North Malé Atoll · Maldives · Wreck
Hembadhoo Wreck
An upright 16 m tug covered in soft and black corals
Area photo: Genet (Diskussion) · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Hembadhoo Wreck is a small former tugboat scuttled in 1988 on the house reef of Taj Coral Island in North Malé Atoll. It sits upright on sand and has grown soft and black corals with moray eels and lionfish living on it.
Also known as Hembadhoo.
Where it is and how deep
4.4833° N, 73.3946° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The 16 m hull rests upright on the sandy bottom between 15 and 22 m, and the site reaches 25 m at its deepest. Moray eels, stingrays and many lionfish live on and around the wreck, and soft and black corals grow over the structure with longnose hawkfish perched on them.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Hembadhoo
- Type
- Tugboat
- Length
- 16 m (52 ft)
- Sunk
- 1988
- Cause
- Scuttled by a dive centre in 1988 to create a wreck dive
- Lies
- Upright on a sandy bottom at 15 to 22 m on the house reef of Taj Coral Island
Marine life and season
- Stingrays
| 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.
Dive videos
Scuba Diving Maldives, Philip Habacon Films (Hembadhoo). https://www.philiphabacon.com · Philip Habacon on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Is the Hembadhoo Wreck a good first wreck dive?+
It is an easy wreck dive: a 16 m tug sitting upright on sand at 15 to 22 m, with moray eels and lionfish on it.
Sources
- Hembadhoo Wreck — PADI
- Best wreck dives in the Maldives — Euro-Divers
- Hembadhoo Wreck — Wrecks.cz
- Hembadhoo Wreck - Diving in North Male Atoll — Wannadive.net
More dive sites in North Malé Atoll
Reef
The standard check dive, an hour from Malé City
One of the first dive sites ever found in the Maldives
Reef
House-reef wall with caves, table corals and a canyon
Mantas cleaning and feeding from December to April
Reef
A gentle drift along a reef with big reef fish
Reef
Stingrays and morays drawn to a fish-factory outflow
A long, thin island reef with pelagic fish along its edge
Seamount
Blue soft corals and dense fish life on a swim-through thila
Similar dives elsewhere
40 m supply boat at 20 m, sheltered enough for night dives
Groupers in the engine room and morays all through the wreckage
A tanker sunk by six bombs the day the Hermes went down
Wreck
Conch Wreck
Hikkaduwa · Sri Lanka
The huge oil tanks of an 1892 tanker, still lying where she sank