Day 0.

Outside Dubai International Airport Terminal 2 at 11:30pm. It was my first time back at Terminal 2 since my trip to Lebanon the previous year.


We had checked in online and only had carry-on luggage so were through security and immigration in less than 10 minutes. Our flight wasn't until 1:30am so we grabbed a camembert and turkey croissant and a coffee at an air-side café.


Our flights were on flydubai (FZ) and we had booked them back in September when they had a sale for $429 each. The outbound flight was direct to Malé and coming back was via a 1 hour stopover in Colombo in Sri Lanka.


Our bus to the plane parked almost directly under the wing (you can see the shadow of the bus)! We then climbed aboard via the rear stairs to begin our 4.5 hour journey to Maldives.



Day 1.

After catching a few hours sleep I woke up about an hour out of Malé and saw the wonderful orange and blue sky as the morning sun peeked below the horizon.


Some of the Maldives islands as we begin our descent.


The island resort of Embudu below as we make our approach to Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.


And the capital, Malé, in the distance just before touch down.


After arriving on time at 7am, we parked up close to the main terminal so no need for a bus for the short walk to arrivals.


Maldives currently had entry restrictions for people who had recently visited the three main Ebola countries (Guinea, Sierra Leone & Liberia) but luckily it had been 38 days since I had left Liberia.


Immigration was very easy and we were quickly stamped in. Maldives is celebrating 50 years since independence and we got cute little 'Maldives 2016' sticker in our passports too.


It was only 7:20am and our speedboat ferry we had booked didn't depart until 9am so we grabbed some beef and seafood noodles for breakfast. It was $28 for the two dishes and a coffee, and would turn out to be our most expensive meal for the trip!


After meeting up with the guide, we boarded the speedboat for our trip south to Maafushi. The first option to getting to Maafushi was the public ferry. This costs only $2 each but takes almost 2 hours and only departs once a day at 3pm. Another option was to hire a private speedboat, but this was relatively expensive at $160 each way. The best option though was to catch the speedboat ferry. It departs three times a day, takes just over 35 minutes and costs a very reasonable $45 per person for the return journey. For comparison, The Holiday Inn Maldives resort, which is very close to Maafushi, charges $220 per person for the same journey.


Maafushi is located ~30 kilometres south of Malé. After picking up a few passengers in Malé we headed south to Maafushi. The speedboat had two big Johnson outboard motors on the back and we cruised at a relatively brisk ~65 kmph (as per my GPS).


Maafushi is a local inhabited island in the South Malé Atoll and is ~1.2 kilometres long and ~200 metres wide. Tourism is relatively new to the Maldives, with the first resort opening in 1973. Since then, tourists were largely restricted to staying at the expensive island resorts. Most of these resorts are owned and operated by a few businessmen in the country, and the rest are owned and operated by foreign companies. Hence, most of the benefits of tourism were not shared evenly to the local citizens of the country. In 2010 however, the government changed its regulations to allow guesthouses to open on the local islands. The guesthouses provide the island with direct employment and many other indirect economic benefits.


We arrived at about 9:45am, and after a bit of help with directions from the locals, we walked off to find our guesthouse for our stay in Maafushi.


Signing in after arriving at our guesthouse, the Water Breeze. We had booked the guesthouse online through Agoda for $110 (including taxes & service charges) a night including breakfast.


And our room for our stay, including butterflies on the wall! The room was quite new, very clean and had good AC and had all that we wanted.


Love heart. After a bit of a nap to shake off the jetlag, we headed out just after noon to explore Maafushi.


A wooden boat under construction with the minaret of the local mosque just behind.


Rianda testing out one of the local hammock-style chairs about.


At the southern end of the island is Maafushi Prison. It is the largest prison in the Maldives islands and has held numerous political prisoners, including the former President from 2008-2012, Mohamed Nasheed.


The barbed fence on the prison perimeter. Former President Mohamed Nasheed was famous for once holding a cabinet meeting underwater in scuba gear to highlight the threat of climate change on Maldives. After being pressured to resign in 2012 'at gun point', he was later jailed in Maafushi prison for 13 years in 2015 under seemingly spurious terror charges. On January 16, 2016, after foreign pressure, he was allowed to temporarily leave Maafushi prison for the UK for back surgery.


Coral wall.


Local ladies on a motor scooter.


Outside Maafushi school. Sunni Islam is the state religion of Maldives.


We then went to Maafushi Dive to confirm the scuba diving we had booked for tomorrow.


We were starting to get hungry so then went to Rehendhi Restaurant and had a couple of very nice illy cappuccinos.


For lunch I had the cheese burger and fries and Rianda had the fish and chips. The total bill for both coffee's and the two meals was $15 so was very reasonable.


A local Maldivian kid. We then went back to the guesthouse to chill out for a bit.


Later in the afternoon we went to Bikini beach.


To avoid offending the locals with skimpy bathing suits etc., there is a special beach where the tourists can swim.


There was also a shop on the beach selling fresh coconuts.


After drinking the juice, it was cut up for us to get to the flesh.


Very tasty! We then relaxed on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately with the overcast clouds we would have to wait another day to see one of the famous Maldives sunsets though.


In the evening we headed out to the Stingray Beach Inn for dinner.


Where we had the tuna steak, Maldivian fish curry with salad and rice.


And shared a delicious Neapolitan banana split for dessert. Total price was $26 and again very reasonable.


We then headed back to the guesthouse after a great first day in Maldives.