) - one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

  • One of our 2002 students - Michel Tagliati - is a keen (underwater) video producer and photographer.  We strongly suggest you pay a visit to his website and look for underwater shots from the Maldives (and elsewhere). 

Enrolling the course with diving equipment - what is included?

Most students would probably benefit from enrolling the course with a full diving equipment package. This will include regulator, BCD, wetsuit, lead and tanks. It even includes ABC equipment (mask, snorkel,fins) but we suggest you carry your own equipment.

If you decide to bring your own equipment (pay for the "without diving equipment" package), only lead and tanks are included.  There are varying opinions on the issue of diving suits. Water temperature is approximately 27-28 °C. The rental suits are 5 mm shorties. However this might feel cold towards the end of the dives. The webmaster would rather suggest a full 5 mm wet suit which also will provide better environmental protection. Opinions differ and some not so fainthearted are content with 3 mm suits.

You must carry a dive computer. Either bring your own or rent one for USD 6 per day.

Price list

The "Dive Bandos" 2007 price list for extra tours, equipment rental and diving courses can be downloaded in PDF format here.

Renting equipment

Most persons would probably chose to bring their own ABC equipment and rent the rest. ABC equipment rental cost is USD 8/day (Nov 2008).  We recommend you to book dives/rent diving equipment through the course to get the favorable price.

Diving regulations

  • No diving deeper than 30 meters

  • Dive computer is mandatory. Bring your own or rent at the site (USD 6/day, 2006 prices)

  • No fish hunting (spear or otherwise)

  • Don't remove corals

  • DAN and the resort recommends a minimum of 12 hours between diving and flying. As you will learn during the course we are slightly more conservative and advice you to restrict water activities to surface the last 24 h.

Dive tours

You will be guided to a number of interesting dive sites during your visit to Bandos. All diving will start with an introductory dive to the house reef (indeed the underwater life at this house reef is rich, so this is a nice way to get aquainted to Maldivian waters). The introductory dive is there to ensure that everyone is familiarised to diving in general (some weeks since you dived last time maybe.....?) Expect to experience:

  • Wreck diving

  • Manta dive

  • Night dive (house reef)

The Maldivian underwater life is rich and too extensive to be listed here.  The webmaster's personal favorites are probably the sea turtles, sharks and mantas but you should rather make up your own mind.

The Maldivian coral reefs have indeed been bleached, but this should not prevent you from enjoying the exciting life of this underwater world.  During the last years we have seen a continuous improvement/development of the coral reefs with annually improvement in color diversity.