Maldives – November 2023 (part one) (by Luke, May 2024)

I’m going to start this post with a weird confession – the Maldives had never interested me. Yes, they’d always looked lovely but you aren’t allowed to fish from the resorts. This was my idea of hell. Surrounded by water, being on the water, but not allowed to even have a go at trying to catch any of the fish that you could see unless you went out on a boat!

The thought process behind ending up booking the Maldives was very ‘Luke’. The intention was to go back to Boa Vista for a cheap and cheerful week (with plenty of fishing). We know what we’re going to get there and it’s such an easy option. Tui are the only airline that fly to Boa Vista direct from the UK so there is a bit of a monopoly. When we saw how much the week would have cost ‘we’ started to look at where else we could go for the same money. Then ‘we’ got a bit carried away!!

For the same price as Boa Vista we could have had a week in Mexico. For a little more we could have gone back to Cuba and for a bit more than that we could have gone to the Dominican Republic. The problem was that the price for Dom Rep then became the benchmark because of the way my mind works! From the Dominican Republic price it wasn’t too much of a jump to go to Zanzibar. Zanzibar wasn’t an option because the flights didn’t work but by then the benchmark was high enough to make the Maldives seem competitive! If you can go to the Maldives for ‘just a bit’ more than going to Cape Verde it’s a no-brainer. It still makes sense to me now!!

We had a conversation about how we needed to do the Maldives while it was still above sea level, and another about how much we’d enjoyed the Indian Ocean in Mauritius so it would be cool to explore more. My mum and dad went to the Seychelles for their honeymoon in 1979 and mum still reminisces about it now. A big part of my thinking was that if we could get over 40 years’ worth of stories and memories from our trip then it would definitely be good value. Another selling point (I’m still justifying it) was that there was a new, direct Virgin flight from Heathrow to Malé. This departed on a Friday night with the return flight getting us back to England the following Saturday, ready for work on the Monday.

Trying to fit the holiday into a working week usually ends up costing dramatically more so to be able to do this while ticking off a location from Gill’s bucket list seemed like a win. All for ‘just a bit more than going to Boa Vista’!!!

In the end we booked to go to Sun Siyam Iru Veli. This (in theory) ticked all of our boxes, 5 star luxury, seaplane transfers, overwater villas, everything we’d want for a ‘once in a lifetime holiday’!

We booked a relatively long time before the date we were due to travel so had a few months of steadily getting more and more excited. I did more research than I think I ever have before to try and find ways of fishing. Sun Siyam offer an app to book trips/activities/excursions so we spent ages perfecting our list of activities to make sure we covered as much as possible. We also had multiple email conversations with Adam Asjau at the resort who was always extremely helpful.

From the initial interactions by email and also from using the app we knew that this was going to be a special experience. In reality it surpassed even our already high expectations!

The flight out was as expected. We had upgraded to Premium Economy due to the flight time and that it was overnight after a busy week of work. A couple of drinks and some food later and we were both fast asleep. After waking up around midway we fell back to sleep until the turbulence started as we were getting closer to landing.

day one

Nothing prepares you for the sight of the Maldives from the air! Everyone has seen pictures so it’s not a surprise that they look like they do but seeing them as we were circling Malé multiple times was just amazing! I’ve never taken so many terrible photos from a plane window (we were sat in the middle so there was a lot of zoom involved to be fair!). It was like nothing I’d seen before even though I knew what to expect!

As we were circling we could see that there was definitely a bit of a storm going on. When we landed we could see and hear that the rain was biblical!! There was a bit of a delay getting off the plane as there was only one suitable set of steps in the airport. It seemed that the weather played havoc with getting them to us but eventually we were off. We got soaked through walking down the steps to the coach that took us to the terminal!!

The terminal was chaos. I think that multiple flights landed at almost the same time due to the storm so getting our bags and finding our way to the seaplane transfer was a bit of an adventure but eventually we got us and our cases onto the minibus to take us to the sea plane terminal. Upon arrival at the seaplane terminal we paid our excess baggage charge (which was expected due to my fishing stuff and the 20kg seaplane baggage allowance) and made our way to the Sun Siyam Lounge.

Checking into the lounge was a weird experience because we had to give our passports in and hope that they were successfully returned to us when our seaplane transfer was ready. Obviously the passports were useful to identify us so that the staff could let us know the plane was ready but there’s something about being in a foreign country with your passport elsewhere that is a bit unsettling. Maybe it’s because ‘dad mode’ kicks in – after years of making sure passports and tickets were all accounted for it makes you feel a bit vulnerable without them! As you’d imagine the passports appeared just as they should have done along with our tickets when we were called for the flight a couple of hours later.

