Freediving the Maldives on a budget

Freediving the Maldives on a budget

Freediving the Maldives was a dream come true. The Maldives is an archipelago of 28 atolls in the Indian Indian Ocean. There are about 350 000 Maldivians of whom 153 000 live in the capital Male. Male is one of the larger islands and has a surface area of 5.8 square kilometres. No you’re right, that is not much at all. The streets are narrow, crowded and it is one of the most dense cities in the world. For diving, you are better off leaving Male as soon as you can and going to one of the dive sites I’ll describe later.

Freediving the Maldives; how to get there

Flights are going to be your biggest problem in planning your holiday to the Maldives. Cheap flights may come from Kuala Lumpur, Colombo or Dubai. If you have to get to Male from North America or northern Europe, be in for expensive airfare. Check out Orbitz, the ITA matrix, and other websites that may have deals on. We were fortunate enough to get a 250 US$ ticket from Kuala Lumpur (KUL)  to Male (MLE) and another ticket from MLE to Rome (FCO) for 475 US$. We needed to get to Europe anyway and could not have done that without spending at least US$ 400, so taking a detour to the Maldives did not cost us much extra in terms of airfare.

From Male, local ferries can take you anywhere you want to go. You can also take a sea-plane, they are expensive but very fast, or a chartered speedboat. We found that it was easiest to communicate clearly with your accommodation in order to get where you need to be. Usually your hotel will charter a speedboat ferry for you.

If you have time and want to take a local ferry check the link to the schedules at the end of this post.

maldives
A typical ferry in the Maldives

Freediving the Maldives: Where to stay

We had great success booking our accommodation through airbnb. Most guest houses and hotels are also on booking or websites and they usually have their own website too. A lot of islands are in the developing phase and new guesthouses are under construction. The locals offer very good services for a decent price, especially compared to the lavish all-inclusive resort islands. You should be able to find good accommodation for less than 100 US$ per night. We paid on average 70 US$ per night, for two persons. In some of the guest houses you will be able to cook your own meals , also reducing the cost. You should also be able to eat for about 15 US$ per person per day.

Freediving the Maldives: Where to dive

We only dove on the reefs right off the islands. This saved us a lot of money, since boat excursions are usually from US$ 50 per person. You would be able to find excellent vertical reefs, caves, and other diving spots if you did a lot of boat excursions but for us it was not an option. Most islands are surrounded by a drop-off to about 20 meters. In the atolls the depth does not go below 60 meters, but in between the atolls you won’t be able to get to the bottom.

If you are really interested in exploring different dive sites you should go to Ukulhas and meet up with the guys from the Island Vista Inn, who are certified freedivers, owners of the guesthouse, and good cooks (link at the end of this article). You could also go to the Kaalaafaanu retreat in Hangnaameedhoo, where Adam has taken freedivers to different reefs every day. Everything is possible, but don’t expect the info to be in a brochure.

Freediving Maldives
Contemplating current?

Freediving the Maldives: my personal recomendations

Check out the house reef on Rasdhoo, and go to Ukulhas and stay at the Island Vista Inn. Do not stay on one island for more than three nights unless you are going to do a lot of boat excursions, the islands are very small and 3 nights is enough. If you have enough time and money, do some of the classic excursions such as diving with manta rays, diving with hammerhead sharks and so on.

We spent less than 3500 US$ for a 16 day holiday for two persons. This included everything, flights (based on 725 US$ p.p.), accommodation, transport, and food.

The Maldives: links

Mahibadhoo – K villas (Very nice, also a bit pricey)

Freediving the Mahibadhoo dropoff

Hangnaameedhoo – Kalaafaanu retreat (Very cheap, ability to cook your own meals)

Freediving the Hangnaameedhoo House Reef

Rasdhoo – Banana residences (Very nice, always has nice music in outdoor common area)

Freediving Rasdhoo

Ukulhas – Island Vista inn (best food, spearfishing, freediving know-how)

Freediving and spearfishing Ukulhas

Coral Reef Beach House (right on the nicest beach I’ve been to)

The ferry schedules

Jaap

Jaap is a geologist by trade and a freediver by passion. Jaap wrote the book Longer and Deeper in 2018. His book teaches how to train for freediving and spearfishing on land.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. luca-malaguti

    great info Jaap…mixture of backpacking and freediving on a budget!

    1. Jaap

      Thanks Luca, diving here was definitely worth it!

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