Maafushi, Maldives

August 2018 for about a week I was at the Maldives.

If you're deciding whether you should go, GO!

We decided to go there just out of the blue and booked out hotel around May for fun.
Obviously with free cancellation until right before we went.

When I booked the hotel I had no idea what the Maldives was like but just that it was a country with many islands and beaches.

After I booked the hotel, I knew that it was a Muslim country and also the fact that there are resort islands and local islands. On resort islands, the law doesn't apply but in local islands, the Muslim rules apply. Such as, no alcohol, and not much of skin revealing.

The hotel we booked was called Arena Beach Hotel on a local island called Maafushi.

By the end of the week, the people there and on the island were so nice that I was so sad to leave. The staff were kind and since the island is so small you meet the same people a lot of times and they'll remember you!

Anyways, we arrived at Male airport the first day at around 12pm. To get from Male airport to Maafushi you need to go to Male first on a public ferry which takes about 10minutes and then get on another public ferry which was $2 per person and takes 90minutes to get to Maafushi.(Probably best to get on the taxi from where you get off at Male from the ferry and where you get on the ferry to Maafushi. The taxi only costs about $2-$3 and it's like "all you can ride".) Please do check the public ferry timetable before hand as there only maximum of 2 public ferries a day to maafushi and even one on somedays. No public ferries on Friday.

Or the alternative way is to book a speedboat from Male airport to Maafushi directly which only takes 30minutes but costs $25 per person. I am sure you can arrange it with the hotel but we booked it online at iCom Tours. I do recommend booking it though when you arrive at Male since when we arrived it was a public holiday in the Maldives and no public ferries were running that day. So you never know what happens!

As soon as we arrived at the airport we easily found the iCom staff. Well they found us to be precise. Took the speedboat to Maafushi and at the jetty harbour the hotel staff was waiting for us. 5minute walk to the hotel from the harbour and checked in. The room was a bit dark but it was clean and we had a nice view from the shared balcony. If you have sensitive hair, bring conditioner or hair oil because they don't have conditioners in the hotel nor any stores in the Maldives. 

We just went for a walk on the island, ate dinner and went to sleep for the day since we were exhausted from the long flight. 

The next day, we went out to explore the island further. So earlier I mentioned the public holiday. It wasn't just a normal public holiday but it went on for a few days and the people all over Maldives apparently was shooting water paint, had face paint all over their faces, had colourful tshirts covered in paint, throwing coloured water bags at each other. We were told that it would start from 11am so changed into anything we didnt mind getting paint all over. I got face paint all over my face by the end of it and my shirt was just... colourful. It was fun though just since we didn't have any props we couldn't really shoot or throw any coloured water back at them but real fun!

In the evening, we went night fishing with the hotel crew and some other guests. I think it was $25 per person and you eat whatever you fish for dinner. So you fish, they cook it back at the hotel, and eat! Definitely should go! We had time after fishing until dinner was served so we did Shisha for about 45minutes for $10. Since they don't have alcohol, I guess shisha was just really common there. Dinner was absolutely amazing and delicious. Don't worry if you can't fish anything by the way because the crew are so pro at fishing and those are also served so you'll have plenty to eat.

The next day, we went to the bikini beach which is the only place in Maafushi where you can wear a bikini and also right in front of the hotel we stayed at. Just sunbathed and chilled for the day.

The day after we also chilled, ate lunch at the hotel and did 20minutes of funtube experience! This was so fun. Definitely recommend it! 

We ate dinner at the hotel. It was a nice buffet and only $12 per person excluding drinks. Probably the nicest place to have dinner on the island.

On the last day at the day before we left, we went to Male leaving Maafushi at 7:30AM on a public ferry. We thought there were going to be a lot of places to explore but turns out we didn't have much time and also the fact that a lot of cars and bikes running crazy put us off a bit from going on an adventure but we went to the fish market and went to a nearby restaurant with the perfect view and nice seafood paella.

Also fruit and vegetable market where they mostly had bananas hanging.

They also had a supermarket called "sto people's choice" which had many products like spices, teas, non-alcoholic flavoured beer and alls sorts. Most of our time in Male was spent just walking around and enjoying the culture really.

Back in Maafushi, last night we ate the buffet at our hotel again. 

The next morning we had our speedboat booked to leave at 8AM so ate breakfast at the hotel where we said goodbye to the staff.

Checked out, got on the speedboat and flew back to Japan.

I know it's long but hope this helps! Overall Maafushi is such a friendly and warm hearted island that I will definitely go back some day again! 

Remember if you're deciding whether to go or not, GO!!

Thanks for reading!