The wait was initially a bit frustrating. We (well certainly me!) just wanted to get to our resort and have a cocktail. Malé (like all the other local islands) is a dry island due to the Maldives being a Muslim country. Watching the seaplanes taking off and landing did almost make up for the lack of cocktails. Spotting sharks and rays swimming in the sea around the planes definitely did. Even though the area around the seaplane terminal was relatively polluted (there was a sheen of oil on the water in places) the sea seemed really alive which filled us both with anticipation of what we’d see when we got to somewhere less polluted.

Once we’d boarded the seaplane it was time for the safety talk, so the barefooted pilot turned round and ran through what to do in case of emergency. He then switched the fans on (no air con here) and cracked on with the pre-flight checks. Our flight was due to be around 45 minutes and part of the reason we’d had to wait was that they were trying to find a gap in the weather – more to follow on that shortly!

It felt like we taxied for ages before taking off and getting great views of the international airport. Next Sinamale Bridge popped into view, and then we saw Malé itself. The islands that we saw were even more spectacular than from the international flight with being so much closer.

The pilots started to descend a little and then ascend trying to find a less bumpy altitude for the weather that we were approaching. On a small plane you can really feel when the wind picks up. We could see straight into the cockpit so could see the rain on the windscreen (and the wipers working overtime to try to clear it!). There was no more sunlight spotlighting the islands we were passing over. There was just gloominess outside that eventually turned into rain everywhere we looked. It was raining so hard that there were points where we could barely see the skids of the seaplane despite them being less than 2m from our window!

One of the pilots lets us know that the weather was even worse in front so instead of landing at the islands they were meant to they would drop us all off somewhere more sheltered and arrange boats to collect us from there. This sounded like a great plan until we actually hit the water! As I’ve got older I’ve become a more nervous flier but there’s no exaggeration when I say that I thought we were going to die!

While we were descending the rain was still coming down hard. I think that the lack of visibility coupled with the speed made us feel a bit disorientated. One second we were seemingly flying quite high and the next we were smashing down onto the water and bouncing a few times. We hit so hard that there were a few screams and gasps from everyone on board and everything went dark for a few milliseconds. I looked up and into the cockpit and there were multiple red flashing lights and alarms sounding as well as an island racing into view at a speed I’d describe as much too quickly. There was quite a lot of screaming from the engines in reverse but eventually we came to a stop, picked up all the stuff that we’d dropped when we hit the water and got off the plane.

We had ‘landed’ at the Vilu Reef TMA Seaplane Dock B which was not far from a small island which had a shelter. This was much needed as it was absolutely chucking it down with rain, although there’s an argument that we were already so wet from getting to the shelter that it didn’t matter too much! I embraced the opportunity to nip back to the plane for some pictures then gave the pilots a hand unloading our baggage to get it to the speedboat that had arrived to pick us up.

The idea of a speedboat in a downpour didn’t fill me with joy at first but in true Maldivian style they were totally prepared and brought a boat that had a roof and covered sides. We had a chance to dry out a bit on the 5km trip to our resort . On arrival we were greeted by our ambassador, Shakeeb. He checked us in and sorted us out with welcome drinks and an introduction to the island.

Shakeeb was our main point of contact for the time that we were on resort and he was absolutely brilliant. I think at first he was a bit surprised by the amount of activities and excursions that we had planned through the app but as he got to know us it probably all made sense! After showing us to our room he left us with his phone number so we could WhatsApp if we needed anything. The level of service we received from Shakeeb went above and beyond what we were expecting. He made us feel so at home whilst pulling all the strings in the background to make sure we had the most memorable time.

Entering the Dolphin Suite overwater villa probably would have been a bit more spectacular if we had opened the door and seen sunlight over our private pool and on the ocean but it was pretty special even in the next band of rain that was passing!

After unpacking our cases the rain had eased so we made the most of it and did a bit of snorkelling above the reef just off our terrace. Funny how we waited for the rain to slow before getting in the water… we didn’t the next time! We were maybe 25 meters from our room but the size and variety of fish that we saw on the drop off was remarkable. This was what we’d visited the Maldives for!

Once out of the water we headed off to dinner in the main buffet restaurant. During the walk there every single member of staff that we saw said hello. This was very much the theme for anytime you walked anywhere. Even when they were on the phone the staff would say hi and anyone passing on a golf buggy would offer a lift.

On arriving at the restaurant we were greeted by Siba and taken along to the adults only area where we met Bandula and Saman. We saw them at least twice a day after this and were amazed by their friendliness, warmth and professionalism. Over breakfast, lunches and dinners we chatted about their lives, families, goals and experiences as well as sharing stories from our travels and life in the UK. All 3 of them were a credit to the resort and to the hospitality that can be found in the Maldives.

