Raa Atoll

Diving in Raa runs from the resort islands. Dive Mission, the centre at You & Me Maldives on Uthuru Maafaru, works a cluster of named sites within 20 to 35 minutes of its jetty, with Uthuru Maafaru North Corner 20 minutes to the north and Fuggiri Wall 25 minutes away. DivePoint Meedhupparu dives from Adaaran Select Meedhupparu, including night dives on the house reef, and JOALI Maldives on Muravandhoo takes guests diving with a resident marine biologist. Liveaboards on Northern Atolls routes add the atoll's thilas and farus to their itineraries mainly in the northern-hemisphere summer and autumn.

The terrain is the usual Maldivian mix. Easy reefs such as Maafaru and You & Me Giri start at 1–2 m and bottom out at 20–25 m with healthy coral and macro life; You & Me Wall carries dense hard coral. Reethi Thila's top sits at 6–7 m and drops to 30 m on the channel side, Koroshigiri Canyon's wall is cut with overhangs to 30 m, and Dheraha Thila is a broken rock in many blocks from 18 m to 30 m. Madi Gaa has two manta cleaning stations at 13 m and 20 m and Thiling Faru a third on a sandy patch among coral blocks; grey reef sharks and eagle rays work the same corners. Reethi Thila's overhangs hide stingrays and nurse sharks, and trevallies hunt the glassfish under Glassfish Cove's ledges.

Current sets the pace on many dives. Rainbow Caves is a 600 m drift that the flow carries from end to end in about six minutes and the operator recommends a current specialty for it; the Meedhupparu house reef can run extremely hard and is not always diveable. Elsewhere the same reef can serve two groups at once: at Fainu Corner beginners drift the upper overhangs at 10–15 m while experienced divers drop to 25 m, and at Kudathulhaadhoo Caves a drift passes a soft-coral overhang in the west, caves in the middle and a fish-filled bay at the eastern tip. Labyrinth, with its reef top at 15 m, is kept for divers with some experience.

Raa suits divers on a resort week who want thilas, walls and corner drifts close to their island, with a real chance of mantas at fixed cleaning stations in the dry months rather than a mass feeding event. Sheltered walls and easy reefs cover beginners; the deeper thilas and the hard-running drifts want Advanced certification, Nitrox and comfort in current. Anyone building a trip around the big south-west monsoon manta aggregation should go to Baa Atoll and Hanifaru Bay next door instead, and divers who want wrecks are better served by Lhaviyani Atoll.