The many islands and atolls of the Maldives are spread over quite a large area, so guests looking for quick and efficient travel between sites often choose to travel by seaplane rather than boat. There are two companies offering transfers in seaplanes in the Maldives: Trans Maldivian Airways and Maldivian Air Taxi.
There are also many tours of the islands that can be taken in seaplane, offering the best views of these beautiful islands.
Check out this video of a seaplane trip above the Maldives to get a feel for such an excursion:
Of all the countries that come to mind when thinking of international business, the Maldives is definitely not one of them. However, there are a plethora of opportunities here, most related to the booming tourism industry, and the Maldives also offers some interesting offshore business opportunities and enticing tax incentives.
Information about the economical and political stability of the Maldives, including information about foreign investment, corruption, property ownership and employment laws.
The capital of the Maldives, Male, is not a particularly pleasant city, and you will probably not spend much time there, since the rest of the country is far more beautiful. Nevertheless, there are some interesting cultural attractions in the Maldives, most of which are found in the city of Male.
Maldives Cultural Attraction # 1: The National Museum
National Museum of the Maldives
The National Museum is located in Sultan Park, Male. This small museum houses an interesting collection of things with a small amount of information about each piece. Pieces include historical artefacts, royal antiquities and pre-Islamic times. There are also a number of textile collections, thrones and the highlight of the entire museum, a coral head of the Lord Buddha. Despite the lack of information, the museum serves to fill a half-hour or so. The National Museum was opened in 1952 by the then Prime Minister Mohamed Amin Didi. There are talks about extending the museum to house more collections, although this has not begun so far.
Maldives Cultural Attraction # 2: Hukuru Miskiiy
Cultural Attractions in the Maldives - Hukuru Miskiiy
Hukuru Miskiiy is the oldest mosque in Maldives. Also known as the Old Friday Mosque, it was built in the year 1956, during the reign of the Sultan Ibrahim Iskandhar I. Hukuru Miskiiy is an attractive building, made from coral stones. The interior and exterior walls of Hukuru Miskiiy are beautifully carved with ornamental designs and Arabic writings. The doors, roof and window frames are all made out of various types of wood.
Maldives Cultural Attraction # 3: The Presidential Palace
The Presidential Palace is located on the islands, a few minutes walk from most of the other cultural attractions of the Maldives. The Presidential Palace is newly created, but was built on the grounds of the previous Presidential Palace. Unlike in some countries, the Maldivian President, currently Mr. Mohammed Nasheed, does live in the Presidential Palace. The President’s offices are also located here. The President occasionally hosts social events at the Palace.
Maldives Presidential Palace
Maldives Cultural Attraction # 4: Sultan Park
Apart from being home to another cultural attraction, the National Museum, Sultan Park in itself is one of the nicest cultural attractions of the Maldives. The park is home to a nice variety of plant and flower life, and also several interesting animal and bird species. Sultan Park is small, and the main attraction here is definitely the National Museum, but the park is a nice place to relax for a short while and take in the scents of the tropical plant life.
The Maldives boasts some of the best scuba diving in the world. Each year, thousands of scuba divers come to the Maldives to experience this amazing underwater wonderland. Many divers return year after year, constantly striving to discover more incredible dive sites and encounter the incredible marine life of the Maldives.
Scuba Diving from a liveboard in the Maldives
The best scuba diving experience in the Maldives is had from a liveaboard holiday, where scuba divers stay on a very comfortable power boat that cruises around the atolls and the islands for one or two weeks. The boat is accompanied by another, smaller boat, known as a Dhoni, from which all the scuba diving takes place. On every day of the trip, the divers partake in two or three dives at different sites, always visiting new sites each day. Most liveaboards usually accommodate around 10-16 people comfortably and range in price according to comfort level. Generally speaking, liveaboard accommodation is much more reasonably priced than many of the resorts in the Maldives.
