Name: Aquaventure Manta Lodge - Scuba Divers
Address: Maradhoo Westcoast, 19030 Maradhoofeydhoo, Maldives, Addu Atoll, Addu Atoll, Addu Atoll, 19030, Maldives
Rating: 9

Smoke-free property

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Gan/Seenu Airport

Fumawula

Aquaventure Manta Lodge - Scuba Divers

Addu Atoll

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We spent almost a week in this lodge with Marc and his staff when diving Addu Atoll with his Aquaventure Diving Center. We even didn´t missed window in our room as there was literally HOT outside and pleasant temperature inside with A/C just a bit on. Had a breakfest only here and went to Palm Village restaurant for lunch and dinners. It was surprisingly well priced and awsome food. Also, we had two nicely supplied grocery shops just by with unbelievable price tags. Quite different Maldives experience to heavily overpriced fancy resorts with no option to go out off these "golden cage" except for crazy expensive boat trips.

Nice place, quiet locations, friendly staff

its a place where you feel like home...  
the staff are very friendly and always available to help you! we loved all the moments that we had here! I definitely recommend it and wish to came back again and again!

 lovely place to stay

First time in the Maldives! the most fantastic time and the place is amazing the lodge is beautiful from the warm welcome to the friendly staff we visited for my husbands birthday and it couldn’t have been better 

we stayed in Manta lodge located in Maradhoo, Addu atoll.... it was beautiful inside with 8 rooms, they cleaned everyday and the men cleaning are great really pleasant, I also like the atmosphere of the garden outside and the terrace on the second floor, its so cosy! the lodge was a minute or less (walking) to the beach side where you
 could get such an amazing photos of sunsets which we had the chance to make a lot of times... you could also do it from the relaxing roof where they have some lying chairs where you can enjoy your view from there 

All the staff were so nice and friendly. thanks to them for making our stay unforgettable. We looooved every single second of it we will return for sure

Scuba diving 

My husband and I had our honeymoon dive holiday with Aquaventure Dive Center and Manta Lodge and don't regret our decision and would do it again in a heartbeat. From making the reservation online to getting questions answered via email very quickly, everything was very easy. When we arrived Marc met us and showed us around the Center, the lodge and the island and made us feel like both honored guests and family

We dove with 3 different guides, each one of them was fun and knowledgeable about the sites and gave very detailed dive profiles. Marc, the guide we dove with the most often, was particularly fun and diving with him is like having your head on a swivel. 

our first day we saw at least 5 to 6 different reef sharks, a couple of turtles some were huuuuuge, a couple of eagle rays, different moray eels, and a lot of marine life and healthy corals... Oh and then the second day we got to spend about 30-40 min watching 17 mantas at the famous Addu cleaning station, we dive also on the world-famous wreck ( the biggest in the Malives) the British loyalty it was just Fantastic to be there 

during the surface interval we saw hundreds of spinner dolphins. Just magical. The lodge itself isn't fancy but it is nice and the rooms are sizable. The restaurant and staff are very friendly and accommodating. 
If you go to ADDU ATOLL to dive, use Aquaventure Dive Center and Manta Lodge. You will have a great time!!

Honeymoon trip

I spent at Manta Lodge 3 diving days with my two sons. We were lucky that we were alone there on that week. Mark knows everything about diving and every reef at Addu. During our stay we made 9 daylight dives and one night one. We saw Mantas and sharks from close, many turtles, moray eels, some baracudas and more. We experienced deep diving, drift diving, and visited a huge British wreck ship from the WWII.  Mark and his friendly staff was very flexible and . The atmosphere was relaxing - we got bicycles to travel to the restaurant and the boat, we just knew when and where to go, nothing over-organized or hectic, but still we used our time to maximum. The food at the restaurant was tasty. We will come again.

very personalized experience

Just came back from a great diving trip. I did 9 dives and stayed at the lodge. They provide free usage of bicycles and that was useful for moving around the island. The room was clean and the price was very reasonable for Maldives. I was the only diver in the afternoon on the day I arrived but Marc still took me out to a great dive site. He could have picked an easy option but he didn't. I felt totally safe while diving. I saw a group of manta rays on 3 consecutive days, also saw Napoleon Wrasses, a feathered-tail sting ray, eagle rays, reef sharks, white-tipped sharks, turtles, an octopus, dogged tooth tunas, giant groupers, moray eels.

Professionally run dive operator

Having worked as diving instructors and liveaboard managers in the Maldives a few years back, my husband and I and a couple of other (professional) dive buddies were looking for an affordable place to dive in the Maldives away from the resorts and underwater mass tourism. A former colleague recommended diving with Tom and Marc at AquaVenture.

We got exactly what we were looking for. A quiet, local island free of honeymooners, awesome diving with no more than four other divers (mostly none) on the dive sites, very chilled, no frills accommodation, excellent services by the dhoni crew, great guiding by Marc and his divemaster Black and a very laid back atmosphere altogether.