After dinner we went for a walk to the jetty where there was a floodlight which attracted fish, sharks and rays. Food is thrown in for them each evening at 21:30 and it was amazing to watch the giant sharks circling, with the fish grabbing as much of the food as possible and the rays lurking at the bottom. We had a few cocktails at ‘Chemistry’ bar before heading back to the room. We had an early start the next morning and I wanted to make sure my fishing kit was all set up and ready to go!

day two

Our alarms went off bright and early ready for our sunrise fishing trip. Waking up at 0500 for a fishing trip doesn’t feel like an issue, however waking up for work at 0500 does. It’s funny how the end result influences the perception of time! Walking across the island as dawn was breaking was worth the early start in itself. Even at this time there were staff working to make the island look good for the day ahead.

We met our boat at the jetty and set off complete with croissants and porcelain cups (with saucers!) for our coffee. The boat was bigger than I’m used to for a fishing trip and it had a sundeck. We spent the short journey out to sea sat up there watching the sun rise and enjoying our coffee. The difference in the colour of the sea from the shallow round the island to the channels between the islands was remarkable. It almost looked black where it was deeper (which may have also been down to time of day). The darkness was punctuated by tiny streaks of light from phytoplankton which glimmered and glinted in the water.

We were only out for a couple of hours but caught a few fish in this time, both on my rods and the handlines that the crew supplied. After packing up the equipment we were asked which fish we’d like to have prepared for us for lunch so we selected a couple and got dropped back at the jetty.

Because we had started so early, we got back in time for breakfast and were treated to a table at the very front of the restaurant with the most amazing sea views. We got lucky pretty much every time we went to the restaurant and got a table at the front. I guess our timing was impeccable! The views from every part of the island were something that I never got used to – it was like living in a postcard! At first I thought that feeling would wear off but it carried on up to the day we left. Even looking at the pictures now it seems surreal that we were there!

One of the things we ate at breakfast today was Mashuni. This is a typical Maldivian breakfast which is made by mixing tinned tuna, grated coconut, chopped onion, chilli and lime juice. There was extra chilli oil separately on the side to make it spicier to suit your taste and it was served with a chapati. The chapati was used to scoop it up – an instant win for me as no cutlery was needed!

Mashuni became a firm favourite that we both ate every morning. It was so tasty, and tasted slightly different every time depending on how much extra chilli we added. It was nice to start the morning with something traditionally Maldivian. I’m really pleased we first tried it so early in the holiday to enable us to enjoy it each day!

After breakfast we spent some time exploring the island and had brilliant sunshine for almost all the day to do so! We heard the white breasted waterhen (locally known as Kanbili) before we saw them. These are the national bird of the Maldives and were everywhere with their distinctive sound and accompanying scurrying into the undergrowth.

We saw the giant fruit bats that are native on many of the Maldivian islands (but are rather tricky to photograph) as well as multiple herons. We swam in the sea from the beach and had a go at paddle-boarding (which was also part of our all inclusive package). Gill was so good at this, and I wasn’t! I’ve never fallen off anything so much so I quickly got fed up and swapped the SUP for a kayak!

Top tip – always take flip flops/shoes with you when leaving the room to avoid burning your feet!! We both found out how hot the walkway to the overwater suites was on day two. Gill actually ended up with burns on the soles of her feet from it. The temperature was only high 20’s so it’s not that we were being stupid. It just felt so hot despite what the thermometer said!

We ate our freshly caught fish for lunch. These tasted amazing and the selection of other items (both freshly cooked and from the buffet) was perfect. All just what we needed to set us up for getting back into the water in the afternoon.

After lunch we went out on a guided snorkelling trip. As with most activities, we were picked up from the jetty, this time heading to a local reef. This trip was part of the all inclusive package and was one of the few times that we saw other guests apart from in the restaurant.

The amount of life around the reef was amazing! It was great to see our guide diving down 10/15 metres with a single breath to retrieve rubbish that he’d spotted on the sea floor. This turned out to be an old snorkel that had been down there for so long that it had coral growing on it. Once everyone had returned to the boat we set off back to the island.

Later this afternoon we went back to the jetty for the Dolphin Sunset Safari (part of our all inclusive package). It was a really nice boat trip and we saw plenty of rainbows as well as some very dramatic looking weather in the distance, but unfortunately no dolphins. There was a steady supply of prosecco on the boat which made the lack of dolphins more bearable. We didn’t know this at the time but we’d see plenty of dolphins later in the week anyway!

