Last week, I shared my exhausting but rewarding kayak adventure around the island of Rasdhoo in the Maldives. The week before, I shared a quick snorkelling and fish-feeding trip to Rasdhoo Madivaru Finolhu.
This time, I spent an entire day at sea and went island-hopping with Yameen’s family. My request to visit Rasdhoo Madivaru (Picnic Island) coincided with a planned family gettogether, so we combined the two.
Heading Off
I got up early that morning to check the weather as for my last few days on the island, the sky was overcast. It only rained for two nights and drizzled a little one day, but we didn’t want to take our good luck for granted. The weather seemed to be on our side, so I could enjoy breakfast with some peace of mind.
We took off shortly after breakfast, returning to the beach we embarked from the last two times. Yameen’s family was already readying the boat, so we were off in no time.
We weren’t the only ones enjoying a beautiful day at sea.
The Arrival
Within five minutes or so, we approached Picnic Island. In the video, I believe Yameen is telling me I missed the seagull, but I went hunting for him later.
You probably noticed a seagull on the beach and one taking flight. They are the same bird at two different times in the same shot.
I then decided to wander around. The pictures don’t do the scene justice, but they come close.
The 1st Snorkelling Session
After a second breakfast with Yameen’s family, Imran asked me if I was ready to go snorkelling. I was under the impression we were just going to put on our gear and peek beneath the blue of the beautiful water around us. Instead, we were back on board the boat again.
After a few minutes, we slowed to a stop. Imran then jumped in to ensure we were in the right spot. Once we determined exactly where we should be, it was time for the rest of us to get in.
Here, the water was deeper than anywhere I have ever snorkelled before. Had I been out there on my own, it probably would have been terrifying.
We mostly came across fish, but there was a much wider diversity than what I had seen at other snorkelling spots so far. The black ones with blue tails especially moved in eerie and magical ways. They are shaped a little different from the other fish and move their fins almost as though they are flying sideways.
Then, we came across a shark. I thought it was just a baby shark, but Yameen says that’s just because it was far below us. He estimates that it may have been a teenager.
Whenever I tell people I came across a shark at sea, they ask me if I wasn’t terrified. I really wasn’t. The shark never approached us and you feed off the fear of the group. The others had none, so I had none.
The fun didn’t stop there. Shortly afterwards, we came across eagle rays.
The 2nd Snorkelling Session
The second snorkelling trip began with more fishes. In this video, you can get a better idea of how many people were snorkelling with me. You will also notice the fish I mentioned that swim in an eerie and magical way. They are the ones with almost neon-blue tails.
At this second snorkelling spot, the current was stronger and a little more difficult to swim against. However, that’s probably because we decided to pursue a turtle that we came across in the water.
I had never seen one up close that was so big before. It was really my lucky day coming across all this wildlife in one go.
After a while, breakfast began to evaporate, so we returned to Picnic Island to eat again. This time, the men barbecued fish they had caught the day before. It was delicious. I didn’t take any photos of the food, but it closely resembles this.
The 3rd Snorkelling Session
After everyone had eaten, we packed up everything, cleaned the space and hopped over to the Sandbank. I didn’t originally plan on getting back into the water again, having seen all I wanted to see. However, Yameen encouraged me to watch the fish-feeding.
Unfortunately, Imran had already returned to the main island of Rasdhoo and had taken the flippers with him. I still had my goggles though, so we went flipperless, which was much harder, but not impossible.
This was the last planned adventure in The Maldives. I want to thank Yameen and the rest of the staff at Rasdhoo Coralville who treated me more like family than a guest.
In the next posts, I’ll talk about the food on the island as well as offer a few tips if you ever plan to visit the Maldives.
The Cost Breakdown
People often believe travelling to Maldives is a lot more expensive than it really is. While it is certainly the most expensive trip I have ever taken, it is also the longest and furthest since I started travel blogging. So, how much did it cost me?
- Round Trip Flight: $1,253.43
- Round Trip Boat Taxi: $80
- Hotel Accommodation (11 nights): $400
- Food (3 meals per day): $230
- Activities & Extras: $107
This comes to a total of ~$2,070, but I only ended up paying $1,963.43. The hotel has since asked me to encourage more people from the Americas to travel to the Maldives as we rarely show up there compared to the Europeans.
I’ve accepted the hotel’s challenge to plan a trip back for 2020 and/or 2021. If you would like to join us or would prefer to head out there on your own or with your own group, feel free to contact me or reach out to the hotel directly.
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know my adventure did not end here. I got stranded in Boston overnight and Emirates Airlines has yet to reimburse me a penny after giving me the runaround for almost two weeks now. But, that’s a story for another time.
Stay tuned!