Backpacking in the Maldives - How is it possible?

I'm sitting at Helsinki - Vantaa airport again. This time way before the boarding starts - feeling a bit anxious and excited. After all it’s the first time in years traveling alone again. The Maldives will probably be pretty awesome but it’s a f**king honeymoon destination. What am I doing there - alone? Well the answer is that I don't have a clue. It was a dark and miserable weekened in March when I just happened to see on Lentodiilit Facebook page that the flights to Maldives were only 500€. So I booked them without thinking of anything else. Impulsive person much? Whatever I’ve gone through worse situations, this should be a piece of cake, I thought. I had been working pretty hard the previous weeks (months) so I hadn’t really slept properly in weeks. Going to the Maldives and the different activities it offers had been the motivation for all that time and now I just wanted to sleep and relax once I get there. By the way there are some tips for traveling to Maldives (at a budget) at the end of this post so unlike me you hopefully don't have to think what to do there..

At least the first flight went pretty smoothly just sleeping and watching movies. I had a four hour layover in Istanbul (shithole) airport. This was the fifth time in the Istanbul airport in a year and I still don’t like the place. It’s too small and packed and there’s no free Wi-Fi or a place where you could relax. Well as long as Turkish Airlines offers crazy cheap flights to Asia it's allright to spend a few hours there. Fortunately I met a fellow Finn and his wife on the way to Istanbul and we decided to have a beer or two at the airport so that wasn’t too bad this time. The second flight was pretty nice too, Turkish Airlines is actually a good airline and they served pretty good meals – for airplane food. I was actually really full because it's only a 7,5 hour flight to Maldives and they served two meals. Ugh! There was also a bit of an emergency on the second flight. I saw that there were a lot of people gathered around the back of the plane and then the flight attendants asked the passengers if someone by any chance was a doctor. It looked pretty serious so hope no one died at least. Oh and they found a doctor too who had a medical kit with him!

The plane landed in Malé at 11:30 am on Thursday morning. Some advice if you’re traveling to the Maldives: Always book a window seat for the last flight so you can watch the beautiful atolls and turquoise water. Of course I had booked the seat on the aisle. Fail! At least my luggage hadn’t been lost so it was time to try to find the ferries.

The Malé airport isn't actually located in Malé but the next small island called Hulhulé. You need to get a ferry (again) from there to Malé itself. And the distance is only about 500 meters. Once I got to Malé I found out that you need to find the right place out of hundreds of ferry and speed boat terminals. The ferry to Guraidhoo and Maafushi leaves from Villigili jetty terminal which is on the other side of the island. You’ll probably want to get a cab as it’ll only cost $2 and you need to be there on time as there are only 2 ferries a day. The other one is a public ferry and the other one a private ferry. They cost about the same but the taxi driver just told me to go to the ticket counter and ask how to get there. When I tried to get a ticket to Guraidhoo the rude lady just said that it’s full. When I tried asking if there’s another way to get to Guraidhoo she just said not really and looked like she doesn’t give a fuck. Some other people from Spain got the same answer. However then I walked to the pier and saw an almost empty ferry and asked a local dude where that one was going. He said “Guraidhoo”. I then asked him how’s that possible – I was told they’re full. It turned out only the public ferry was full and the lady at the counter was probably having a bad day. Or maybe she just didn’t know what customer service is. Phew!

After a two and half hour ferry trip (and 24 hours after leaving home) with the boat full of bananas and gas cylinders I arrived in Guraidhoo. The hotel owner actually saw me at the ferry and walked with me to the hotel. Or maybe a lodge would be a better name. Oh boy I hadn’t missed shower this much since Nepal. After the much needed (cold) shower I wanted to find a place to get something to eat. I got directions to go to the “Café Amoré” right next to the hotel. They said it’s the only so called restaurant in the island. What place is this? Later on I found out that there are at least two more restaurants but yeah, the island is small and remote. After some surprisingly cheap ($3) rice and seafood it was time to get a goodnight sleep. I can’t remember when was the last time I went to bed at 9 pm but that night I did. And slept well for the first time in weeks. Until they started singing really loud at 4:45 am. I hadn’t seen that there is a mosque right next door and later on I learned that they have to pray 5 times a day here. So this was the first time. But why can’t they do it in the morning, nights are for sleeping right? Fortunately the earplugs worked.

