You may be off to the Maldives and you’d like to know if great White Sharks live there. Let’s take a look…
So are there great white sharks in the Maldives? There are no great white sharks in the Maldives as great whites prefer cooler waters. The waters around the Maldives are 28-30°C (82-86°F) and great white sharks prefer coastal and offshore waters with water temperatures between 12-24°C (54-75 °F) instead. Instead of white sharks you’ll see 27 other shark types.
The above answer may disappoint you if you’re hoping to see great white sharks. But on the other hand it may be a relief if you’re scared of great whites.
The best way to dive the Maldives is by a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on Maldives liveaboards using the following window:
But you may like to read an interesting find, which is towards the end of this article. Does this go against what we all thought about The Maldives and Great White Sharks, or is there an explanation?
As an aside, in this article about where to find great white sharks, you may be as surprised as I was to discover some of the places where you find great white sharks! Place number 6 is the one that surprised me the most, but if you live in the States, you may be more surprised at places two, three and four.
But first, just because there are no great white sharks in the Maldives, this doesn’t mean there are no sharks at all.
Also, please don’t leave before you watch the video in this article! When you’ve got your answer about great white sharks in the Maldives, you may like to watch the video on this article too. I almost don’t want to spoil the end of the video, so all I will say is it involves a carcass, many sharks and a single grouper…you may be surprised at what happens, I certainly was!
If there aren’t any great white sharks in the Maldives, what sharks can be seen?
There are around 27 different shark species identified as living in the Maldives. These include hammerhead sharks, oceanic whitetips, blacktip and whitetip reef sharks, nurse sharks and grey reef sharks.
This is particularly at Ayada where the accommodation is over the lagoon. You can even snorkel among them as these baby sharks are totally harmless. They are more likely swim away from you if you get too close.
27 types of sharks in the Maldives (The list doesn’t include Great White Sharks)
It’s perfectly safe to scuba dive with all of the above shark species. Also, and if you worried, most of the sharks listed here are only seen when you scuba diving away from the resorts.
But even then you’ll be very lucky to see even half of the above list of sharks on a dive trip to the Maldives.
Is it safe to swim in Maldives?
It is safe to swim in The Maldives. Which means that even if sharks were dangerous to humans (which they are generally not), you are safe to swim and snorkel in the waters around your resort.
However, whilst sharks don’t pose a risk when you swim in the Maldives, the seas around the Maldives have some strong tidal currents. So be careful as a few foreign nationals drown each year and take advice before you enter the water in the Maldives.
Are there big sharks in the Maldives?
There are big sharks in the Maldives, with the biggest shark of them; the whale shark (included below is a link to a page with the best times to visit and dive The Maldives for seeing whale sharks).
There are other big sharks, which include blacktip reef sharks, hammerheads, nurse sharks and even the odd large bull shark.
Sharks in the Maldives are not considered to be dangerous. All sharks have the potential to be dangerous towards humans, but often this is when they are provoked by being touched or by spear fishing.
There’s no history of any shark attacks in the Maldives. So whilst many of the sharks sharks are dangerous to their prey, when it comes to humans sharks usually swim away.
Hammerheads and reef sharks are the most common sharks in the Maldives, neither of which are aggressive towards humans if they’re not provoked.
This video is possibly the closest you’ll get to see of a shark attack in the Maldives. By the way it’s not an attack on a human, these sharks are feeding on fish scraps!
There are definitely bull sharks in the Maldives. If you look at where the Maldives lies in the Indian ocean, it’s east of the African coast and west of Sri Lanka where bull sharks are seen in both places. It makes sense bull sharks are in the Maldives too.
Still not convinced? Take a look at the video below showing a bull shark at Muli Corner Meemu Atol. Bull Sharks have also been spotted at Manta Point but are not regular visitors.
Massive Bull Shark in Maldives I had the luck to see this majestic shark in a shallow water at Muli Corner, Meemu Atoll.
Tagged great white shark pings near The Maldives
Eco shark tour company in South Africa African Shark Eco-Charters posted that a tagged great white shark has pinged off The Maldives. This happened back in April 2012. The great white pinged is a female called Kathryn (which kind of makes her sound friendly). At the time she was found to be in the region she was 4.5 metres in length (15 feet) and weighed 1,102 kilos (2,430lbs)!
The area where she pinged is Chagos Archipelago (A British Indian territory), which is some 650 or so kilometres (406 miles) south of the most southern atoll of the Maldives archipelago Addu Atoll.
The reality is still the same as what I explained at the start of this article. Great white sharks don’t live in the seas around The Maldives. The waters are too warm, as they prefer the colder waters south of this part of the Indian Ocean.
Explanation about why a great white shark was near (i.e. 650 kilometres away) from The Maldives
But there may be an explanation for this great white being near to Chagos Archipelago (and not far from there Maldives!), which is upwelling of cold water. It would appear that Chagos is situated in a key region of climate variability.
Chagos lies at the eastern margin of an oceanic feature known as the ‘Seychelles–Chagos thermocline ridge’.This thermocline rises close to the surface where an upwelling of cold water from below the thermocline occurs.
The Kathryn the great white may be using this cold water thermocline as a passage to find food. But the same cold water does not reach The Maldives, so it’s highly unlikely great whiter sharks will ever reach the Maldives.
If you are interested to find out about liveaboard diving The Maldives, you may want to take a look at this page about liveaboard diving in The Maldives. The article includes details about the best time to visit and dive the Maldives, along with a table of the features for all Maldives Liveaboards too.
Please don’t forget to take a look at this article about where to find great white sharks, you may be as surprised as I was to discover some of the places where you find great white sharks! Place number 6 is the one that surprised me the most, but if you live in the States, you may be more surprised at places two, three and four.
I hope you enjoyed this article about are there great white sharks in the Maldives
I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkelling. Please use the comments section below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof go-pro’s!
If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkelling or scuba diving (or specifically about are there great white sharks in the Maldives), please comment below with your questions.
There will also be many more articles about scuba and scuba diving safety tips (and on snorkelling too) for you to read and learn about this fabulous sport.
Have fun and be safe!
Are There Great White Sharks In The Maldives? (Is It Safe To Swim And Dive?)
Related Posts:
Are There Great White Sharks In Pensacola? There are great white sharks in Pensacola from possibly around late November through to April, when the waters off the coast off Pensacola in the Gulf of Mexico drop to the preferred…
Are There Great White Sharks In The Red Sea? There are no great white sharks in the Red Sea, as whilst the waters in the Red Sea range from 21-30°C (69-29°F), which drops to the great white sharks temperatures range of…
Why Are There So Many Great White Sharks In Cape Cod? The reason why there are so many great white sharks in Cape Cod is because of the increasing numbers of protected grey seals and because the water temperature from July to October…
Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.
