Destinations

Two volcanoes joined by a flat isthmus, which is why the west and south shores are calm and the north shore is not.

2 beaches

North Ari and Rasdhoo. The register records more hammerhead sharks at Rasdhoo Madivaru than at any other dive site in the Maldives.

South Ari, and the one marine protected area in the country where whale sharks are recorded through the whole year rather than in a season.

A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2011, and the one atoll where the wet season is the reason to come rather than the reason not to.

One protected channel with five sea-fan thilas in it, and a runway that takes larger aircraft than most domestic strips.

One protected channel, no runway, and a reef structure that only works when the current is running.

One protected island, and it was protected for its frigate birds. A runway at Kooddoo puts the deep south within a domestic flight.

Three runways — more than any other atoll in the country — and a single protected island, chosen for its mangroves rather than its reef.

Fuvahmulah — the only single-island atoll in the Maldives, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and a shark dive recognised by the IUCN.

The northernmost atoll. A thila divers call an aquarium, and a mangrove that fed an island through the Second World War.

The gateway to the far north, with two runways, mangrove islands, and the westernmost point of the Maldives.

The airport atoll. North and South Malé, fifteen protected dive sites, and the only place in the country you can still reach after dark.

Hadhdhunmathi. Six protected areas declared in one day in December 2021, most of them for turtles, and a road that joins four islands.

Faadhippolhu. Manta cleaning stations protected since 1995, an anemone reef known worldwide, and an airport a resort group built and runs.

A quiet middle atoll with one protected thila, a domestic runway at Muli, and very little else built on it.

The northern atoll with a jet runway. Four protected areas declared in a single day in 2019, and most of them wetland rather than reef.

One protected reef, a domestic runway, and a row of large resorts — an atoll where the development arrived before the conservation did.

Addu, at the bottom of the country. A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a jet runway, a wartime wreck at 33 metres, and roads instead of boats.

Three protected areas and all three are for birds — sandbanks where roseate terns lay eggs, in an atoll almost nothing was built on.

The one atoll in the directory with nothing on the protected-area register — no declared site, no restrictions, and a runway at Thimarafushi.

The most protected water in the Maldives and almost none of the development, because there is no runway and never has been.