Guraidhoo

People waiting for the ferry at Guraidhoo

On the second day I really noticed how small Guraidhoo really was and on top of that there were only a few tourists – which was a good thing. But like I had feared it seemed I was the only one traveling alone and for the first days there were only Russian honeymooners staying in the same place. They didn’t even say hi at breakfast. I was thinking that maybe after all I’m gonna sleep the whole 10 days. At least my batteries would be charged. Surprisingly I was very happy to notice that the hotel staff took me in to their activities. First we went fishing and they cooked me dinner of the fish I had caught. The next day they invited me for a dinner with them and even wanted to pay the dinner. All the locals were really friendly and most even said hi when passing by on the street – unlike the Russians before.

Catching dinner

The dinner itself

So the first couple of days I just went snorkeling and visited the only beach where you can take your shirt off/wear bikinis if you want to get some tan. In order to get to beach, you need to walk/swim to another island. It’s only 20 meters away from Guraidhoo but in Guraidhoo they don’t have a so called bikini beach. Maldives is an Islamic country and you’re not even allowed to show your shoulders or thighs. The bikini beach was at another island so this doesn’t apply and tourists can sunbathe there. How convenient!

Getting to the Bikini beach

Lhosfushi aka Bikini beach

Also as it is an Islamic country, you’re not allowed to bring or drink any alcohol. Which was fine for me but it made the nights there pretty boring because after dinner there was nothing to do. I guess it's worth mentioning that all the expensive resorts you guys have seen are located in their own private islands so there you can do pretty much whatever you want but that’s not the local culture – it’s just like everywhere else (except the view). Personally I like to get to know the real local culture and don’t want to let myself go that easily. As boring it is to say this but traveling (not to a resort) really broadens your perspective on things and usually you appreciate the little things more after the trips. Like hot shower or tap water you can drink. I wouldn’t have even thought about these things if I didn’t travel. It seems like (western) human being always wants more and is never happy about things – no matter how good your things are. That’s why once in a while it’s good to get back to basics and I promise after that you won’t complain about little things anymore. I remember how happy I was in when we were hiking in Nepal this year. You just walked, ate and slept. Well of course the scenery was just awesome but still. There were no worries about unnecessary things. I guess all the well-being gurus are right; you only need exercise, food and rest to be happy. And mountains in my case.

After that preach it’s time to write what happened on Sunday. Sunday morning was pretty nice as there were new people staying at the hotel and we spent pretty much the whole day together snorkeling, swimming, having dinner and walking around the island. It was a really fun and relaxing day. We also kind of already decided to open a hostel/activity center in the Maldives in the future. But you’ll probably hear more about that later.

Streets of Guraidhoo

Thanks to Maria and Lindsay I decided to get the 7am ferry to Maafushi Island on Monday morning. They were leaving to Malé then and I decided to go with them; to say bye and also visit a new island. Maafushi was a nice island with a really nice beach. But it was much more touristic and even smaller than Guraidhoo. I took some pictures and walked around the island twice and it was only 8:30 am. Shit what would I do – the ferry back to Guraidhoo leaves at 4:30 pm. As some of you know I’m not the most patient person so I booked combination tour of snorkeling, dolphin cruise and a lunch at a pretty sandbank. And then they also promised to drop me off at Guraidhoo so I didn’t have to take the ferry. How convenient! The snorkeling was pretty much shit but at least I saw a big reef shark. Or I’m guessing it was a reef shark. It was a shark anyway. It was great to see dolphins again, they somehow cheer you up when you see them play. Also the sandbank was nice with the turquoise water. So all in all it was a good decision not to stay at Guraidhoo.

Maafushi tourist beach

You'll most likely see these when snorkeling in the Maldives

The sandbank

Maafushi tourist (bikini) beach

The next morning I took the 7am ferry again and went to Maafushi to get the pictures from yesterday’s snorkeling. Like mentioned, the only ferry would go back to Guraidhoo only at 4:30 pm so I would need to figure out something to do as the clock was only 10:30am when I got the pictures. Then I met a lady from Egypt and helped her to get her mandatory beach pictures and then talked a little about traveling and religions. It was actually quite an interesting conversation. After that I wanted to go jet skiing and went on a snorkeling/jet skiing tour. We had a bit of a “discussion” with the instructor when I floored the Jet Ski over some big waves and he wasn’t too impressed. Clearly he didn’t know I’ve driven them before although I tried to explain that this is how I always drive.  After that it was just a waiting game until the ferry would leave. I had some seafood for lunch which was actually a welcome change from the food on Guraidhoo. You would think that they serve the best seafood here as they have the Indian Ocean on their backyard. But no! They have burgers, pizza, nasi goreng/fried rice and all the other traditional Asian foods. No, I could eat that at home too, I want fresh seafood! That would be something to think about as I think I’m not the only tourist thinking the same.

