It’s been over thirty years since I worked hard for my diving license on what was then an extremely romantic island with simple wooden huts and macramé hammocks. Long-distance diving, deep diving, tests, air-holding exercises. In my memory it was a lot of action, but in the end it was crowned with success. I earned the German diving badge.
The badge, repaired several times with tape, still exists and always causes great amusement among the dive guides on this trip, some of whom were not yet born when I acquired it. I am very curious to see how life in the Maldives has changed in the meantime. It’s all about diving and fishing in this island paradise of superlatives.
In my memory, the area is immense. Today, everything is reached by seaplane and distances, even to the most remote northern and southern atolls, are child’s play. It has become a playground for wealthy people, as the cost of travel and accommodation at the now numerous resorts with their stilt houses is considerable.
The Maldives, an island paradise of superlatives
We first made ourselves comfortable in a beautiful marina near the capital. The marina is built in a circular shape like an atoll and, in addition to the maritime facilities, has a beautiful boardwalk with a large culinary restaurant.
The complex is owned by American investors, there is a Hard Rock Café and an international luxury hotel as well as numerous restaurants designed like a theme park, a microcosm with international flair. The season, which is very short here, has not yet started. Nevertheless, the restaurants and stores are open and we can enjoy a wide range of offers. However, there is not much sign of island romance. Everything is modern, highly efficient, interchangeable and has little to do with the charm of the Maldives. We buy groceries, give ourselves a little time between crossings and decide to take a look at the “urban jungle” of the capital, Male.
In the land of water cabs and ferries, we make our way into the city, whose population density of 90,265 inhabitants per square kilometer is the second highest in the world. When leaving a store, you have to be very careful when you open the door and how you enter the street, as there are few, if any, sidewalks, but all the more scooters that behave as if they were traveling on wide American highways. If you feared for your life in Hanoi, it is at least as appropriate here. The biggest problems for people here are finding a place to live and paying for food. Life is expensive and the resulting social problems are not minor. At 90 percent, the divorce rate is the highest in the world. That’s a lot of negative records for an island paradise.
The highest divorce rate in the world
What do you do when the islands are slowly sinking into the sea? Build new ones! After our departure and first night at anchor, we look over the railing in amazement, because what lies ahead of us and was recognizable as a reef on the radars and digital maps now looks like a cement works. The former reef is a gigantic construction site to which large quantities of sand are being hauled by barge. This is the modern answer to the problems of a sinking island state.
We find ourselves in a seemingly utopian water world. But the underwater world is as fascinating as it used to be. Schools of fish, all kinds of sharks, eagle rays and manta rays that we can admire at close range, shoals of dolphins accompanying the boat, a powerful concert of images, crowned by beautiful sunsets. It’s easy to overlook the cement works and enjoy the endless beauty of nature. The further south you go, the less touristy the atolls are. There are still “undived” coral reefs here, which were nameless. Until we arrived, since then there has been a Sabine and a Georg Reef.
We anchor off deserted islands and find the perfect advertising islands with palm trees and a white sandy beach. There we make a fire on the beach. By this point at the latest, the world of romance is absolutely in order and the campfire atmosphere prevails. The joy of the fish grilled over the fire, which a local fisherman had sold us the day before, couldn’t be greater. Could it get any better? Hardly, and on the romance scale this place, together with French Polynesia and Rajah Ampat, takes first place.
Behind the hurricane
From the southernmost atoll, our friends return to Male by plane and we continue on our way across the Indian Ocean to the Seychelles. At a safe distance, but still noticeably present, a powerful hurricane rolls towards Madagascar in front of us, which then finally discharges above, in Mayotte, and causes great devastation.
We keep an eye on the radar day and night as we sail against the wind and current and quite a few waves and finally arrive in Victoria after five days, shaken and somewhat unnerved. After so much rocking, we are very grateful to finally have solid ground under our feet again and are rewarded with a magical backdrop.
Tropical green mountains tower over the pretty marina and the water is azure blue. Wonderful days await us in the outer islands and we spend New Year’s Eve off the dream island of D’Arroz, alone, accompanied by a concert of wind and a firework display of stars in the cloudless sky. On the inner islands, we get to know their indigenous inhabitants and enjoy the beaches surrounded by bizarre cliffs and untouched nature. The Seychelles are, quite rightly, an absolute dream destination, especially for boat trips.
Beautifully described. Thank you 🙏