Maldives 2023, part 1 (Maafushi)
It is not difficult at all for a person to wish to go to the Maldives - it is the smallest country in Asia by surface area, covering 298 square kilometres, known for its 26 atolls. An atoll is a term that refers to a circular coral reef, island or group of islands. These are often smaller formations with a shallower part of the sea or ocean in the centre, known as a lagoon. In the case of the Maldives, these 26 atolls are quite large and encompass a total of 1192 islands, which typically meet all the requirements to be called a tropical paradise - sandy beaches and turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean. However, to visit all or even most of these islands would require much more time than the week I spent here. At first glance, I thought it might be too short, but in the end, I was very content. By coincidence, I had been on several longer trips during this period, so a vacation in the Maldives, even so short, was ideal for me.
Precisely because I needed a break, I decided to go on such a trip again as part of a group organised by a travel agency. As much as I love organising my own travels, I have realised that sometimes and for very specific destinations, it is better for me to let others organise the trip and the stay that are relatively straightforward.
However, my stay in the Maldives didn’t just involve lying on the beach, but also some activities and sightseeing. So, here is a map showing all the places and sites I visited during this trip:
There is no direct flight from Belgrade to the Maldives, but that didn’t really matter. The flight to the Maldives went to the international airport located on Hulhulé Island, which is about 1 km away from the island where the capital of the Maldives, Malé, is situated. However, before landing, some islands and sandbanks that make up this exotic Asian country could already be seen.
After passing through the usual border procedure and collecting our luggage, we were greeted by a girl who was our tourist representative in the Maldives. Then, we all went together to the nearby harbour because the main mode of transportation in the Maldives, quite naturally, is a boat. While we were waiting to board, I took some photos of the island and parts of the capital city of Malé, which are located opposite the island with the airport.
Soon I also had a good view at the airport itself and its direct surroundings.
We boarded a larger speedboat and it took about half an hour to get us to the island where we would be stationed for a week, passing by several smaller islands along the way.
My accommodation was on Maafushi Island, which belongs to the South Malé Atoll, and when considering the entire area of the Maldives, this island is somewhere in the middle along the north-south axis. Upon arrival, we disembarked and walked to the hotel, while a small vehicle transferred our luggage.
One partial issue was that we had to wait a couple of hours for the rooms to be ready. It wasn’t a problem with the hotel itself but rather due to the fact that our flight arrived early in the morning as per the flight schedule. Unlike almost all the members of the group who immediately changed into swimsuits and went to the beach or for a walk, I decided to rest. I was wearing the type of clothing that I could easily transform into summer attire, so I didn't feel hot, but I was still tired. I had slept very little and poorly, so I didn’t want to go into the water in such a state. Another reason was that I couldn’t be bothered to start to rummage through my suitcase for sunscreen while sitting at the reception, as the sun in the Maldives is always very strong and sunburns can happen very easily. I had a base tan because I had been on vacation in Greece three months earlier, but I also knew that it wasn’t enough.
When I finally got the room key, I just took a quick photo and then showered before lying down for a short nap. I hadn’t slept long and it seemed enough, so at some point, I got up. I even went to the beach in order to go for a swim. It wasn’t difficult because the hotel was right on the beach.
Upon arriving at the beach, after leaving my belongings on the hotel’s sun lounger, I plunged into the water, which was exceptionally warm. As I lay on the beach drying off afterwards, I noticed several birds, all belonging to the same species. They were Indian crows (Corvus splendens).
After the swim, I also took a short walk along two neighbouring and small bikini-beaches. Namely, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly due to the numerous foreign tourists who come here, the Maldives is a very traditional country, which means that women are not allowed to swim in bikinis on public beaches. Not only are the inhabitants of the Maldives 100% Muslims, but this is also a destination where traditional people from the Middle East and South Asia come, and there the women swim, if they swim, quite covered. The point here is not that Western women have to wear the same swimwear that covers the whole body, but it is enough for them to wear T-shirts with sleeves, as well as swimming shorts when they are not on the “bikini-beaches,” so as not to offend not only the local population, but also the foreign tourists who are more traditionally oriented.
