Maldives

Antoine's view

I was very lucky to be able to sail around this archipelago over twenty years ago, just before international tourism found it.

Back then, there were only a few small holiday villages, including a nudist camp, quite a surprise in this Muslim archipelago! Today the Maldives can work for people who come looking for two specific things.
Firstly a dream island, conforming to the image of ?a country where life is cheaper?: low-lying, white sand, glistening coconut trees, surrounded by a crystal clear sea.
There are dozens of these island hotels today, ranging from the smallest with a dozen simple bungalows to the largest, invaded by huge and sometimes very luxurious hotel complexes.
I prefer the first ones of course, perfect places for resting and reading good books where you can spend hours doing nothing, waist high in turquoise water with baby carangues eating out of your hand... The ideal place when you?re madly in love!

So saying, don?t go looking for much else in the Maldives. Every hotel owner will hijack you in his hotel and it?s not easy to visit the other islands: they?re all rather alike anyway.
It?s impossible to hire a car for driving around: no roads here. Chartering a boat isn?t easy either, unless you can board one of the rare charter boats that come to the Maldives.
The country is Muslim and there?s one place for tourists and one for the locals. It?s not easy to see local singing, dancing or other cultural events, unless you go to the most remote islands.
The underwater world is extraordinarily beautiful: lots of visitors come to the Maldives to scuba dive each day in the spectacular sites discovered in the Seychelles. Coral and multi-coloured fish, bullhead sharks, manta ray, sea turtles: the Maldives marine world is magical.

Instead of taking a hotel room, many divers prefer to spend a few days on a ?donhi?, local boats that have been renovated for these trips.