Haa Alif & Haa Dhaalu Atolls · Maldives · Pinnacle · Channel & pass · Drift
Baarah Thila
Up to 30 manta rays reported over one cleaning-station boulder
Area photo: Kirill Flerov · CC BY 3.0
A large plateau-like thila in the channel between Baarah and Hanimaadhoo, with a top at 15 to 16 m and sides that fall to 30 m. It is a manta cleaning station: divers drop onto the boulder where cleaner wrasse work the mantas, drift north with the current under passing rays, and often still have mantas circling in the blue at the 5 m safety stop.
Where it is and how deep
6.8032° N, 73.1906° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The boat drops you in open water over the channel and you descend onto the top of the boulder at 15 to 16 m, which is where the action is concentrated. This is the cleaning station: cleaner wrasse work over the mantas, and once you have settled on the top you simply move northwards with the current, watching the rays sweep overhead. One guide reports up to 30 mantas at a time here. The top is covered in hard coral, so keep your buoyancy tidy and stay off it.
The sides of the plateau drop to 30 m. Bottoming out there, look behind the clusters of rocks for leopard sharks sleeping on the sand. Schools of blackfin barracuda swim along with Spanish mackerel, and big schools of snapper and Andaman sweetlips swirl past as you work back up the thila. The operator's log for the site runs from mantis shrimp to mantas and even sailfish circling above.
The dive ends on the drift as you come up off the boulder into the blue. Even at 5 m you will easily spot mantas circling in open water during the safety stop, so spend it looking up rather than at your gauge. The whole dive moves northwards with the current from the top of the boulder, so you surface some way along the channel from where you dropped in, and the boat picks the group up there.
Marine life and season
- Manta rays
- Barracuda
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good |
Season follows Haa Alif & Haa Dhaalu Atolls: January to April is calm and clear with visibility to 30 m; the far north is dived most of the year, with June and July the roughest months of the southwest monsoon.
Know before you go
- The boulder is covered with hard corals: check your buoyancy before settling at the cleaning station and keep fins off the reef.
- The dive runs with the channel current, moving northwards; stay with the group and the guide's drift line.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Baarah Thila?+
The top of the thila sits at 15 to 16 m, where the manta cleaning station is, and its sides drop to 30 m where leopard sharks rest behind the rocks.
Will I see mantas at Baarah Thila?+
It is a cleaning station and mantas are the reason divers come; one guide reports up to 30 at a time, and they often circle in the blue during the 5 m safety stop.
Sources
- Baarah Thila — Scubago
- Diving Sites in Haa Alifu Atoll, Maldives — Dive The World
More dive sites in Haa Alif & Haa Dhaalu Atolls
Wall
Large overhangs on the wall with sleeping stingrays and turtles
Pinnacle
Leopard sharks sheltering on the sand at nearly 30 m
Wall
Cleaning stations along the top reef of an 8 to 30 m wall
Pinnacle
Open-ocean thila pair, advanced divers only
Cave & cavern
A 60 m wide cave mouth with sleeping nurse sharks inside
Wreck
Four chimneys stand out of the water above an 80 m wreck
Pinnacle
Open-water descent to 30 m, then circle the thila upward
Three pinnacles dived deep-to-shallow, from 35 m up to 15 m
Similar dives elsewhere
A narrow swim-through and mantas on a current-split point
Ocean-facing pinnacle at the mouth of Bathala channel
Rays and sharks on the descent to 30 m, then a soft-coral overhang on the drift
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Overhangs on the channel side shelter stingrays and nurse sharks