Baa Atoll

Four or five nights in Baa, timed around Hanifaru Bay

Plan four or five nights in Baa Atoll and decide first where to sleep: a resort island or a guesthouse on Dharavandhoo or Eydhafushi, the capital. Only 13 of its 75 islands have a village. In the manta season, book a licensed Hanifaru Bay trip early and leave room for at least two attempts.

Baa is really three natural atolls under one administrative letter: southern Maalhosmadulu, little Fasdūtherē wedged beside it, and Goifulhafehendhu. The choice that shapes everything is where you sleep. A resort island gives you a house reef outside the villa and a boat to Hanifaru Bay when the bay is open. A guesthouse on Dharavandhoo (the largest island in the atoll) puts you beside the domestic airport for far less money. There is no bar.

• Four nights: two attempts at Hanifaru in season, one sandbank afternoon and a lazy day on the house reef. The mantas follow the plankton, not your schedule, so never plan a single shot at the bay.
• A week: add a morning of diving on the outer reefs, a dolphin cruise at dusk and a boat over to Thulhaadhoo, the island that keeps the old Maldivian lacquerwork craft alive.
• Split stay: three nights on Dharavandhoo while the mantas are feeding, then three somewhere quieter on a resort island. The short domestic flight back to Malé makes the order easy to reverse.

Settle the logistics before the room. Ask the resort or guesthouse which licensed Hanifaru guide they use and how they get their places, because entries to the bay are limited each day. Then compare a seaplane package with a flight to Malé followed by the domestic hop, since the second route keeps working after sunset.

Visas and money are covered in our guide to the Maldives.

Mantas in the wet season and clear water in the dry at Baa Atoll

Baa's two monsoons pull in opposite directions. The north-east monsoon, roughly December to April, gives the clearest water and calmest boat rides, with February the driest month at about 38 mm of rain. The wetter south-west monsoon, from May, is when manta rays gather at Hanifaru Bay, the atoll's headline act.

The northeast monsoon, roughly December to April, gives the clearest water and the flattest boat rides; February is the driest month on the Malé record with about 38 mm of rain. By May the southwest monsoon has turned the sea choppier and pushed rainfall to around 238 mm, while the air stays at 31 to 32°C whatever the month.

Here is the twist. The wet half of the year is Baa's headline act. When the tide pushes plankton into Hanifaru Bay, and on a good day up to 100 manta rays feed there together, sometimes joined by whale sharks. Research suggests most of those whale sharks are young males. Sightings cluster in the southwest monsoon, but numbers vary, so plan five nights and be patient with grey mornings.

Come in the dry months for something else. The atoll became a UNESCO biosphere reserve in June 2011, covering about 139,700 hectares of reef, lagoon and island, and its protection works all year. Catching turtles or taking their eggs is banned on Olhugiri and 11 other islands, and Olhugiri is also one of the very few places in the country where great frigatebirds perch. Snorkellers in January see the same coral the manta crowds see in August, in calmer, clearer water.

Mas huni breakfasts, Thulhaadhoo crafts and reef manners in Baa

Eat like islanders on Dharavandhoo or Eydhafushi, where breakfast is mas huni with roshi flatbread. Thulhaadhoo sells the one souvenir actually made in Baa. Follow the reef rules at Hanifaru Bay, and on inhabited islands keep to conservative dress and remember that alcohol is not served.

Breakfast is mas huni with roshi flatbread; lunch might be garudhiya, the clear tuna broth ladled over rice; mid-afternoon brings plates of hedhikaa, the fried fish snacks such as gulha and bajiya. Tuna sits at the centre of almost everything, a reminder that this is a fishing nation first and a holiday island second.

Thulhaadhoo is the place for a souvenir that actually comes from Baa. The island is the traditional home of Maldivian lacquerwork, and a small lacquered box or bowl made there means far more than anything in a resort shop.

Manners matter on the reef as much as in the village. In Hanifaru Bay scuba is banned during the season and only snorkellers go in, with a licensed guide. Do not touch or chase the animals, and switch off the camera flash before you slip in. Listen to the guide's briefing on where to float, and stay where you are put.