A birthday in Maldives

Once you start traveling, you never want to stop. Funds or no funds, its addictive! So, in keeping with a little family tradition of using the school holidays around my birthday to do a family trip, this year we chose Maldives or Malé as it is called after it's capital city/island.

 

 

While checking for flights we found Air Asia to be one of the cheapest though it had a 1 hr layover in KL. Singapore airlines flew direct but was much more expensive. We booked for Air Asia but later on saw that Saudia had a direct flight from Singapore which was closer to cost of AirAsia and might have been a better option.

Also, we were pleased about the fact that Malé required no visa for most countries including India for a stay of upto 30 days. As long as we had forward tickets, a place to stay and sufficient funds, we were allowed into the country.

Another reason, we chose Malé was that our tip was planned towards the end of October. That is towards the end of the Monsoon season and beginning of tourist season which lasts all the way up-to May. So we expected reasonably fine weather and low prices.

Once we narrowed in on Malé, I started checking out blogs to shape our itinerary. 

Since Male is comprised of a mind boggling 1200 small islands arranged in various atolls; choosing which ones to visit and for how long can be quite formidable, a task.

Luckily, Malé is a well-visited destination which celebrated 50 years of it's tourism industry in 2022. That's a lot of blogs, catering to all needs.

We found one on traveling with children which recommended the island of Gulhi.

The pics were nice and there was some good advice on carrying appropriate snorkeling gear. Rasdhoo was the other island that struck our fancy. It is an atoll towards the Western side of Maldives.

 

We then checked out the mode of travel between atolls which was either ferry(cheaper and slower but the best way to mingle with locals) or speedboats(more expensive and touristy but faster). 

We chose guest houses in Gulhi (Gurus) and Rasdhoo (Summer Vibes Beach Front) opting for the more local flavor and avoiding the expensive, isolated island resorts.

Our flight to Male via KL landed late in the night.

We hired a taxi from just outside the airport for 6$(USD) which took us to our lodgings at Hulumale

It was Three inn on Nirolhu Magu road, which was just a 10 min drive from the airport.

The room we got was fairly comfortable and we settled in for the night. We had booked a speed boat transfer to Gulhi through Gurus, guesthouse in Gulhi, as recommended by the blog. The speedboat would leave at 12 noon the next day  from Male ferry jetty.

We were in Maldives during the tail end of it's Monsoon season and were a bit apprehensive of our holiday being ruined by rains. However, we were lucky and awoke to a bright sunny morning the next day.

After having a complimentary breakfast of toast, omelette and fruit, we headed out to check out our surroundings. We had time to kill as the speedboat transfer from Male was only at noon.

It was a sunny day and as we wandered around Nirolhu Magu, appreciating the well planned main road and pathways. It was a pretty, well planned road. 

 

We met people from Bangladesh, India, China and Nepal employed in and owning many of the business establishments along this main arterial street.

 

 

 

 

We slathered ourselves with sunscreen to avoid sunburn as we headed to the beach which stretched out in front of the hotels on the Nirolhu Magu.

That's where we saw the other mode of transport between the atolls. There were seaplanes  zipping above us quite frequently.

The beach in Hulumale was bright and beautiful but we did not see a lot of people there. 

We walked a stretch of the beach before returning to our hotel to check out. Our hotel reception called us a Taxi back to Ferry Terminal in Male from where we had to take our speed boat to Gulhi.

 

On the way to the Ferry Terminal, we crossed the China-Maldives Friendship bridge which connects Male to HuluMale. Chinese investment has brought prosperity and ease to Maldives in exchange of soft power and influence for China. Our holiday was giving us some first hand insight into Chinese diplomatic strategies😏

The Ferry Terminal is close to Male Market . We spotted the jetty where we were told the boat would arrive  to drop us to Gulhi. 

 

Sure enough we saw the 'Tropic Express" zoom into the jetty  short while later. After depositing our bags in the speedboat, we headed towards the main market.

 

The market was an exhilarating experience. There were bananas, breadfruits, various vegetables being sold there. 

 

Local sweetmeats and savories were also on display.

 

 

 

Huge tuna were being unloaded from fishing boats.

 

Grey herons sat perched on the buildings waiting for fish thrown by the fishermen.

 

It was a busy, bustling place. We bought ourselves some bananas and local savories land sweets before heading back to the boat.

As we headed back to the boat, we peeked into the water by the jetty and were surprised to see it teeming with colorful fishes, so close to the boats.

 We paid upfront on boarding the speedboat as agreed with the guest house in Gulhi.

It is a bit pricey at 25 US$/person but the journey was pleasant and it took us only around 25-30 minutes to reach the island. 

We had a sea-view of the China-Maldives friendship bridge as well😊

 

Gulhi island is a very small island and it was a short walk to Gurus from the boat jetty.

We were amazed that there were vehicles on this small island and a pick up carried our bags to our lodgings while we walked there.

Gurus is a quaint little guesthouse on Gulhi beach. It's entrance opens to the beachside market with stalls selling the usual touristy, attractive knick-knacks on a beach. 

The reception had one person who checked us in but since she only spoke the sing-song Dhivehi, we had to wait for the sole English speaking man on the premises to answer our queries.

 

Our room was adequate and comfortable, right next to the reception. Although the plumbing was nothing to go crazy about, it fitted the description of a budget family room😊

 

We dumped our luggage and headed out for a stroll in the hot Maldivian sun. 

 

On our first stroll around the island we saw some strange looking birds. Are they geese, are they turkeys or are they ducks?! A little but of everything in their looks and mannerisms. Turgeese 😕

 

The island had a few shops and a school and also a football ground tucked away in a corner.

One of the hotel's offered scuba diving and snorkeling trips which we planned on checking out.

