Noohiri lives up to its 5 star PADI rating! Highly recommend for both beginner and experienced divers!! Liveaboards do not travel these local dive sites and house reefs so you are not going to double up on the same site. Ferhidoo / Ari Atoll is a great place to start your trip and decompress from a long flight. The last half of my trip was at a resort island with a house reef shore diving. Unfortunately, in hindsight I should have stayed at Noohiri to complete my advanced diving certification.
If you need dive training, plan/allow yourself to stay a week. If you are experienced, allow at least 4 days minimum to hit all the hot dives sites. With better planning you should get 3 dives a day.
My trip/experience: With less than 3 weeks to plan an impromptu trip to the Maldives, I knew I needed to learn how to scuba dive to get the full Maldives experience. My local dive shop in Alaska was completely booked out for 2 months, and classes were all set up in a group setting for 10 divers, and a private instruction in Alaska was cost prohibitive, and I really had no interest in dry suit training for cold water diving. While looking for scuba diving schools in the Maldives, I narrowed down my search by shying away from resorts, busy islands flooded with tourists, and island’s surrounded by open ocean and fast currents. My 2-day search then extended to quality house reefs, and potential to an abundance of aquatic life, and Noorhiri Dive School on Ferhidhoo Island in the Ari Atoll stood out.
I used Google Earth/Maps to assist in my exploration effort for each island I considered. I was absolutely shocked to see so many “all inclusive resorts” near Male that had views of heavy barge traffic and periphery industrial zones. The moral of the story is the further away from Male the better.
Before I arrived to Feridhoo, I completed all of my open water diving instruction on the PADI eLearning App. I allowed an entire week on Feridhoo so I could complete basic in water training, plus 2 days weather contingency. The entire in-water class was private instruction with Claudio. He took his time to make sure I understood all of the skills before going in the water for skills training. Upon completion of the course I still had two more days on the island where I was able to continue diving at various house reefs. I was very thankful I added a few extra days to my island stay so I was able to continue working on the fundamental skills and progression with the local diving guide, Mukhuthar, one-on-one (mid-November), for a very private and custom one-on-one experience. Had I gone to any other diving school it more than likely would have been with a group, and would not have been as personable experience. The currents around Feridhoo can vary, depending on dive site, from mild to medium, even while approaching full moon tides.
I was completely blown away by the variety of aquatic life and and the several house reefs nearby Ferhidoo, and feel like when I go to other dive sites around the world that I will disappointed that they will not compare to the Maldives experience I had. Feridhoo was a wonderful way to start my trip with a very “local” and laid back feel. For Feridhoo Island, I will extend a recommendation to stay at Ayira, they live up to their 10 out of 10 rating for the accommodation and the Maldivian breakfast they serve is perfect for two 50 minute dives.
For new/beginner divers wanting to take their first PADI class here, definitely plan to do open water and Nitrox and enriched air courses while here which is a natural progression. After my resort experience, I should have stayed at Noohiri to complete my Advanced Diving course. Which would have taken an extra 2-3 days.
Again, Ferhidoo is a great local island to start on the Maldives to get a few extra days before a Liveaboard if that is your program. – via 
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