Furthermore, neither women nor men are allowed to walk around settlements half-naked or in swimsuits - both men and women must wear at least shorts and T-shirts. However, some beaches are clearly marked as “bikini-beaches” and then it is allowed for women to swim in swimsuits, such as bikinis.
On inhabited islands, there is usually at least one bikini-beach, while on private islands or those islands where resorts are built, this is not a problem at all and tourists can swim in swimsuits of their choice everywhere. Of course, nudity is not allowed in any place.
In addition to this, alcohol consumption or sale is not allowed in the Maldives. However, this rule does not apply on private islands and at larger resorts or higher-category resorts.
Later on, we had another group meeting to talk about the excursions for the next few days. Some of the excursions were included in the package price, but others were optional, so passengers had to decide what they wanted to do. Before coming here I already knew what I was interested in, so I easily made my decision and paid for the excursions for the following days. What was interesting to me here was the view from the terrace on the top of the hotel where we gathered. The day was slowly coming to an end, so the colours were different now.
From this terrace, I could also see the other, western side of the island, where the sun was slowly getting ready to set.
The island of Maafushi is considered relatively popular, especially due to its convenient proximity to the capital and the airport – it’s about 26 km away. In addition to several hotels, there are also many guesthouses. Therefore, numerous excursions can be booked here and various activities on the island itself are also organised for visitors.
For example, parasailing. I was contemplating whether to go “flying” this way, but I must admit I wasn’t particularly inspired. I had already tried it many years ago in the Seychelles, so I found it more interesting to do other things now. On the other hand, this evening, the atmospheric conditions were such that I could take several very beautiful photos from the terrace on the top of the hotel.
There, on the top of the hotel, where we had coffee, tea and snacks, we also stayed for some time, just enough to witness the sunset.
After this visual enjoyment at the top of the hotel, we went as a group for a walk around the island. It wasn’t tiring or long at all, as the island is only about 1.25 km long, with a maximum width of about 260 m.
I have already mentioned that Maafushi is an inhabited island and it has around 3,000 permanent residents. Additionally, within the atoll, there are uninhabited islands as well as islands with resorts.
One of the specific peculiarities of Maafushi island is that, apart from the permanent settlement, hotels, guesthouses and other facilities necessary for residents and tourists to function, there is also a prison. It is located at the opposite end of the island from the hotel where I stayed and in the evening, its entrance was illuminated as if it were a nightclub.
I enjoyed this walk and I certainly intended to stroll around the island during the day at some point.
Upon returning to the hotel, I went for dinner and then back to my room because my plan was to go to bed very early to rest and adjust to the new time zone. This was important to me because my stay in the Maldives was short and the activities were starting early the next morning.
However, when I already intended to start resting by going to bed very early, a problem arose. Namely, just outside the terrace, evening entertainment started, which involved loud music. I couldn’t believe it.
I started to complain and they told me that the music only played until 11 p.m., which wasn’t really late, but the problem wasn’t at all with that. It was the lack of any soundproofing in the room - it felt like my bed was on the dance floor.
Let me say that I moved to another room the next day, but the problem with excessively loud music continued every evening. I rarely go to bed before 11 p.m., but the point is that I like to spend a peaceful period before turning off the lights. That was absolutely impossible here. Besides needing a certain amount of sleep, it was also important for me to rest enough because my days were quite active and some started early enough that I had to wake up with the alarm on my mobile phone.
This was a huge disappointment and if I had known it would be like this, I would never have gone on this trip. In my mind, the Maldives are a peaceful place where one can potentially get bored and all the time, both day and night, there is general peace and harmony. This is not the case on Maafushi island at all. Just to emphasise, I have nothing against people enjoying themselves in various ways and listening to music for as long as they like. My problem is that I also want to enjoy myself in my own way and not listen to music at all while I’m in such a place - I would have much preferred to listen to the sounds of the sea. In the end, it all came down to the fact that the fairly good hotel where I stayed decided not to invest a single penny in sound insulation. I even said the next day that they could move me to a room that didn’t have a nice view, but had peace and quiet, and the receptionists told me they didn’t have that. Oh, yes... it was a huge disappointment.
