Hangnaameedhoo is one of the inhabited islands of the Alif Dhaal atol and with 600 inhabitants it is a lot smaller than nearby Mahibadhoo. Hangnaameedhoo does however, have some guesthouses and restaurants and there is a lot of freediving to do nearby.
How to get to Hangnaameedhoo
From Male you can get to Hangnaameedhoo by public ferry or by speedboat. The speedboat should cost you about 20 USD per person, although your guest house may charge you more for the booking. You can find places to stay on booking.com or airbnb. We stayed in the Kalaafaanu retreat. It does not have the nicest rooms but at 50 USD per night for a double bed it definitely has the cheapest. It overcharges a bit on excursions to make up for the room price but if you just stick to the house reef as we did this is not a problem. There is quite some current along the reef, especially at low tide, which can make it a bit of a chore to come back in.
The Hangnaameedhoo House Reef
The house reef is the reef that is right in front of the bikini beach, on the west point of the island. It is called Mumbaru Reef 1 on Google Maps. However, if you jump in the water where the marker is located, you can use a small channel that was created for a wharf. Here you can get in the water at low tide. At high tide you can swim out wherever. From this entry you can go all the way around the point and end up in front of Uthuru Reef 1, from where you will be able to get back in. As said there is current, when we dove in December the current was to the west, and more pronounced at low tide, but not dangerously so.
Things to see
At the southwestern part of Mumbaru you will find a vertical 20 meter deep wall full of murray eels that has some small cavities (not really caves, but cool nonetheless). Around this reef you will find white tip reef sharks, black tip reef sharks, turtles, eels and more. However, the vertical walls are also where the current is strongest and if you do not dive on slack here you will not be able to hang over the dropoff very fast. Most of the rest of the wall is sloped, but still steep enough to do nice dives to 20 meters along the coral.
