Itinerary
Day 3
There is a cheaper alternative to (breaking-the-bank-expensive) luxury water villas & sea planes in Maldives - staying on the local island known as Maafushi. If you only stay in Maafushi, MYR2000/US$500 (per person) would be sufficient to explore the local islands & attractions. We started our journey from the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport to Maafushi by public ferry. Ferry tickets were bought from the ticket counter in front of the jetty, a few steps away from the airport's Arrivals gate. The journey is as follows:
Public Ferry to Male City (available every 10 minutes from 6.00-2.30 am) > Taxi to Vilinggili Jetty > Public Ferry to Maafushi (3.00 pm, Boat Name: Ranthari)
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| Public ferry from airport to Male City |
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| Ranthari - public ferry from Male to Maafushi |
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| Signage at Villingili Jetty |
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| Inside the public boat |
We arrived in Maafushi at 4.45 pm & the staff from our accommodation, Arena Lodge Sky were already waiting for us at the jetty, with trolleys to take our bags. We took about 5 minutes to walk to the lodge, since Maafushi is a very small island (length of about 1.3 km, width 0.3 km). Arena Lodge Sky checked us into a considerably large room, with powerful A/C & perfectly working Wi-Fi. We were more than satisfied with the clean room & friendly staff. Our room comes with free breakfast buffet, which comprises fried noodles/rice/hot dogs/curry tuna/fruits/bread/cereals in the 4 days/3nights that we were there.
Most resorts/lodging in Maafushi offer their own excursions, however we opted to go on excursions from Picnic Inn (a neighboring lodging) because of recommendations from our friends. They also offer the cheapest excursion rates; we checked with the other resorts ;) Since it was already late (sun sets around 6.15 pm), we went to book our excursion for the next day, had dinner & retired to bed early. Dinner was also in Picnic Inn Restaurant. They set up chairs & tables right on the beach, facing the sunset. We tried the local dish, Kothu Roshi, which is basically chapati torn into pieces (I'm not joking) & fried with tuna/chicken. We noticed that most seafood dishes are cooked with tuna in Maafushi.
Tip: If you choose not to stay in water villas while you are in Maldives but you would like to visit the private island resort, you may book a full day excursion to Adaaran. The package is usually priced at US$100 per person and it includes the resort entrance free, return speed boat transfer to the island, buffet lunch & free use of the resort's amenities.
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| Public ferry arrived in Maafushi |
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| Budget friendly accommodation - Arena Lodge Sky, Maafushi |
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| Arena Lodge Sky - Entrance |
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| Arena Lodge Sky Breakfast Buffet Area |
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| Arena Lodge Sky Lobby |
Day 4
The first excursion is half-day snorkeling trip in Banana Reef/Turtle Point, dolphin watching & picnic on a sand bank (island entirely consists of sand). Banana Reef is shaped like a banana, hence the name. Here was the first snorkeling spot where I encountered the unicorn fish, fish with horns, just like unicorns. There were thousands of other sealife, all colorful & busy swimming around, undisturbed by people swimming nearby. Underwater visibility was low though, we had to swim closer to the corals/fishes to have a better look at them. Uncle Satar, from Picnic Inn, then took us to another snorkeling spot to find turtles & we were very lucky to find one large turtle happily swimming on its own. There were literally hundreds of dolphins on that day, but we didn't get too close to them. Thankfully the dolphins came swimming closer to our speed boat on Day 5.
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| Colorful sea life |
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| Beautiful corals |
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| Lone Ranger Turtle |
The excursion package includes light lunch of tuna sandwich, french fries & carbonated drinks on a sand bank. The sun shines directly onto us, scorching hot, and I strongly advise you not to bake in the sun too long. You can see your skin turning darker in minutes. By night, you will suffer from burning skin (red & peeling skin) if you stay out in the sun too long. You can also snorkel near the sand bank, the underwater visibility was better here.
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| Arrived on sand bank |
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| Scorching hot |
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| White sand & turquoise water |
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| Leaving the sand bank |
Later, we booked the sunset/night fishing trip, which started at 5.30 pm & lasted until 8.00 pm. Truthfully this was my 1st time fishing on a boat in the middle of the sea & I didn't know what to expect. We simply used a hook & line (without rods) with tuna for bait. Unfortunately both my husband & I didn't manage to catch anything (except broken corals LOL) but we helped Uncle Satar (who brought us out of the island on all excursions) to pull out 4 fishes for our BBQ dinner. Even our boatman didn't have any luck. Uncle kept on reminding us "no fish, no dinner" haha. The best part of the night is definitely the dinner by the beach. Included in the excursion package price, the Picnic Inn chef grilled the fish for us perfectly & we wished we had caught more fish for dinner.