But now, let me focus on the things that were beautiful during my stay in the Maldives, namely the various excursions and the overall periods during the day.
To begin with, I woke up in the morning and enjoyed the truly beautiful colours.
Since it was clear, I could see Malé, the capital city of the Maldives, in the distance.
The plan for this morning was to go on our first excursion without bringing anything, as we were going snorkelling on a small reef belonging to the island, so the idea was for no one to stay on the beach to watch over our belongings. On the other hand, we were going to a beach that was not a “bikini-beach,” which meant that women had to be more covered than usual on most beaches I’ve been to in my life.
I already had a long-sleeved swim shirt. I had bought it in Brazil and this has nothing to do with religion, of course. The reason is that I wanted to have something to wear when I go to the tropics where the sun is relentless and it’s easy to get sunburned.
As for the shorts - I had it ready, too. Several years ago, I went canyonering, which involved walking and swimming along a river that flows through a canyon in eastern Serbia. It was organised late in the summer season and I needed swim shorts for practical reasons. Since the offer was limited, I bought some ridiculously colourful and oversized men’s shorts that worked great for me on that canyon trip and proved to be very good here as well.
However, before the group was supposed to gather, I went for a nice and relatively short swim. That’s how it is when you’re in the tropics and your hotel is right on the beach. The warm water for swimming was only about a minute away from my room.
So, when the group got together in the morning, we first went to get the snorkelling equipment. I was prepared for this, as well. By coincidence, I had bought my snorkelling gear in New York before going to Ecuador and the Galapagos, which I’ve written about before (see: https://www.svudapodji.com/en/ecuador-3/). Since then, that gear mostly sits idle at home. When I was packing for the Maldives, it turned out I was taking a relatively large suitcase for just a few items, so I told myself I could bring this snorkelling gear along. It turned out to be a good decision.
With the young man who was taking us on this “excursion,” we went to a beach very close to our hotel. The beach itself looked awful with piles of garbage visible. However, the purpose of this visit was actually for the young man who would be guiding us on snorkelling in the following days to see how each of us snorkels and whether people can do it well. That’s what we were told.
The underwater part of the beach wasn’t in a better state than the dry part, although there was less garbage there (presumably it gets washed up by the waves). However, the formerly numerous corals were completely shattered and long dead. At one point, we reached an area where I first noticed some metal rod structures. Initially, I was confused, but upon seeing another similar structure, I understood what it was - new corals were already forming on it. It seems that this is done to repair the damage that has already been inflicted.
I had heard about this type of problem already back in the day, when I went to Mauritius. Local people want to please the foreign tourists who visit, so they organise various activities that usually involve jet skis and now increasingly personal watercraft, which with their various pollutants (both fuel and noise) completely destroy the corals. Here, they have now decided to improve the situation a bit, but I’m not sure how successful it will be. The garbage on the shore is enough to deter tourists and then nature itself will make sure that the things are brought back to their place.
While we were underwater, we were given the “task” to snorkel while our guide filmed us with an underwater camera. This is now a common practice on excursions in the Maldives, so after the trip, visitors receive a link where they can download either photos or video footage. I encountered some issues (and I wasn’t the only one) because this required having a specific type of mobile phone to download the photos and videos. Luckily, there was Lazar, a very nice young man, who later managed to convert the video footage featuring me, so I could also watch it while in the Maldives. Later, when I returned home, I could download all these recordings to my computer myself, as the links usually last at least a month so tourists can download them when they get back home.
Here’s a video showing my initial snorkelling along that developing coral reef, so you can see the metal structures where corals are beginning to grow.