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Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

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Toby
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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby Toby » Wed Feb 08, 2023 10:52 pm

It wasn’t about being safe, just less freedom.
Just need to be aware of local do’s and don’ts

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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby BraCuru » Thu Feb 09, 2023 9:57 am

Hard to expect full freedom (in our perspective) in any Islamic country, especially for women. I guess your friends probably paid too much attention to this issue and got bad experience.
We've had no such issues so far. We just follow do's and don'ts wherever we travel. If don'ts do not suit us then we don't go to such places.

Maldives are much closer to Europe than to Iran in these terms. Local women can walk without hijabs but at the same time any women are not welcome to parade in bikinis in a middle of island.
However tourist women can take sunbathing almost naked on dedicated bikini beaches. How hard can it be to obey it? It is not tasty to see any half naked woman or man walking into a shop in Europe either.

Bear in mind that alcohol is not allowed in Maldives by Islamic law. But there is always a but ;) Anybody can swim in a whiskey pool on resort islands or those who cannot afford it and stay on local islands go to floating bars anchored meters from a dry land. No alcohol limits over there and huge hangovers next day.

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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby romian » Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:01 pm

BraCuru wrote:
Wed Feb 08, 2023 12:23 pm
We will be back to Guraidhoo from 11th till 25th February. Just packing. There will be 3 kite/wingfoilers. Will anybody be the same time near Maafushi & Guraidhoo?
last year had pleasure to meet Youri Zoon.
I am planning to kite to Thulusdhoo so I hope to meet some kiters near Male too.
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Already back from Guraidhoo? Could you please comment a bit on how was this year?

I´m planning a foiling trip and your info in this thread is awesome and very detailed. My options are August (2 weeks) or February (9 days). Not sure if I should avoid the summer monsoon...

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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby BraCuru » Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:25 pm

It was a bit less wind than expected. However I was foiling every day on Sonic 15m. Out of 14 days we had only 3 days for winging (12kts+). The rest was 7-10kts.
I've never been there during summer monsoon. No idea about true weather and wind that time but having a large foil kite and hydrofoil I would risk and choose a longer period of staying - 14 days is much longer than 9. There are so many things to do on or under water!

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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby lifeinthehood » Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:18 am

This is an amazing write-up. Thank you! Now you've given me another destination to consider for next winter. Perfect timing - I just got proficient at kite foiling (advanced beginner). Sorry if I missed this in the write-up (I'll go read it again), but how's difficult was it to get there? How is the cost of living, like if I were willing to go stay for a couple of months (if the visa allows)?

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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby BraCuru » Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:11 am

lifeinthehood wrote:
Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:18 am
how's difficult was it to get there? How is the cost of living, like if I were willing to go stay for a couple of months (if the visa allows)?
It's rather easy & cheap - comparing to most of other atolls. Guraidhoo is in a 45min reach by speedboat from airport.
No need to take a local expensive hydroplane.
You can hire a speedboat for yourself (160-200USD) or use a schedule ones (25-35USD).
I recommend Escape from Guraidhoo: https://www.facebook.com/escapespeedboats/

Generally speedboats are like taxis for people living in cities.
Below speedboat schedule for Maldives and read more about this kind of service in the link:
https://www.atolltransfer.com/scheduled-speed-boat

There is a public ferry sailing to Guradihoo too (ticket 1 or 3 USD). However it takes 3 hours and takes off in Male so you would need to take a speedboat from the airport terminal to the capital and then cross the city by a taxi.
Anybody willing to visit Guraidhoo and asking for details - send me a pm.

Cost of room for regular two tourists - 40-100USD per day. Renting for a couple months it would be cheaper.

Meals - very simple and basic. Don't expect sophisticated dishes. Small food amounts are served and forget about nice seafood. Most of fish and meat is overcooked, over-boiled, over-burnt, overdone etc...
So called "restaurants" usually are basic without any decor. Look poor in our standards. Average dinner 7-15USD per person.
This is good to know in advance. First arrived tourists usually complain about quality of meals as they watched too many catalogues or commercials of resort islands before first visit in Maldives.
Local islands have nothing common with resort ones except surrounding environment which is just amazing in the same way. Surfing, kiting, paddling, diving, snorkelling is the same :)

Visa is free up to 30 days for tourists. Might be extended another 60 days. Don't know too much about details as we stayed the longest 3 weeks.

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romian
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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby romian » Thu Mar 23, 2023 3:41 pm

BraCuru wrote:
Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:11 am
Most of fish and meat is overcooked, over-boiled, over-burnt, overdone etc...
Fresh fish overcooked = worst sin ever. :nono:

Or perhaps is not that fresh... which I doubt being surrounded by water and reefs.

Anyway, it´s in the bucket list for sure. No problem to live on rice and without beer for a week or two and loose some weight :roll:

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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby BraCuru » Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:03 am

romian wrote:
Thu Mar 23, 2023 3:41 pm
No problem to live on rice and without beer for a week or two and loose some weight :roll:
Fully agree. My best result so far - from 82 down to 74 in 3 weeks :)

Fun for family:


My wife paddling with friends and me taking pictures from our balcony :)
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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby lifeinthehood » Fri Mar 24, 2023 2:27 pm

BraCuru wrote:
Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:03 am
Nice video! Lol, the Maldives government should hire you to run their tourism department. It definitely got added to my list for future travel destinations.
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Re: Maldives. Guraidhoo Kaafu atoll. My nr.1

Postby Hugh2 » Sat Mar 25, 2023 4:37 pm

thanks for this. I hope to sail there in 2025


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