The Maldives are a group of about 1200 Islands, spread over more than 500 miles in the Indian Ocean, to the Southwest of India. Only 200 Islands are inhabited by Maldivians. There is one “city,” the island’s capital, Male, is complete with government, high schools, offices and restaurants. Roughly, 100 tourist resorts are built on uninhabited islands which are rented from the Maldivian Government to tourist companies. There are strict rules to protect the environment.

International flights from Asia and Europe, both charter flights and scheduled, land at Male International airport, on the Island Hulule, a man made airport island designed to allow air travel to the Maldives.

From here, visitors are distributed to their destination island via float planes. Some resorts are close to the airport and can be reached by boat in reasonable time. However, the majority are 50 to 150 miles away. The water airport has expanded as travel demands have increased. There are now two companies that together use about 50 float planes, the Maldivian Air Taxi (MAT) with red aircraft, and the Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) with blue and yellow aircraft. Both companies prefer the same type of airplanes: the Twin Otter DHC-6.

The float planes started with a group of Canadian pilots. Now there is a rising number of Maldivians in the Cockpit. They are also known as “barefoot-pilots,” because they do not where shoes.

Holidays on a Maldivian Island are nothing short of unforgettable. The Islands have little rain forests with palm trees and banyan trees. There are walkways around the islands, making exploration of the forests as easy as taking a leisurely stroll.

There are beautiful beaches for swimming, and plenty of shady places to rest and read a book.

Of course, there are good restaurants and bars, and usually a second restaurant specializing in Sea Food. Many islands also have reefs for snorkeling.

Under water
The Maldives are famous for diving. The underwater structure with atolls, channels and submerged underwater mountains attracts fish from many other natural habitats. Due to the tides and monsoon winds, there are often strong currents in the channels between the islands, a preferred condition for pelagic fish such as sharks and mantas.

As for the corals, the warm water in 1988 caused coral bleaching. Now, nearly 10 years later, the corals are recovering. There are still, however, areas where you see blank spots, especially in shallow waters.

On the holiday resorts, there are diving schools, and the instructors will guide you to the most interesting places to dive.

BBQ on a desert Island
As a repeat visitor to the Island, I and a fellow traveler were rewarded a private BBQ on what felt like our very own desert Island. It was about 20 minutes by boat from the Holiday Resort. It boasts a lovely sandy beach, lots of Coconut Trees and a little hut in Robinson style. The island can be rented for wedding ceremonies or just for a day to live like a Robinson. As such, we were alone on the Island, except for the cook and waiter tending to our dining needs.

Booking well in advance is highly advised if you wish to have a similar and entirely private experience.

Because of the reefs, the big Boat (Dhony) stayed farther away on a buoy, and we, along with our servers, went in with a small dinghy. Upon landing on the Island, we got a drink and wandered along the sandy beach. Later on, the cook was ready to serve an exclusive seafood barbecue, including lobster. Some rain drops urged us to take cover, but the hut we retreated to was very nice.