10 Days in Paradise

It was my wife’s long-time dream to visit the Maldives. Before we had our son, we used to travel to remote exotic locations at least once a year, but ever since our boy was born—who is now 8—we haven’t been farther than three hours by plane. There is no one we can leave him with at home, but we also didn’t want to take up the challenge of going on an overseas flight with him. This year, we felt the time had come. So we booked our tickets.

Malé

We flew into Malé, which is the capital of the country. It’s a small island on its own, yet probably the biggest one of all. The Maldives consists of 1,192 islands spread across 26 atolls, but only a fraction of them are inhabited or developed for tourism. After landing, we took a cab to the apartment we booked for the first night, called Reef Guest House, which actually turned out to be in Hulhumalé, the other big town on the main island. We figured it was wise to spend the first night there in case our flight got delayed and we missed our speedboat to the island where we planned to spend most of our vacation.

The taxi ride was the first culture shock for my son, who was expecting the five-star resort vibe he had seen in photos. Most people living in the Maldives are from Sri Lanka or India, hence the streets and traffic also reflect that culture (although not quite as crazy as I’ve seen in India).

Our host at the guest house was also from India. We came during Ramadan, so he confessed that he was feeling a little tired as the month was coming to an end. We took our room and immediately fell asleep. After a couple of hours of napping, we went out to eat at an Italian restaurant called Scoozi Pizzeria, which was pretty good. The next day, we headed back to the airport, where we boarded our speedboat to the island of Dhigurah.

Dhigurah

The 90-minute speedboat ride was smoother than expected. We had read and heard scary stories about how choppy it could be and even read about an accident that happened just weeks before, where a speedboat capsized with 40 people on board. It was on its way back to Malé from the exact same island we were going to. Luckily, everyone managed to be rescued. Regardless, we put on the life jackets provided, just in case.

Dhigurah is a 3 km-long, narrow, inhabited island with a laid-back vibe and relatively low tourist numbers. Since the Maldives is a Muslim country, no alcohol is allowed on local islands, only in resorts. That criterion filtered out a lot of tourists who would otherwise come and visit. Since we don’t drink, it was the perfect location for us. Apart from being on top of a coral reef like most islands, it’s also the best island for snorkeling with whale sharks, which is why we chose this place primarily.

 

 

We stayed at TME Resorts, which was just about perfect—decent, but not too fancy. The only downside I can mention was the lack of variety during breakfast; we had the very same five types of food every single morning. The restaurants on the island were also great—not too pricey, friendly waiters, with fresh and really tasty food.

Since we had seven nights to spend on the island, we didn’t need to rush anywhere; we could explore it bit by bit during our stay. We rented bicycles and a kayak, which we used to paddle to the western tip of the land that has a beautiful sandbank disappearing into the turquoise waters. We also went on a boat trip to look for whale sharks. Unfortunately, we were unlucky this time, as we couldn’t spot any, but we still had a great day, stopping at some nice reefs and snorkeling with turtles, manta rays, and tons of beautifully colored fish. 

 

We brought our own fins and masks in our luggage and spent hours snorkeling over the nearby reefs every single day. The wildlife of the island was also pretty diverse above water. It was loaded with fruit bats—Indian flying foxes, as I learned—birds, lizards, geckos, cats, and even rabbits. My son had a blast every day herding hermit crabs at the shore and building sandcastles and traps for them.

 

After trying most dining places on the island, we started going back to one place in particular, called Dhiguveli. The food was excellent, but one waiter, in particular, stood out with his attention to detail and deep, sincere kindness. He was originally from Kerala (South India) but had been working here for a couple of years. My wife said if she ever wants to open a restaurant, she wants this guy to be her chief waiter!

On our last day, after lunch—at Dhiguveli, of course—we headed to the harbor to board our speedboat back to Malé. It was pretty much the same eventless 90 minutes; my son slept almost all the way. Just like on the first day, we took a cab back to Reef Guest House, where our host greeted us with a big smile. After settling into our room, we went for an afternoon walk in the nearby streets. We picked a beautiful restaurant at the beach called Riveli Beach Club & Restaurant and had dinner there.

The next morning, we headed out to the airport to fly back home. This trip was one of the best—if not the best—vacations we ever had. Many things exceeded our expectations, including the kindness of the locals, the feeling of total physical safety, the beauty of the ocean and the coral reefs, the whole vibe of Dhigurah, and the fact that everything turned out exactly as planned. No delays, no surprises. Well, except for the whale shark boat ride—it would have been amazing to spot them and swim with those gentle giants, but hey, something for next time…