Scuba Diving from a resort in the Maldives
Most of the resorts have their own scuba diving centre or dive school which is perfect for people trying scuba diving for the first time. Liveaboards only cater to divers who have at least 30 logged dives, whereas resorts offer scuba diving opportunities for beginners and experienced scuba divers alike. When scuba diving from a resort, the number of dive sites you can visit during your holiday is somewhat limited because you have to return to the resort each day, whereas on a liveaboard holiday, you are always just minutes from your bedroom and minutes from a whole new dive site.
Scuba Diving training in the Maldives
There are many PADI-certified scuba diving schools in the Maldives, all of which offer scuba diving training from the initial Open Water Diver to Rescue Diver. There are also opportunities to train for your divemaster qualification, which takes at least 6 weeks. Divemasters often choose to stay in the Maldives for a long time, scuba diving every day with one of the dive centres. Divemasters are sometimes paid by the dive centres because they assist with the PADI courses, and sometimes they are just paid in room and board.
Scuba Diving Training in the Maldives
Scuba Diving first aid in the Maldives
Being one of the premier scuba diving destinations in the world, the Maldives are very conscious about first aid. After all, scuba diving is a important source of income to these islands. All dive boats are equipped with first aid supplies, including oxygen in case of a diving emergency. Should a diver suffer decompression sickness, also known as the bends, there are two decompression chambers. One is located on Bandos Island (fifteen minutes from Male) and the other is on Kuramathi Island (one hour from Male.)
Scuba diving equipment
Standard scuba diving equipment comprises a BCD (buoyancy control device), regulator, mask, weight belt, snorkel, fins, wetsuite, depth gauge and dive computer. Some scuba divers choose to purchase their own equipment and take it wtih them on their scuba travels, whereas other people – especially less experienced scuba divers - prefer to rent their equipment. All dive centres and liveaboards have equipment that you can rent. In the case of a liveaboard, you should let the operator know at the time of reserving your holiday, so they have all the equipment ready for you. There will usually be an extra charge for renting scuba diving equipment.
What will you see while scuba diving in the Maldives?
The reason for the Maldives’ popularity as a scuba diving destination is its incredible wealth of marine life. In these sub-tropical waters, you will find everything from oriental sweetlip fish to napoleon wrasse. Various rays, including manta rays, eagles and stingrays, whale sharks and many different reef sharks, garden eels and moray eels. The coral reef is beautiful, ranging in a rainbow of colours and the overall underwater landscape looks like something off a postcard.
The many islands of the Maldives lend themselves well to surfing, and are fast becoming known as one of the hottest surfing destinations in the world.
Surfing Resorts Maldives
Maldives Surfing Season
The Maldives surfing season is very similar to the surfing season of Indonesia; the best waves can be found between March and October, with the biggest waves found between June and August.
Maldives Surfing Waves
Waves in the Maldives are usually between 4 and 8 feet high, but sometimes they can get bigger. Many of the Maldives surfing breaks are reef breaks, which can be either very mellow or totally gnarly, dude! There are many classic left and right breaks. One of the great things about surfing in the Maldives is that the water is so clear and so warm, you can spend hours in the waves without getting cold and you can always see the reefs and rocks before you smash into them! At some of the more popular surfing spots in the Maldives, the waves can get pretty crowded, but if you go on a surfing charter, similar to the scuba diving liveaboard charters, you can get to some pretty isolated waves that will definitely impress you. The best surfing in the Maldives can be found at Jailbreaks, a fantastic right-hander in the North Male Atoll and Sultan’s, an easy right-hander also in North Male Atoll.
Maldives Surfing Tournaments
The Maldives has been the proud host of the internationally-renowned O’Neill Deep Blue Surfing Tournament for the last three years. Ever since being chosen as the host of the O’Neill Tournament, Maldives surfing has grown in popularity exponentially.
Surfing Maldives
Maldives Surfing Conditions
Maldives surfing conditions are excellent, although the swell can be a little small for those surfers who are looking for total madness in the water. the swell ranges from 2-10 feet, with the highest swells in July-August and the lowest in December-January. Generally speaking, average Maldives surfing swell size is about 4-6 feet. As far as water temperature is concerned, the Maldives is unbeatable. The water stays between 23 and 28 degrees celsius all year round, meaning you don’t need a wetsuit and can spend a really long time surfing in the Maldives without getting cold.
