Surfing the Maldives (and visiting Qatar)
What an amazing trip! The water, sea life and culture were all great experiences. Plus having world class surf in our backyard was superb. And I'm glad it was amazing since it took about 29 hours to get there and 35 to get back (including layovers). I appreciated the long layovers because it gave us a chance to experience Qatar. We had 6 hours on the way over and a whole night on the way back.
Our first experience in Qatar consisted of going to the Souq Wagif. This is a local market where you can buy fabric(lots of it), random touristy stuff and grab food/coffee/hooka! We did it all, I bought a dress for Daria, ate at a local vendor and had coffee at a hooka bar. The culture was very different. Everyone was all dressed up in their 'garb'. I didn't realize it wasn't proper to ask a lady (covered to her eyes) to take a picture until she basically ran the other way when I asked. Walking down the little alleys reminded me of playing the Aladdin video game.
On our way home, we had a whole night in Qatar and Qatar Airways was kind enough to get us a hotel room so we didn't have to sleep in the airport. We decided to check out a bar with our spare time since we had already seen the market and we aren't really into designer shopping (one of the other popular things to do in Qatar). Because Qatar is a Muslim culture, you are not allowed to drink with the exception of a few choice bars. Locals are not allowed to drink at these bars though. When we first walked in, we thought Karaoke was going on....it turned out to be a local band! They were not the best musicians, but they sure entertained us for the night.
The Maldives rocked! As we were flying in, we flew over TONS of small islands. Most of them were uninhabited, and it was quite beautiful. As soon as we landed in Male, I was wondering where all the big buildings were, but it turns out they are on a different island. You have to take a boat everywhere. We were going to Male another day so we just hopped on our water taxi and headed to our resort.
The whole reason we went to the Maldives was to surf! I recently read an article about the 50 best surf breaks and two of them were right in our backyards. To surf at Pasta Point, you have to stay at the Chaaya Island Dhonveli resort. This is pretty cool because they only allow 30 surfers at a time so it never gets crowded. Plus, they have boats to take you to other breaks all day so there was never many people surfing Pasta Point. All four of us got some awesome lefts here. A short 5 minute boat ride away was Sultans. This was my favorite break of the trip. Right. Long. Easy. I definitely had the longest rides of my life at this break. One day, we also took the boat to Cokes, a Right similar to Sultans, but a lot heavier. It was a great time, but the highlight of that session was the Manta Rays swimming right next to us. We were almost the only people from the States, most of the surfers were from Australia. Everyone was super nice and we had a wonderful time. I can't wait to return! Below is a link to a video from our trip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GumszxYHHyQ
There is a reason people travel across the world to Dive in the Maldives...BEST DIVING EVER. More sea life than I have seen anywhere. We were on the Male Atoll, but if you want to see bigger sea life and Whale Sharks, you have to go to the Ari Atoll. We saw lots of sharks, rays, coral and so many fish. It wasn't that I had not seen any of these before, but there were just so many of them. My favorite were the Manta Rays and the Reef Sharks had no problem getting close to us. I just loved all the fish. I have no idea what kind most of them were, but they were plentiful and pretty. I hear the Ari Atoll is also very cool, but there are too many divers in the water at a time. I would still like to check it out one day.
One afternoon we took the time to take a tour of Male, the capital of the Maldives. I don't desire to go back to Male, but it was a good experience. Lots of tall building on a small island which was pretty cool, but not all that exciting. The people who live there are required to be Muslim so no drinking is allowed and most of the women are very covered with clothing. We even saw a lady with only her eyes showing driving a scooter. I wish I had my camera out since it was pretty entertaining. If they are caught drinking, it is a mandatory six months in their prison which is an island similar to Alcatraz. We saw lots of Mosques and a fish market, but that was about everything worth writing about.
The resort was nice and Pasta Point was a 20 second walk from our front door. It wasn't super fancy, but I think they put the surfers in the run-down apartments since we generally don't care as much. Other than the pillow smelling like mildew, it wasn't bad. The grounds were very well kept and there was a part of the island for everyone. The surfers like the side with waves and the other side was completely flat. You would never know they were on the same island. One side was a surfers paradise and the other was a tropical, relaxing paradise. It still blows my mind. There were fancy bungalows over the water like you see in pictures, but we didn't stay in one. They were remodeling some of them so we went in to check them out and they were really nice.