The first few days of diving the current was a bit off, due to a late change of the monsoon but our last dives were phenomenal. Medium to strong incoming current allowing us to do fantastic dives in the channels and on Manta Point. We saw everything we came for (grey reefs, black and white tips, tunas, eagle rays, stingrays, napoleons, massive schools of trevallies, millions of reef fish, spinner dolphins, mantas and even leaf fish and nudis) except for the tigersharks because we didn't get to dive under the tuna boat, so I hope to catch them next time. 

Despite the fact that it was Ramadan, everybody went out of their way to be of service to us. The Palm Village restaurant where our full-board meals were provided was opened every morning just for us and in the evenings, our dedicated waiter Mohammed Ali (what a legend) would make sure we'd be tended to despite the Iftar chaos. The food was really good with quite a large selection on the menu, considering Addu is in the middle of the ocean and everything needs to be supplied from Malé and overseas. The pastas were good (even approved by my Italian husband) and the curries delicious. Make sure you don't miss out on the mas huni, the traditional Maldivian breakfast. If you are picky about food and need alcohol, I suggest you go to a resort island and pay double or triple for your holiday.

Staying and diving with AquaVenture gives you a much more realistic image of the Maldives and its friendly population, the diving is fantastic and everybody at the lodge and the dive centre is great.

We'll definitely be back! 

Affordable and awesome diving in the Maldives 

when you step into the garden of the lodge you are entering a different world. A well maintained garden clean and cozy lodge with comfortable rooms kitchen and terrace makes your stay comfortable. The personnel is helpful and. Maledives also about diving and if you planning  to do so yo are at the right spot where you getting help to realize your scuba dreams from the first steps till the very advanced ones

a hidden gem of Maradhoo

A trip a year earlier on a Liveaboard around the Northern Ari atoll made us curious about what it would be like in the South of the Maldives. 

Marc who runs Aquaventure is quite social network savvy and he's posted a video intro on the Aquaventure Facebook page that gives a comprehensive view of what Addu has to offer.

This is far from the luxury resorts you find in more developed parts of Maldives, so be prepared for "no-frills" diving. 

The lodge is about a 7 minute walk from the dive centre. It is not on the water front, which is where you board your dive dhoni (boat) daily. Dining is at a restaurant - the Palm Village - another 7 minutes away, so it's a full 15 minute walk from where you sleep to where you eat. 

Food is basic and gets "same-y". Alcohol is not available. 

We found the Indian curries the best bet if the groups are small and meals ala carte. When the group gets bigger, the group buffets became a variation of the same thing over and over again (chicken and fish - one in a sweet and sour sauce with rice and a pasta option) - all plentiful and edible enough.

It's very hot walking from the boat at lunch after the morning dives, as this is normally between 12 noon and 1 pm. Walking back to the lodge post-lunch is even more hot and tiring - but don't let all of this put you off. 

It's good-quality diving - highlights are Manta Point, the British Loyalty Wreck and if the timing's right, the bottom of the tuna processing ship (where fish guts are thrown over) for an unusual experience.

We visited during a period that according to Marc had been particularly bad diving - post-Full Moon but there was a lot of "slack water", so currents were weak and the pelagics were a bit lethargic. We did see mantas ... a few days after we left, a whale shark appeared, but this was supposedly unusual. Missed seeing the schooling jackfish ... but hey, we got spinner dolphins, so we can't complain.

Marc is very very strict about not touching corals ... we got a telling off on our first day after about 6 months of not diving - we were yet to get our "diving legs" back. I think he realised later that we weren't that bad and was very nice to us. He's not averse to telling off other dive guides - particularly those from "safari boats" - if their guests don't behave underwater ... but like a guard dog, his bark is worse than his bite.

He's passionate about the environment and cares for the local community ... so you really can't ask for more.

Highly recommended for a reasonably-priced trip for serious divers - there's really not much else to do. Not suitable for kids.

Reasonably-priced diving in the Maldives is possible

I had been reading a lot about the Addu Atoll and so we decided to give it go. Staying at the Stellar guesthouse and diving with Aquaventure. Upon arrival in Gan we were welcomed by Tom, co-owner of the dive center.A lovely, cheerfull, enthousastic person. We lliked him immediately. Even being very busy he came to check out everyday if everything was ok and took a lot of time to chat us up on local affairs. 
The Stellar is a fine, clean guesthouse and Tom told us thet they plan to renovate it. We loved it as it is. For full board they have an arrangement with the Palm Village restaurant were the food is great and the menu very divers.
At our stay we were the only 2 guests, so we got the vive boat (max 10 divers) and the crew all for us. On top of fantastic diving those guy's made our holiday a complete succes. We had lots of fun chatting and joking together. Thanks Senaa,Faaley, Modin (the captain?) and Jerry on the last dives. 
To sum it up: great diving (yes lots of mantas, rays, sharks etc, fabulous current dives, beautiful hard corals..), very friendly Maldivians (everybody is smiling at you and greeting you when walking the streets), Tom and his team making you regret to leave and making you wish to return asap.

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