Maldives
Maldives is a country of almost 1200 islands. Somewhere between 150 and 200 of them have private resorts – one resort per island. Another 80 or so islands are inhabited by locals. The actual number is hard to pin down since the numbers change – resorts appear, islands disappear. Yes, islands have disappeared already. Maldives is the first country that may disappear due to rising sea levels from global warming. Much of the land is only about a meter above sea level.
I decided I must visit since I was only a short flight away from the capital, Male, when I ended my Sri Lankan adventure.
Why is Maldives so expensive?
Maldives is known to be a high end, luxury destination. You’ve seen the pictures – turquoise water, white sand, overwater bungalows. These bungalows are built over the water to add space to the island that resort is limited to. You can easily spend a few $000 a night for these resorts. But you can also dive into that turquoise water from your living room! And have your own butler!
But there are alternatives. Before the 1970’s, the only way to stay on the islands was in locally run guesthouses. Nearby Goa, India was overrun with backpackers and drugs were on the rise. The government feared the same thing would happen to Maldives. So, in 1984, guesthouses were shut down, and the only way to stay here was on a resort, to keep foreigners and locals separated. In 2009 guesthouses were made legal again, and now entrepreneurial locals can make a living in tourism.
Resorts, mostly foreign owned, are only obliged to employ 50% local Maldivians, so staying on a local island is a great way to support the residents.
Most international flights go to Male -there are about 20 smaller airports distributed on the islands.
There are three islands right there where you arrive at the Male airport –
- Male, with its city of Male, one of the most densely populated cities in the world
- Hulhule, the airport island
- Hulhumale. Hulhumale is an artifical island, built by pumping sand from the ocean floor. It’s only been around for 20 years, and meant to help overcrowded Male. High rise hotels dominate its skyline. These hotels are for the people who get here too late in the day to get to their accommodation that night.
From there, your resort or guesthouse will arrange for your transportation to their island. The farther away it is, the more you will pay. One of the options I looked at was on the inhabited island of Dhigurah. I could reach Dhigurah by speedboat for a couple of hours ($80), regular flight ($150) or floatplane ($250). The closer island of Thulusdhoo is a half hour shared speedboat ride for $25 US. Or, public ferries are available to the closest islands, for a cost of just a few $!
And of course all supplies to the islands are coming from the main islands. On some less posh resorts, you must pay extra for any drinking water over a bottle or two a day. And you need to drink a lot of water at these temperatures.
On the island of Thulusdhoo, there is a Coke factory that desalinates the sea water for its product, and supplies the island with fresh water at no charge.
Can you do Maldives on a budget?
Absolutely you can, especially if you choose an island close to the airport.
You can take a public ferry for just a few $ to some islands.
You can book guesthouses on local islands for $30.
Excursions, soft drinks, souvenirs can all be very reasonably priced.
How to decide where to go in Maldives
- Resort or inhabited island – do you want luxury, overwater bungalows, or alcohol whenever you want? Then you will want a resort.
- Distance from Male – can you get there by speedboat, or do you need to fly by plane to one of the around 20 smaller airports on the islands, or will you get there by floatplane, the most expensive option?
- Time of day you arrive in Male – can you get there early enough to get transportation to your island the same day? If not, you will need to find accommodation on Male or more often Hulhumale.
- Are you a diver? – so many options with different sights to see. Some islands have a “house” reef just off the coast so you can snorkel without going out in a boat. I am not a diver, tried three times and decided it’s not for me. Snorkeling isn’t my favorite thing either, I just don’t like being under water and having to breathe, but if there’s enough to see I will forget my breathing and it’s good!
- Are you looking for entertainment and nightlife? I think I would be correct to say – then you’re going to the wrong place! Judging from my experience – it’s very laid back, quiet, and relaxing.
- There are liveaboard diving boat options for all budgets if you’re up for that.
- Backpacker type accommodations can be found in Male, to experience the local culture.
I used a local travel agent I found online, Secret Paradise Maldives, to look for a few options. They helped me out but at the end of the day I decided something different from what they recommended.
I chose Reef Edge on the local island of Thulusdhoo, and reserved it on booking.com. It was a great choice for me!
Information to help you plan your trip to the Maldives
I read a lot of reviews and watched youtube videos – a great resource for travel. Memorable information
- the speedboat trips to islands can be two or three hours long, and can be like being inside a washing machine for a few hours
- if you choose to split your trip on more than one island, you will likely have to return to the airport island and wait for transportation to another island, sometimes wasting a whole day.
- boats out for snorkeling trips will alert other boats if they have a good sighting. On a whale shark snorkeling trip, one report told of getting in the water near one of these giants, then people from other boats pushing them down in the water or kicking flippers in their faces as they rushed to get the best view.
- the diving experiences were better the farther you got from Male.
The country is Muslim, and adheres to sharia muslim laws. That means, on the inhabited islands, no alcohol, and wearing bathing suits only at designated “bikini beaches”. Also no pork, no porn, no puppies.
These rules don’t apply on private resorts, only on inhabited islands. And when arriving at the airport.
Two days in the Maldives
I flew from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Male, Maldives on a stopover flight to Bahrain (an island country close to Dubai). I had a window seat, and a great view of Male crowded with high rise buildings, and of some islands. On arrival, I received a free sim card for my phone by inserting my passport in a machine. I didn’t have any need for it, since my guesthouse has wifi and I won’t be going too far away from it, but I wanted to try the machine. I also exchanged some US$ for the local rufiyaa.
My instructions from my guesthouse were to wait at the smoking hut. I wondered what that meant, but it was exactly that, an open air hut just outside the airport where you could smoke. My speedboat ($25 US cost) was booked for 8:30 pm, about two hours after I landed. This wait seemed like an eternity in the dark and humid atmosphere. I was happy I chose the guesthouse I did – my other choice would only book me with a different speedboat company at 10:30 pm, so a four hour wait, and that was the deciding factor for me.
