Trip Report 3 local islands: Fulidhoo, Dhigurah, Rasdhoo

[Matthias Hoeller]

We have recently been "island hopping" on three Maldives local islands: Fulidhoo, Dhigurah, and Rasdhoo.

First of all, we found that all of these local islands are ready good for diving, you can't really go wrong.
Dive shops generally are good quality, and dive sites range from interesting to spectacular. The locals were overall extremely pleasant people, we had zero negative experiences. We respected the religious constraints (no alcohol, no walking around in bikinis), but to us it appeared that the locals were quite relaxed about it and it wasn't really a big deal for anybody.

We did about 30 dives and never got bored. Typical dives would feature lots of reef sharks, sometimes nurse sharks; often turtles, eagle rays, stingrays, octopus etc. The coral is generally in not too bad shape, less bleaching than we had feared. Not exactly like the red sea but still beautiful in many places.

That said, there are a few specialities to each island:

• Fulidhoo is really small and has great "small island"/village vibes, very chill and relaxed, only two dive shops (both excellent), and only about 200-300 people live there. Diving was very nice. Our accomodation was Luau Beach hotel, which is excellent and we very much recommend.
• Dhigurah is much larger, and specially located at one of the world's whale shark hotspots, which is why many people go there (we were lucky enough to encounter a whale shark underwater on our last day diving, a once in a lifetime experience that we will never forget, see image attached). Furthermore there are really spectacular dive sites (Thilas, coral gardens etc). We were in the "Boutique Beach" all inclusive diver hotel, which is excellent and really worth every penny. They claim it's run by divers for divers, and it shows.
• Rasdhoo has more of a backpacker/hostel vibe, feels a bit "cheaper"/ less rich population. Prices are much lower than on the other two islands - so this is more of a budget option. The island is also quite densely populated. Regarding the tourists: younger crowd, beach cafes with music etc. Also no real hotels, only cheap guest houses. Choose one wisely, our first one (which I shall not name) was cockroach infested and we had to move to a different place. That second place was much better: Brickwood Veli - which we very much recommend as accommodation! Diving is very good, comparable to Fulidhoo.

All of the above islands are conveniently reached in 1-2 hours by speedboat from Male/airport.

If we had to rank the three, we would put it this way:
1st place: Dhigurah, it was easily the best, both in regards to the diving and also to the excellent Boutique Beach hotel.
Very close 2nd place Fulidhoo, it was also amazing due to the nice small island vibes.
3rd place Rasdhoo - it was also nice but more of a cheaper budget feeling.

Best,
Matt

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

Only one whale shark while in Dhigurah? and no Mantas? that's a quite unusual poor count...
But glad that you liked staying at Romney's and her crew

 

[Matthias Hoeller]

Only one whale shark while in Dhigurah? and no Mantas? that's a quite unusual poor count...
But glad that you liked staying at Romney's and her crew

Well there is never a guarantee with nature, is there
We did actually see a Manta, but that was while snorkelling (read: the poor animal got chased by a horde of splashing tourists) so I wouldn't really count it, nor recommend the experience.

Romney is a legend, period.

 

[StenieJ]

We respected the religious constraints (no alcohol, no walking around in bikinis),

Was this at the resorts you stayed out, or only if you were in town? I've been reading up on Maldive's laws & customs and see that some of the resorts are allowed to have alcohol?

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

@StenieJ
@Matthias Hoeller stayed only at local islands, not at a resort
All resorts, i.e. the islands that have been re-shaped and developed to accommodate for 1 hotel and where no local population is living, are allowed to serve alcohol.
When on a local island / inhabited island, i.e. an island where Maldevian people are living and where you will find schools, shops, infrastructure (sometimes even an ATM), you will not find any alcohol (or pork products). None at all. Even not in the guesthouses where tourists will stay.
It will be a matter of respect for the locals to dress modestly and (for women) to show up in bikini only on the designated beaches (aka "Bikini Beachs"), for men to wear swimwear only there.
On local islands, you will find a lot of signs as attached.

 

[Parlem]

Was this at the resorts you stayed out, or only if you were in town? I've been reading up on Maldive's laws & customs and see that some of the resorts are allowed to have alcohol?

Alcohol is available on resort islands, where the whole island is one hotel. Local islands, where Maldivians live and some (more) affordable hostels and small hotels have proliferated in recent years, are dry. That is, unless there is a "floating" bar off the shore (i.e. a boat where alcohol is served). I hope that clarifies the matter for you.

 

[Matthias Hoeller]

Was this at the resorts you stayed out, or only if you were in town? I've been reading up on Maldive's laws & customs and see that some of the resorts are allowed to have alcohol?

There are two types of islands in the Maldives:

1. Resort islands: These are islands where there is only one large single hotel resort, often with the stereotypical water bungalows, but no Maldivian locals actually live there (some may work in the resort and hence live there, but there are no villages/houses apart from the resort, and no one lived there before the resort was built)
2. Local islands: These are the islands that were and are originally settled by the Maldivian local people. There are no typical resorts on these islands, no water bungalows, instead, each of these islands is basically a small village with 300-1000 people living there (depending on the size of the island).

There used to be a strict segregation, i.e. no tourists were allowed on local islands, until about 2008. After that was abolished, tourists are now allowed to travel to local islands as well. In the meantime, there are now many small privately owned guesthouses, and even some mid sized hotels (typically no larger than 10-20 rooms), on each local island.

Since the local population is mostly Muslim, and Islam is kind of the official state religion, there are some laws in place that only apply on local islands. No alcohol is allowed on local islands, no shops or bars will sell alcohol and you're not supposed to bring your own either. Also, in the village, women are not supposed to walk around in Bikinis; the general rule is that you should be covered from shoulders to knees (although I didn't perceive this rule to be enforced too strict - as long as you didn't walk around in bathing suit or bikini, mostly any other dress would be fine). Instead, each local island has a designated "Bikini Beach" where sunbathing in bikinis/bathing suit is allowed; that's where the tourists go.

So, if you want to have alcoholic beverages and/or walk around all day in a bikini no matter where you go, you should go to a resort island. If alcoholic beverages aren't that important for your holiday and you don't mind putting on a t-shirt and shorts on the way between your room and the beach, then you can save a lot of money and have a much nicer experience on a local island (since those aren't the artificial "Disney World" resorts with exaggerated prices that go directly towards multinational travel corporations).

Hope that helps
Matt