We arrived back to the island, got changed and headed down for dinner at ‘Grouper Grill’, one of the a la carte restaurants. After food we went to the bar as tonight was a white party so there were decorations up everywhere. There was additional entertainment (a fire display) and special cocktails. Gill had a white dress and I had some light colour shorts, but this was more by luck than judgement. It’s definitely worth checking to see if there are theme nights before you pack!

I think it was this evening that it started raining while we were out. We were forced to have a few ‘one more round of drinks’ in the hope that we’d wait the rain out but to no avail! As you’d imagine the resort was prepared for the chance of changeable weather. We helped ourselves to an umbrella from the corner of the bar for the walk back to our suite. Once back at the suite the umbrella was left in a spare slot in the umbrella rack outside the front door and returned, as if by magic, to the strategic points around the island, ready for the next person who got caught in the rain.

day three

We woke up at an almost ‘normal person on holiday’ time and headed down for breakfast. This was an extremely exciting day as we were heading out on an excursion to swim with whale sharks. I’ve wanted to swim with whale sharks for as long as I can remember and one of the big draws of the Maldives is that this is possible most of the year round. The trip involved a 65km, 2 hour each way speedboat trip to South Ari atoll. This meant leaving the ‘safety and shelter of atolls twice in order to cross the sea proper’. In reality there was hardly any difference between the inside of the atolls and the channels between, but the crew had prepared us well in case it was a bit bumpy!

On the way we passed multiple islands which all looked like postcards. At one point we had our path blocked by a school of pilot whales who were more than happy to loiter for photos. Eventually we arrived at the location where whale sharks are usually spotted. Once here the crew spent some time cruising and searching in likely looking areas . In the end it was through radio messages with other boats that we found them.

There were only two other guests on our boat so it wasn’t as much of a scramble as it would have been on a bigger boat but it was still quite a rush to get into the water. It was all about getting mask, snorkel and fins on as quickly as possible because the whale shark was moving and if we fell behind we definitely wouldn’t catch it up! Without too much fuss we were in the water a safe and respectful distance above the majestic whale shark. It was amazing to experience this after wanting to for so long.

The whale shark eventually had enough of being watched and with a flick of its fins was gone. This led to another rush to get out of the boat so the captain could get us in its path for encounter number two. Having the right captain and crew certainly saved an awful lot of fruitless swimming!

Whale sharks are sharks, not whales. They’re the biggest fish in the sea – growing up to 20m long and weighing up to 30 tons. They are filter feeders so are safe to swim with despite the size of their mouth! We know very little about whale sharks, for example it is thought that no one has ever taken a picture of a juvenile whale shark. It is thought that only 10% of whale sharks survive to maturity and the ones we see are a very specific age. They can swim remarkable distances and dive down to 1000m below the water, despite being known for feeding near the surface. The markings of a whale shark are unique so act like a fingerprint. Researchers can identify individuals from their marking patterns!

There’s something about these mystical giants that just draws me in. I find them absolutely fascinating and feel incredibly privileged to have shared a brief moment of interaction with one. The experience of swimming with a whale shark was made even more special as so little is known about them.

We left the whale shark to carry on with its day and set off (in brilliant, burning hot sunshine) for an uninhabited island where we would eat lunch before doing a bit of exploring. As we were speeding across the ocean we saw some dolphins in the distance and also some rain on the horizon. This rain got closer and closer until we had to give up being brave and shelter inside the boat!

We arrived at the island in the middle of a massive thunderstorm. The rain was absolutely pounding the boat and there was lightning all around! After eating lunch we got our snorkelling gear on and had a bit of an explore around the island. There was so much to see underwater again. I’d never snorkelled in a proper storm before so the noise of the thunder, and the beating of the rain on my back, was a bit of an experience!

On a dry day I think we would have had time to explore the island but plans had to change. Instead we went to the local island of Magoodhoo where some of the crew lived. They treated us to a personalised (and rainy) tour of their island, culminating in a trip to a bar (no alcohol of course with being an inhabited island). We tried betel nut with our soft drink. This is definitely an acquired taste and even the swastika adorned cinnamon spice mix didn’t make them palatable. Betel nut is a mild stimulant which is rather additive (I guess once you get over the taste and texture). It causes quite a few health issues for people who chew it regularly, most of which seemingly need more research.

We finished off seeing the remainder of the island before heading back to the boat and to our resort. This evening we had a reservation at ‘Roma’ so we got dressed up (one of us more than the other…well done Gill!) and headed out in the rain which had pretty much followed us since lunchtime, to enjoy a night of Italian food and drink.

I didn’t think that I’d write so much about the first 3 days so will post the remainder of the holiday as a separate page (here) to keep it manageable.