North Malé Atoll · Maldives · Reef · Cave & cavern
Banana Reef
One of the first dive sites ever found in the Maldives
Photo: This illustration was made by (User:Royonx) and released under the license(s) stated above. You are free to use it for a · CC0
Banana Reef is one of the first dive sites ever discovered in the Maldives and remains a fixture of North Male Atoll diving. The western curve of the reef is cut with caves, overhangs and caverns between 10 and 25 metres, and one section runs hard enough to be called the Washing Machine. Giant groupers hold under the rock, with bannerfish schools, snappers and moray eels through the cuts.
Where it is and how deep
4.2342° N, 73.5340° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The diving is on the western curve of the reef, where the wall is cut with caves, overhangs and caverns between 10 and 25 metres. That band is where the dive is spent — in and out of the cuts, along the base of the overhangs, with the reef top above you as somewhere to go if the flow picks up. Below the cave section the reef keeps sloping into deeper water.
Currents can be strong here - the resident bannerfish school flutters in the flow - and one section is called the Washing Machine for its intensity, with occasional turbulence around the overhangs as part of the same picture. That is not a reason to skip the site; it is a large part of why the fish are here. Deploying a safety float is recommended, and the strong corner is a place to be briefed on rather than discovered.
For all the current, this is a fish dive rather than a pelagic one. Giant groupers sit under the overhangs, blue-lined snappers and angelfish crowd the coral, bannerfish move through in schools, and moray eels and lobsters fill the holes in the rock. The site has been dived since diving in the Maldives began — it was one of the first ever found here — and it has stayed a North Male Atoll favourite.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime |
Season follows North Malé Atoll: December to April is dry with gentle breezes; late May to July is the weakest stretch, when most liveaboards leave the atoll.
Know before you go
- Currents can be strong, with occasional turbulence around the overhangs and one section known as the Washing Machine; deploying a safety float is recommended.
Dive videos
2023 Bandos 13 Diving Maldives Banana Reef North Male Atoll HD · ScubaDoc on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Banana Reef?+
The cave and overhang section where most of the dive is spent runs from 10 to 25 metres, and the reef slopes on into deeper water below it. That keeps a standard recreational profile easy to hold on this site.
Sources
- Diving Sites Maldives - North Male Atoll — Dive The World
- Diving in the Maldives — Wikipedia
- Diving in the Maldives (dive site list) — Wikivoyage
- Banana Reef (OSM) — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- A scuba diver swims beside a large school of yellow and white striped snapper over the reef by This illustration was made by (User:Royonx) and released under the license(s) stated above. You are free to use it for a, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
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