Shakeeb Ibrahim, Dive Centre Manager and Dive Instructor at COMO Maalifushi, has been working in the diving industry for over 20 years. A Maldivian native, he grew up in and around the water. “In the Maldives, childhood is spent in the water,” he says. “So diving is not a new thing for me.” Before scuba, there was free diving — often to depths of around 20 metres — which made the transition to scuba feel natural rather than intimidating, with wall diving one of Ibrahim’s favourite ways to explore the ocean.
In the Maldives, wall diving refers to long outer-reef dives rather than sheer vertical drops. “It’s like a long, long reef dive,” says Ibrahim. Typically, dives begin at around four or five metres and slope down to 25 or 30 metres, with some sections plunging far deeper. The added depth brings a new layer of exposure to the scuba experience; it’s very different to diving within the lagoons of the Thaa Atoll.
“The outer reef is connected with the deep ocean,” Ibrahim says. Visibility is often better than inside the lagoon, and the scale of marine life shifts dramatically. On the outer reef, divers leave behind coral gardens and smaller reef fish and enter territory favoured by pelagic species. Gray reef sharks, white-tip reef sharks and eagle rays are common sights. Occasionally, something larger appears. “Sometimes we even see hammerheads and tiger sharks,” Ibrahim says. “They’re rare in this area, but if we do see them, it’s always during a wall dive.” Ibrahim's favourite species is the manta mobula, a giant, gentle ray that seems to glide through the water: “They are so shiny too; everything about them is stunning.”
Each wall dive begins with a boat journey to a dive site along the reef’s outer edge, and they’re usually conducted as drift dives — where guests move with the current and surface far from their entry point. The boat follows divers’ bubbles from above, while safety markers are deployed before surfacing to alert nearby vessels. Conditions are closely monitored. While wall diving can be suitable for less experienced divers during periods of mild current, Ibrahim notes that the December-to-March season demands greater confidence and control, as currents are typically stronger. The reward is a connection with that rare feeling of infinity, in the way the ocean floor falls away from the cobalts of shallower waters, to a deep, dark blue where fish appear and disappear into the blackness.
For more information or to book a wall diving excursion at COMO Maalifushi, please contact our reservations team at [email protected]