At this point I need to mention the rain. It rained almost every day in the afternoon. It wasn't too bad, actually the cooling effect was pretty pleasant. But the fact how hard the rain was - I've never seen a rain that hard. It actually hurt to go out when the rain drops hit you. After a 20 minute rain shower the streets were just flooding.

Seafood platter and papaya juice

The streets of Maafushi after a rain shower

On Wednesday I was so tired that I just decided to have a late breakfast at 9 am (you always had to tell the night before when you want your breakfast and what kind – I always took the Maldivian breakfast which was far better than the continental one) and chill the whole day. After breakfast I decided to sleep a bit more and at noon went to the bikini beach. The sun was shining and I thought I’d get a good tan now. Well you guessed it - I burnt my nose and back. It’ll turn to tan eventually so no worries. After I got back to the hotel I met a Swedish couple staying at the same place. They were at a work trip actually and the guy Johannes was helping the locals to fix their electricity systems. So I hang out with his girlfriend that afternoon as she had nothing to do while her boyfriend was working. And I got some practice for my rusty Swedish skills. I went to dinner again to the Amoré café and decided to try something different and ordered an omelet with tomatoes and grilled fish. Well I got beef and an omelet without tomatoes. Close enough.

After dinner I was just trying to figure out something to do as there is no nightlife. So I read the book about Elon Musk I had with me and watched Limitless on my laptop. While I was watching the movie I decided that I would try scuba diving on Friday. We only live once right!

Maldivian breakfast

On Thursday I had a late breakfast (again) and then I went to the bikini beach (again). This time I actually bumped into a few baby sharks at the beach and almost stepped on an eagle ray hidden in the sand. I guess this is the best part of Maldives, I haven’t seen that anywhere else in the world! I also noticed that for the first time that there were some waves and the tide was high so I ran back to the hotel and rented a surf board. Although the tide was high it was still difficult to get out from the reef as it was so shallow. I got some nasty cuts on my feet on the way and still it was difficult as the waves broke just before the reef. But I managed to get at least one good wave. I was pretty happy with that still as it had been 3 years since I surfed the last time. After surfing I went to Manta divers and booked the introductory dive for Friday. They had all kinds of forms to be filled stating that they are not responsible if I die and there was a list of all kinds of dangers diving has. Well nice to know, thanks!  I’m glad at least the instructors were nice, relaxed guys. After that it was time to watch another movie and hope to get some sleep before the big day.

A baby reef shark at the reef

Surfing at Lhosfushi

I was pretty nervous on Friday morning when walking to the dive shop. After all there would be so many new things to learn and I wasn’t sure how I could equalize the pressure as I had had so many ear infections as a kid and back then they always needed to pop the ear drums. Hope it wouldn’t affect in any way. At the shop we went through the techniques and what skills I had to master before they would let me dive deeper. At first I had to learn how to clear the mask of water under the water. Because sometimes the mask may leak. After that I had to get the regulator out and put it back and blow the water out of the regulator. The most difficult one for me was to take the regulator out, throw it behind your back and try to find it while also trying to stay calm. I passed and it was time dive deeper. I was diving with an instructor and a couple from Germany. They were doing their internships in Sri Lanka and decided to fly to Maldives to do the PADI course. The diving was actually really fun when you got used to it and could relax and just look at the beautiful corals, fish, turtles and everything there is to see. Now I understand what people are talking about. After the dive I’d love to go on another dive but unfortunately cash was running out and there’s no ATM Guraidhoo and you can’t pay with a credit card either. Anyway the introduction dive was pretty cheap compared to some other places, only $ 70. I would recommend it to everyone visiting the Maldives! Oh and equalizing the pressure was easy, it seemed I had worried about nothing.

Diving was awesome!

I had a hard time remembering what I did on Saturday – the last full day in the Maldives. I guess I didn’t do anything spectacular, after the diving at least. In the morning I went to the bikini beach to walk at the reef when the tide was high and spotted at least 5-6 baby reef sharks, couple of rays and 4-5 eels. God how ugly those eels were!

