Male and onto Dhigurah Day 1

---

Tuesday June 28/ Wednesday June 29 – What am I doing? Who does this? Buying a ticket to the Maldives on Saturday and leaving Tuesday. Nuts! But here goes.

I woke up at 5am and was out the door at 6am for a tram to the train station and then the train to Zurich airport, putting me there at 8am, three hours before my flight. The line was ENORMOUS but I noticed there was a separate line for “verified to fly”. I had filled this out online the night before, not realizing I had a choice, but so glad I did as there were only a couple people ahead of me. After getting to the gate, I had some time to get online and organize myself a little for the trip. I’d had very little time to plan and barely knew what I was getting myself into. This is the theme lately, basically a repeat of last-minute Spring Break in Tahiti.

The first flight was to Abu Dhabi and was scheduled for a 6-hour layover. It ended up being only five due to a late start from Zurich. Remember that really long check-in line I saw? Turns out three people called in sick with Covid and it was taking them ages to get everyone checked in. But the flight waited for everyone, which was very cool. Especially since most of them were likely to fly on to other destinations. Abu Dhabi is great, but it’s roasting in summer.

The flight was fine. Late start to dinner, due to turbulence, but early start to movie-watching since we had to wait for everyone to board. I managed three movies – The new Ghostbusters, The Lost City, and Eternals. All good.

Five hours of waiting brought me lots of internet time as well as a much-needed dinner of butter chicken. Meh. I’ve had better. My flight to Male left at almost 1am, with boarding an hour earlier. I was pretty tired by then (it was 11pm at home) but the flight was only four hours and they fed us a full meal! Not much time for sleeping but I did try. The only tv I watched was one episode of What we do in the shadows…hilarious. I’ve been wanting to see it and it was worth it.

It took me a while to decide where I would stay on this trip. Most people fly in and stay at resorts. Each resort has its own island. Until 10 years ago that was the only option for visitors. And the resorts are pricey. But now inhabited islands can have guesthouses and hotels, and this is what I’ve chosen. Resorts are not really my thing and this is my comfort level. Also, I’m cheap. Not that this is cheap, but far cheaper. I decided to stay first in Dhigurah and then in Ukulhas. To save time, I will take a speedboat (1.5-2 hours) to get to both islands rather than the public ferry (5-6 hours). I skipped the super crazy expensive 20 min seaplane flight.

Landed in Male at 6:00am and the line for passport control was short. Then luggage, money-changing, and out the door. Airports usually have a taxi line and pick-up line and then some have a bus, or train, or metro. This one had a ferry landing right after the taxis. The airport is on a separate island next to the capital Male, so I got a 10-minute ferry over to Male. I would need to get my speedboat from the airport but not until 11am, and I was meeting a hotel rep at 10:15, so I had some time to kill. I decided to wander around Male with all my stuff like a psychopath in the sun in the heat and humidity because of course I did following a Lonely Planet walking tour for an hour or so,. But it was good to walk around and get a small feel for the place.

First to know is that it’s a Muslim country, so despite the oppressive heat and desire to swim at the drop of a hat, you actually have to dress respectfully (thighs and shoulders covered ladies) and if you’re on an inhabited island, you can only swim at the “bikini beach”, an area where the locals have decided it’s ok for the freaky foreigners to wear bathing suits. Locals swim in their full clothes when they do swim. Also, there’s no alcohol. For me, this is not a problem. Also, there’s no dogs or pork, as both are prohibited by the religion.

Back to Male, once I arrived I set out on my walking tour. A few years ago I bought a few cheap ebooks by Lonely Planet when they were having a sale, and the Maldives were one of those buys. I never expected to walk around with a poor Kindle version of a map, but that is what I did. I’m not the best navigator in the world, but I did make it to almost all of the stops on the route – the big main square, the Supreme Court, the vegetable market and the fish market. I also made it into the large supermarket to buy a few snacks to take with me. Both islands are quite small and there won’t be much opportunity to buy things outside of a restaurant otherwise. I made it back to the main square and sat down for 15 minutes. It was good to take off both of my backpacks and sit in the shade for a bit. It is very hot and humid and the sun was beaming down the whole time. So sweaty!