Can't wait to go back!
Our first experience in Qatar consisted of going to the Souq Wagif. This is a local market where you can buy fabric(lots of it), random touristy stuff and grab food/coffee/hooka! We did it all, I bought a dress for Daria, ate at a local vendor and had coffee at a hooka bar. The culture was very different. Everyone was all dressed up in their 'garb'. I didn't realize it wasn't proper to ask a lady (covered to her eyes) to take a picture until she basically ran the other way when I asked. Walking down the little alleys reminded me of playing the Aladdin video game.
On our way home, we had a whole night in Qatar and Qatar Airways was kind enough to get us a hotel room so we didn't have to sleep in the airport. We decided to check out a bar with our spare time since we had already seen the market and we aren't really into designer shopping (one of the other popular things to do in Qatar). Because Qatar is a Muslim culture, you are not allowed to drink with the exception of a few choice bars. Locals are not allowed to drink at these bars though. When we first walked in, we thought Karaoke was going on....it turned out to be a local band! They were not the best musicians, but they sure entertained us for the night.
The Maldives rocked! As we were flying in, we flew over TONS of small islands. Most of them were uninhabited, and it was quite beautiful. As soon as we landed in Male, I was wondering where all the big buildings were, but it turns out they are on a different island. You have to take a boat everywhere. We were going to Male another day so we just hopped on our water taxi and headed to our resort.
The whole reason we went to the Maldives was to surf! I recently read an article about the 50 best surf breaks and two of them were right in our backyards. To surf at Pasta Point, you have to stay at the Chaaya Island Dhonveli resort. This is pretty cool because they only allow 30 surfers at a time so it never gets crowded. Plus, they have boats to take you to other breaks all day so there was never many people surfing Pasta Point. All four of us got some awesome lefts here. A short 5 minute boat ride away was Sultans. This was my favorite break of the trip. Right. Long. Easy. I definitely had the longest rides of my life at this break. One day, we also took the boat to Cokes, a Right similar to Sultans, but a lot heavier. It was a great time, but the highlight of that session was the Manta Rays swimming right next to us. We were almost the only people from the States, most of the surfers were from Australia. Everyone was super nice and we had a wonderful time. I can't wait to return! Below is a link to a video from our trip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GumszxYHHyQ
There is a reason people travel across the world to Dive in the Maldives...BEST DIVING EVER. More sea life than I have seen anywhere. We were on the Male Atoll, but if you want to see bigger sea life and Whale Sharks, you have to go to the Ari Atoll. We saw lots of sharks, rays, coral and so many fish. It wasn't that I had not seen any of these before, but there were just so many of them. My favorite were the Manta Rays and the Reef Sharks had no problem getting close to us. I just loved all the fish. I have no idea what kind most of them were, but they were plentiful and pretty. I hear the Ari Atoll is also very cool, but there are too many divers in the water at a time. I would still like to check it out one day.
One afternoon we took the time to take a tour of Male, the capital of the Maldives. I don't desire to go back to Male, but it was a good experience. Lots of tall building on a small island which was pretty cool, but not all that exciting. The people who live there are required to be Muslim so no drinking is allowed and most of the women are very covered with clothing. We even saw a lady with only her eyes showing driving a scooter. I wish I had my camera out since it was pretty entertaining. If they are caught drinking, it is a mandatory six months in their prison which is an island similar to Alcatraz. We saw lots of Mosques and a fish market, but that was about everything worth writing about.
The resort was nice and Pasta Point was a 20 second walk from our front door. It wasn't super fancy, but I think they put the surfers in the run-down apartments since we generally don't care as much. Other than the pillow smelling like mildew, it wasn't bad. The grounds were very well kept and there was a part of the island for everyone. The surfers like the side with waves and the other side was completely flat. You would never know they were on the same island. One side was a surfers paradise and the other was a tropical, relaxing paradise. It still blows my mind. There were fancy bungalows over the water like you see in pictures, but we didn't stay in one. They were remodeling some of them so we went in to check them out and they were really nice.
Can't wait to go back!
And the surf video!
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