A pinnacle inside Laamu's rim that tops out at 8–9 m and falls away past 30 m, with its signature feature off the south side: a big free-standing boulder running from 16 m down to 32 m, fully grown with corals and carrying a large black coral tree. The boulder, not the reef top, is what divers come for.
Where it is and how deep
1.8154° N, 73.3347° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The reef top sits at 8–9 m and the pinnacle falls away past 30 m, so the dive runs as a standard multilevel profile: down the side early, working shallower as the dive goes on, with the top of the thila as the natural place to finish. The maximum useful depth is set by the boulder rather than the pinnacle itself.
That boulder stands free of the thila off its south side, rising from 32 m up to 16 m, and it is the reason to do the dive: its faces are fully grown with corals and it carries a large black coral tree. No current rating is published for the site, so take local advice on conditions before committing to the deep section.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good |
Season follows Laamu Atoll: Pattern is Maldives-wide: calm seas and the clearest water Jan–Apr; the southwest monsoon brings rain and rougher seas Jun–Nov. Mantas are recorded at Hithadhoo Corner in every month.
Sources
- Scubago — Deep Thila — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
More dive sites in Laamu Atoll
Pinnacle
Groupers and black coral trees on a thila topping out at 3–4 m
Channel & pass
Eagle rays and sharks in a protected channel at one to two knots
Reef
Laamu's easy option: 13 m average, current under one knot
Channel & pass
A liveaboard channel averaging 20 m with a 40 m maximum
Channel & pass
A drop-off at 18 m falling to 40 m, started wall-side or in the blue
Channel & pass
Grey reef and whitetip sharks over a 14–16 m channel floor
Coral garden
Calm 12 m coral boulders made for first dives and refreshers
Similar dives elsewhere
Leopard sharks sheltering on the sand at nearly 30 m
Four coral pinnacles 30–50 m apart, from 10 m down to 30 m
Granite canyons in the channel between Praslin and La Digue
Up to 30 manta rays reported over one cleaning-station boulder