The speedboat trip, in a pitch dark boat filled with about twenty people, took about half an hour. It was a little bouncy but I liked it, I think I even fell asleep for a few minutes! A couple with a surfboard who were waiting at the smoking hut at the same time as me were on my speedboat. I told them I should have known you were also going to Thulusdhoo with that board. This island is famous for its surf breaks, and attracts surfers from around the world, with names for the breaks like Chickens and Cokes.
Thulusdhoo
Arriving at Thulusdhoo, I found a guy driving an extended golf cart who was there to pick me up. At my guesthouse, Reef Edge, several guys helped me with my bags and gave me information about the island. This guesthouse is one of the top two places on the island. I paid about $120 a night, including breakfast, for my room with seaview and deck! There are only 12 rooms. The guesthouse grounds between me and the ocean are low key manicured and really pretty.
I woke to a bit of rain breaking up the heat and humidity (feels like 44, said my phone). I want to go snorkeling while I’m here, and I’m only here for two full days, but through a miscommunication I didn’t know about a green turtle snorkeling tour that morning. Needless to say, I was not very happy. So they set me up for a tour later in the afternoon.
With not much to do – it is so quiet and laid back – I borrowed one of the guesthouse bikes and rode what felt like a long way in the heat. I ended at the better of the two bikini beaches on the island. The other bikini beach is very close to the guesthouse, it’s just a little rocky and shallow. The waters are calm and protected by rocky breakwaters. I wore a tank top and shorts. I didn’t need to be really covered up and conservatively dressed, just not in a bathing suit.
For lunch, I went to an open air spot just a couple of blocks inland from my guesthouse. I ran into the couple with the surfboard on the speedboat and had lunch with them. They were from Brazil, living in Dubai. From there they travel all over southeast Asia and the middle east, sometimes just for the weekend. Some people’s lives!
Snorkeling in Thulusdhoo
Back at the guesthouse, the guy with the extended golf cart came to take me to the dock at the other side of the island for my snorkeling tour. It turned out I was the only one on the boat with a driver and a snorkel guide. The green turtles had left for the day, but there was a lot to see – hiding eels, big ugly fish, beautiful brightly colored fish, schools of smaller blue fish. I was nervous being in the water snorkeling for the first time in years, and having to swim to keep up with the guide, so he held my hand the whole time! Cost of the snorkeling trip was $30 US, and I added another $5 since I was the only person and had my hand held.
The next day my afternoon snorkeling trip was to see sharks and stingrays. This time I was with a group, two couples, one couple from Brazil living in Shanghai, the other couple, not Indian, living in Bangalore, India. (There is a big political spat right now between Maldives and India so I wasn’t likely to see any Indians, even though it is very close).
We had a long boat ride, taking a big loop past islands with overwater huts, and ended up in view of Male and its two sister islands with the airport and hotels. Our first stop was a reef, where we swam to see sharks a few feet long. They are nurse sharks – “vegetarian”, said our guides. Back in the boat and on to our second stop, close to an island with a fish processing plant that throws chum in the sea, where we snorkeled with lots of stingrays – “not dangerous just stay away from the tail”. A great day in the water and no one got hurt!
Things to do in Thulusdhoo
The next morning, I again hopped on a bicycle to check out the town I’m staying at the edge of. I rode past schools, playgrounds, a few shops, some new construction higher than any existing buildings. I wonder if there is Chinese investment coming here as it is in Sri Lanka, to change the tourist experience.
As I rode along, I had a finger shaken at me to get to the other side of the street – even on an island with no cars, one must be on the left side of the road! One of my stops was at my second choice for a guesthouse, and the most luxurious option on the island, Seasons Paradise. It is a proper hotel with reception, elevators, a gift shop, and a pool on the roof (the only pool on the island). But the pool area has no relief from the blazing sun, so I’m not sure how much I would have used it.
I went to the bikini beach just steps away from my guesthouse. It was not great for swimming since it was really shallow, but I paddled a bit and sat in the warm water, and on the white sand beach under shady trees.
And I spent some time with the kittens at my guesthouse, who would curl up in plant pots to sleep away the afternoon. So cute! There are lots of cats on the dusty town streets.
No alcohol, so what are my options?
At the end of my first day, I walked down still, unlit streets for a few blocks to find a grocery store (for canned drinks since I can’t have my usual wine). I found a cute little shop with the owner’s driftwood carvings and other souvenirs – I bought a carved turtle for about $12. Normally I wouldn’t go down streets that dark, but didn’t hesitate here on this tiny island with friendly people.
I tried a mocktail mojito with dinner at my hotel, and it was a sugar-filled concoction that gave me more of a headache than a lot of alcohol would.
At the end of my second day, I asked my guesthouse guys to get me to the “floating bar”. The bar is a big boat sitting out in the middle of a few islands, and alcohol is served! A floating bar is available from just a few local islands, not all.
I got in a little motorboat, $10 return, to reach the floating bar five minutes away. There were a few people there, watching the sunset, then some dancing on the deck with their music playing. I had a $10 cocktail and as soon as I was finished asked for the boat back. Then I could sit on my deck and read a book with a $1 bitter lemon drink that tasted better.
The trip home from my island
And after that short trip it’s time to go. I’m a little sunburned from my last day out on the boat and the beach, and it’s so hot, that I didn’t even leave my deck. I just read until 2:00 since the nice guys at Reef Edge let me have a late checkout.
Shuttle to the dock, speedboat to the airport, wait, fly to Dubai, wait until 4 am, a 16 hour flight (ugh!), then a 3 hour flight and I’m home after almost 36 hours. Always the worst part of a trip!