Then it was time to head back on the ferry to the airport to meet the hotel rep. I got there by 10am and met him at 10:15. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 11am and he told me to wait by the food court (it’s basically an outdoor airport) and he would come to get me. I had no idea when he would come to get me but I figured it must be reasonably early since he had me meet him so early. I was wrong. By 10:45 I was convinced he had forgotten and I would miss my boat. I went to the info desk and they let me call the hotel. They said not to worry. The boat was about 5 minutes behind schedule and would not leave without me. He was right.

The boat ride was pretty smooth and easy, but I did take a motion-sickness tablet beforehand. It took about two hours, and I really fought to stay awake (a head-jerking losing battle). We stopped once at a nearby island and then arrived at Dhigurah around 1pm. I was picked up and taken to my hotel in a van, which surprised me. I only expected an open-back truck with benches. The “main road” is just a sand path, as are all the roads/paths on the island. Dhigurah is large for a Maldivian island, in some respects, but it is only 4km long x 300m across. So it might take you 45 minutes to walk the length, as the bat flies, and 3 minutes to cross from one side to the other.

I had a welcome drink when I arrived, checked in, and made my way to my room. I decided to unpack and then made some ramen noodles for lunch and talked to Jeroen. I felt totally wiped and thought I may need to take a nap. I had woken up at 5am the day before, had almost no sleep, and it was noon at home the next day. I hated to do it but I was so tired. I set my watch for 5pm, pulled back the covers, and then decided to go for a walk instead and try to power through. I’m glad I did.

I set out for the southern tip of the island, which is just one long sandbar. I walked along the beach for a while, but it was high tide and became harder and harder to walk as the beach disappeared and several trees went straight to the water’s edge. But here I did see my first flying fox of the trip, the large fruit bats that live on the island. Occasionally once would fly over (or maybe it was the same one doing laps around the island). It’s the Indian Flying Fox and it’s one of the largest with a wingspan up to 1.5m or 5 ft.

Eventually, I landed on a sandy path inland and just kept following it south. It’s very hard to get lost on an island where you can occasionally see ocean on both sides from the center, even for me! I took several detours to see the water and sometimes walked along the beach again until I couldn’t anymore and had to go back inland. But inland it was shady and felt cooler, so that was nice too. I made it to the sandbar and it was perfect. No one around, just beautiful. It’s hard to imagine that there weren’t floods of people here, but I guess most people don’t want to walk for 45 minutes to get there plus you can’t sit on the beach in a bathing suit. It’s nowhere near a bikini beach. I walked out far enough that water flowed from both sides of the island over my feet at the same time. Amazing. Eventually, it was time to walk back and I wanted to make sure I would be back before sunset (early here in the tropics at 6:22pm). As I walked the inland path, a few motor scooters passed me and I noticed that what seemed to be a local public beach (no bikinis) was filling up with people. Someone in a truck with benches asked me if I wanted a lift back and I took him up on it. Very kind.



I waited for the sunset but was unimpressed. Tahiti wins that one. Dinner at the hotel is from 7-9pm and I was there just a couple minutes after 7 so I could get to bed early. I had fish and chips which seemed like a decent choice in a land surrounded by fish. By all accounts, it was weird and felt more like tuna from a can than whole pieces of white fish. But it was still ok. The couple next to me both had nasi goreng (Indonesian rice dish). Lucky for me I “speak” German so I understood they thought it was very good. I know what dinner tomorrow will be!

---

Photos

Airport Ferry dock
Male straight ahead

The Friendship Bridge
A gift from China

Dhiguveli Maldives hotel
Pretty small now but lots of construction on righthand side of picture.