That was an eel I guess. Damn ugly bastard

The truth about the paradise islands was really revealed later that afternoon when I was walking at the beaches. You could see empty plastic bottles everywhere and see the locals burning the trash. Once in a while you could hear an explosion when plastic or something else exploded. Safe and ecological huh? So I guess not even the Maldives is a paradise after all. Hope they would play more attention to recycling in the future in order for the future generations to get to witness these white beaches too. Maybe it's the money and lack of knowledge. In that case I think we as the "rich westerners" should also help them to do that. That would be a good business idea for someone?

The rest of the evening was just a formality paying for the hotel and the trips and getting to bed early. The alarm would be at 6 am the next morning because the only ferry to Malé leaves at 7 am.

I knew that Sunday would be a long day but I couldn’t imagine it would be so boring. I was at the main island, Malé at 9:30 am and my plane would leave at 11:55 pm that day. I walked around the whole island in an hour, went to watch the fish market and the huge yellow fin tunas they had gotten in the morning. And that was pretty much it, Malé really isn’t that interesting island. So I decided to take the ferry to Hulhule which is the airport island. I left my baggage there and took a bus to another island called Hulhumalé. At first I didn’t know they were even different islands but they are – separated only by a bridge. But I noticed that they had a beach there and decided to try to enjoy the sun as long as I can. Well it was so hot there that I came back after 2 hours. Remember people – don’t pack your swimming shorts/bikini before you’re going to Hulhumalé. You actually can swim there so it doesn’t get that hot. Lesson learned.

After that it was just a waiting game for the next 6 hours at the airport and there’s really nothing to do. There’s no Wi-Fi or shops where you could get even water. Well at least they have Burger King but I decided not to touch any junk food on this trip so I had the usual dinner/lunch – rice and seafood again. But it tasted and looked pretty weird this time. I guess I should’ve stick to Burger King because after getting home my stomach was pretty messed up for the next few days and got a flu also. Well anyway the trip was definitely worth it!

After looking back on the trip I should’ve done more research on the islands because it was a mistake to book a room from Guraidhoo for the whole 10 days. I strongly recommend island hopping and staying in different islands while you’re staying in the Maldives. The ferries are cheap and there’s always that excitement going to a new place. Guraidhoo is a small island and you can see it all in one day.

If I decided to visit Maldives again I would stay on a luxury boat for the whole time. I saw a lot of diving courses where they just stay at the boat the whole time and can also do island hopping. I heard that there are similar things for surfers too. It looked like fun at least and reminds somehow of the trip to Antarctica.

Could've stayed there. That's a diving yacht

How to travel Maldives on a budget

• Look for cheap flights way in advance and be ready to book them quickly. Be flexible with the dates 
• Take a local ferry from Malé, not a speedboat especially if you’re staying at Maafushi or Guraidhoo. Well yeah it takes a bit more time but it only costs $2 to get there, compared to the $200 what a speedboat would cost 
• The flight to Malé will land on a separate island and you need to get a ferry to get to Malé where the other ferries leave. It costs $2. 
• Stay at a local island, not at a resort. You can get a good accommodation for as cheap as 30 – 40$ per night. The backpacking scene has just started in Maldives as only after 2009 the local residents could have established their own B&B type of places
• Make sure breakfast is included in the room price and usually it’s that filling that you can also skip lunch if you time it right.
• If you want to do different activities, though the islands are small but it’s a good idea to ask for offers from many different places. Almost all B&B places have their own activities and tours.
• If you’ve got to know your fellow travelers already, try to negotiate them to take the same trips with you on the same day in order to get more people in. It’ll always be cheaper the more people will be there.
• The activities might be cheaper on other islands and the ferries are cheap. For example a snorkeling tour to Turtle Point would’ve cost $75 in Guraidhoo and when I took the ferry to Maafushi I got a trip to Turtle Point and some other snorkeling place + a lunch at a beautiful sandbank and dolphin watching cruise for $35. So you might not want to stay in Guraidhoo the whole time.
• Check once in a while how much you’ve spent. They tend to organize trips and meals without telling how much it will cost. So ask for the cost and write it down. Otherwise you might have an unpleasant surprise when checking out.
• Also don’t change your money back home to dollars or rufias. They have an ATM at Malé and also most of the islands. You’ll just end up losing unnecessary money for the exchange companies. I lost almost 100$ just because of converting euros to USD at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Again should’ve googled a bit more but hope you’ll learn from my mistakes. 
• I spent a total of $1400 for a 12 day trip to Maldives, including flights from Finland, accommodation, food and all the trips and activities. So Maldives doesn’t have to be the super expensive destination.

Until the next trip,

Ville