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| Pulled up a fish on the boat |
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| Grilled fish for dinner |
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| Grilled fish comes with rice & pappadom |
Day 5
We went on another snorkeling excursion, this time with two new friends from China & India. The first snorkeling spot is Biyadhoo Reef & it is my favorite reef among all. The corals & sealife here were livelier and underwater visibility was clearer. However I didn't stay long in the water because I was exhausted from swimming against the current.
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| A fish camouflaged among corals |
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| Look at the corals! |
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| Nemo & his home |
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| Beautiful blue sea life blending in the blue waters |
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| Spot the yellow fishes (I don't know their names LOL) |
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| Hubs admiring the corals |
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| One of my favorites! Blup blup blup.. |
Uncle Satar also brought us to Maavilathu, where we parked the boat on shallow waters & we were able to swim around without our life jackets. A bit further from the boat, the depth increases suddenly that you can see water changing colors from light blue to darker blue. We also stopped by dolphin point again & I was amazed at the number of dolphins waiting for us there. They were jumping out of the water & doing their tricks. We slowly went closer on the boat & suddenly they were swimming right next to our boat, close enough to touch.
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| Maavilathu |
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| Shallow waters in Maavilathu |
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| 50 shades of blue |
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| Dolphins! |
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| Hi Dolphins, wanna be friends? |
Lunch was served, sandwiches & fries again, on a local island known as Gulhi. We didn't explore the island & stayed on the beach (under a tree, most of the time) instead. The white sandy beach & crystal clear water were enough to keep us entertained while waiting for the boatmen to take us swimming with sharks! I was (just a little bit) nervous to jump into the water at shark point, but we were assured that Uncle Satar will keep us safe if we swim closely together at all times. Uncle Satar pointed to a quite large (according to my husband) shark after swimming for 10-15 minutes & I was too slow to detect it. Everyone saw the shark swimming away from us, except for me :( Nobody was close enough to get any usable photos too.
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| On Gulhi's beach |
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| Another gorgeous white sandy beach |
At the end of the half day excursion, we went back to Arena Lodge to change & shower, then we went back out for heavier lunch. Rehendhi Restaurant is located near to Bikini Beach (named Bikini Beach because this is the only spot on Maafushi where you are allowed to wear bikinis in public and the beach is gated/closed off to the public) and we tried a spicier version of Kothu Roshi here. They also serve Movenpick gelato & Illy coffee.
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| Kothu Roshi served with egg |
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| Maafushi sunset at Picnic Inn Restaurant |
Day 6
Final day in Maafushi & we had free time since we didn't book any activities and our speedboat to the airport was scheduled at 5.00 pm (Picnic Inn helped to book the speedboat from iCOM tours). We started the day with yummy curry tuna & noodles buffet breakfast The Arena Lodge staff was kind enough to lend us their bicycles. Although it was scorching hot outside, we decided to explore the island on bicycles and we didn't regret it at all. We found a hidden souvenir shop selling better T-shirts than the ones on the main roads. Maafushi is small in size, but there is a school and mosque in the middle of the island. We cycled until the other end of the island & stopped for lunch in Arena Beach Restaurant. The food here was pricier but we wanted to splurge since it was our last day in Maldives.
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| Cycling next to Bikini Beach fences |
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| Maafushi has a beautiful beach too! |
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| Lunch in Arena Beach Restaurant |
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| Alcohol free mojito & pineapple fried rice |
We were instructed to wait at the iCOM boat pier by 4.45 pm. Didi (who scheduled all of our excursion bookings) & other Picnic Inn staff escorted us to our boat & even carried our bags for us on a trolley. The hospitality of the Maldives locals was excellent & they speak good English. We were sad to leave the amazing locals we met along the way.
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| Didi & the trolley to carry our bags |
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| Good bye for now Maafushi! |
We arrived at the airport two hours ahead of our flight & had dinner at Thai Express, next to the Departures gate. Take note that before walking to the immigration counters/departure gate, you have to check in at the Air Asia counter to get a special Maldives airport boarding pass.
Budget
Please refer to the full trip budget in my previous post - Part 1 of our Maldives adventure HERE >>
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