We wrapped up our walking tour of the tiny island with an early dinner at a local restaurant.

The next morning we were treated to a sumptuous, Maldivian breakfast of  Mahsuni and Roshi, omelette and fruits.

Roshi is a soft roti made of flour and Mahsuni is a dish of  canned tuna with squashed onions, grated coconut, chilli and lemon juice and salt.

We downed it all with freshly brewed tea and juice.

The tourist season was just starting and we were the early birds. So, we had the breakfast deck all to ourselves, with it's amazing view while we ate.

The sky looked bright and sunny and the beach stretched invitingly ahead of us, devoid of crowds.

As amazing as it was just where we were, we couldn't wait to change and head out to the beautiful blue waters! 

 

Although we had snorkeling equipment which we had  brought along for this trip, we didn't need them much. The waters were clear and shallow for quite a distance.

Little fish bandied around my daughter's legs as she whooped in delight. You could swim right to the edge, where the beach drops off to coral reefs and their amazing aquatic life, if you felt up to it.

We spent the whole morning alternating between the cool blue waters and the hot sandy beach and were red like lobsters by the time we decided to head back to the hotel.

Thankfully the sunburn was minimized due to our choice of clothing. Previous misadventures had taught us that there is no more effective sunscreen than a full sleeve 😀

After a mammoth siesta to get over the sun exhaustion, we headed over to "Cafe" Dhilakeni. 

A long wooden table in the center of the room, benches on either side, some smaller tables tables and plastic chairs.

A cement ledge serving as a counter on top of which were displayed in a wooden glass case some sweetmeats and savories.

A washbasin located at one end with a bottle of hand soap completed the look.😊

Some  tourists sat chatting on the central table while some locals at another table were drinking coffee

We had just entered the "watering hole" on Gulhi island. It's an island sustained by and for tourism, like many of the islands in Maldives.

The wily owner sold us on all the dishes prepared that day. So we had a lunch of cod in kokum paste, mutton curry, chicken, vegetable curry and white rice. We had lunch like guests in a home!

We had yet to do what we really had come for - snorkeling in the sea! So, we booked a day tour for the next day. Finally, some more tourists had arrived on the island and there were enough for a tour.

I am prone to motion sickness and expected the worse as I was told the speedboat ride itself would be an hour across to the very first point. I prepared for it by skipping breakfast, keeping my tummy empty meant there was less to jangle around. The ride was fairly smooth, thanks to the Danish couple who gave me the best seat on the boat to avoid sickness. It was only when they anchored the boat in high waves, and it rocked like nobody's business, that my body decided it couldn't hold in even the meager contents of my stomach.

We were a relatively small group of a Danish family of 5, a French couple and the three of us apart from the boat captain and guide. At 75 USD per person, it was a bit steep but boy was it worth it!

My daughter squealed with fright when the first reef shark swam up close to her. It was only minutes later that she was eagerly reaching out to touch these friendly, gentle giants. To observe at close range sharks, manta rays and other aquatic life in their natural environment was the highlight of our trip.

 

We stopped for lunch at Fulidhoo which was again a pass for me.

Fulidhoo has beautiful scenery and the reef sharks and manta rays just swum up close to the shore for feeding.

That was our last night on Gulhi island. The next day we caught a ferry back to Male. 

Ferry is much cheaper and more preferable mode of transport, especially for someone with time on their hands and recovering from a recent bout of sea sickness.

Our speed boat from Male city to Rasdhoo was at 10:30 am. It was the same place, we had taken the boat to Gulhi from.

We again replenished our supplies of "Bodhi", a coconut jaggery and coconut sweet wrapped in leaves like a candy stick and "Kanamadhu Meta" a disc shaped sweet made of caramel and sea almond which my daughter fell in love with instantly!

The speed boat from Male to Rasdhoo took approx 1hour and 30 mins and cost us aaround 35 USD each.

Rasdhoo is an atoll towards the north western edge of Maldives. It was relatively larger than Gulhi and thus had more tourists, resorts, locals and other establishments.

Our lodge was the Summer Vibes resort. We met a very friendly and enthusiastic couple from South Africa, Rianna & Riaan

 

We hired a boat to check out the sandbank and turtle island  near Rasdhoo. 

We saw a number of turtles and fishes and sharks as we snorkeled around Rasdhoo.

I really envied the guide who was getting in and out of the water like a fish himself , wishing I had even half his swimming prowess!

The sandbank near Rasdhoo is an astonishingly beautiful place where you can spend hours together.

While on Rasdhoo we were privy to an adventure that Riaan had planned for himself and Riaana. They had brought along an inflatable boat and tent on their vacation.

There is also an uninhabited tiny island near Rashdhoo. They planned to row across to the island spend a night there. It was Rianna's 50th birthday treat planned by Riaan!

The lovely couple managed this astonishing feat, mosquitoes and all!

It was our last day on Rasdhoo when we spent the morning snorkeling and hanging out on the sandbank. The beach in Rasdhoo is relatively smaller with the reef fairly close to the island. 

We could see many more beautiful fish and corals here. That's where I saw my first wild starfish!

In the evening there was a wonderful surprise! Hubby had ordered a cake and the staff had set it up at the breakfast table by the beach.

Birthday anywhere with my loved ones with me is great but at this paradise it was amazing:)

Riaan and Riaana gaves us a lovely gift of the drone footage of us walking around our resort in Rasdhoo.

This was our last night at Rasdhoo. The next day we took a ferry back to Male. Checked in to the Contento Retreat at Nirolhu Magu.

We spent the last evening in Hulumale again before checking out the next morning .

Our flight back to Singapore was from Male early in the morning!

All in all a wonderful 46th birthday!!

P.S: What we noticed was that Male' airport was crowded with Russian tourists. Vacationing in the middle of a war seemed strange.