Bodo Fanno is dived for its sea fans, an expansive stretch of them running from 14 metres down to 35 on the island's edge. Small overhangs cut into the face hold macro life along the way. Photographers pick the site for those subjects rather than for the pelagic traffic Fuvahmulah is better known for.
Where it is and how deep
0.2991° S, 73.4356° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The dive starts on the top of the fan field at around 14 metres and works down from there. Sea fans cover an unusually large stretch of the site and carry on well past the shallow half of the profile — the deepest of them sit at about 35 metres. Depth builds quickly on this face, so setting a turn depth before dropping in keeps the profile honest.
Coming back up, the interest is in the small overhangs cut into the wall. They hold macro life, and that is why underwater photographers choose this site: subjects that stay put, with the fans behind them, instead of blue-water shark passes. Work the face slowly on the way up rather than covering distance, since the fans and the overhangs are what the site is dived for.
Fuvahmulah has no surrounding atoll, so there is no reef flat to finish the dive on and nothing to hide behind if the current picks up. The last stretch is spent shallow on the fans at the top of the field, and the safety stop is done in open water off the wall while the boat tracks the group and picks divers up wherever the drift leaves them.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Prime |
Season follows Fuvahmulah: Tiger sharks are resident year-round; the dry NE monsoon (Dec-Apr) gives the calmest seas, while the Oct-Nov transition brings choppier open-water conditions.
Know before you go
- The fans reach 35 m and the slope invites divers deeper than planned; set a maximum depth on the boat and watch gas on the way back up.
- There is no sheltering atoll, so open-ocean current runs along the face — stay close to the wall and surface together for pickup.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Bodo Fanno?+
The sea fans stretch from 14 metres down to about 35 metres, so the site can be dived as a shallower fan-and-overhang tour or taken to the bottom of the fan field with the appropriate certification.
Is Bodo Fanno good for photography?+
Yes — the site is picked by underwater photographers for its expansive sea fans and the small overhangs along the wall, which hold macro life. It is a subject-based dive rather than a big-animal one.
Sources
- Bodo Fanno (Sea Fans) - Scubago — Scubago
More dive sites in Fuvahmulah
An overhung wall to 40 m with grey reef and silvertip sharks
Drift
A brief, powerful drift where threshers and hammerheads come out of the blue
Wall
A thresher cleaning station at 35 m below the island's old harbour
Reef
The world's largest known tiger shark aggregation, in 12 m of water
Similar dives elsewhere
Wall from 4 m to past 40 m, straight off Kuramathi
An undercut in the wall at 40 m, west of Ski Run
Drop to 40 m for sea fans, finish in a 9 m ocean pool
A Montipora stand owning the wall from 16 to 35 m