Travel with Angela Lansbury: Maldives - the sunny side of life

Friday, October 23, 2020

Maldives - the sunny side of life - islands and food

Other islands:

Dhiffushi, Himmafushi, Huraa. Double letters:f,a,m (as in family).

You can take a package tour Honeymoon holiday and visit four islands, the main island and these three.

Dhiffushi

Dhiffushi is the most Eastern so you can work out where it is, in the middle right of the long necklace of islands.

Dhiffushi

About 23 miles from the main island of Male which is the capital.

Surprisingly easy to reach by ferry or traditional boat. You can also stay at guesthouses and eat at family run restaurants.

The population of this little island is less than a thousand.

I watched a youtube video and saw white sands, leaning palm trees, neat parallel streets, motorbikes, motorboats churning up white waves, clear blue underwater views of teeming fish, some striped some half see-through!

The video equivalent of window-shopping. A Youtube break.

Wiki reports

Public ferry[edit]

Everyday except Friday & Monday
Takes 2 hrs 45 mins
Tickets per person MVR 20
Leaves from Male' at Villingili Ferry Terminal at 2:30pm. The ferry dhoni arrives at the island at 5:30 pm
Leaves from Dhiffushi to Male' at 6:30 am. The ferry dhoni arrives at Male' at 09:30 am

Fast ferry[edit]

A speedboat ride of 40 mins, tickets cost $35 per person.

From Saturday to Thursday, this ferry leaves from Male' to Dhiffushi at 4:30 pm in front of the Bank of Ceylon. The return journey from Dhiffushi to Male' leaves at 7:30 am. On Fridays, the journey from Male to Dhiffushi is at 8:30 am and 7:00 pm. The return journey from Dhiffushi to Male' is at 5:00 pm.

However, the latest information I read says you can only visit the island on which you are staying, so you will want to carefully check out all the islands in order to choose which one to make your home from home on this trip, and where to go for a return trip next year.

Himmafushi

(More later in next post)

Huraa

(More later)

I had trouble typing, spelling and remembering these names. However, I created three useful memory aida:

1 different DHIFF(and no suchi, sh! USHI; DHIFFUSHI. Note dh, ff, SH.

2 hurray, hurrah, aah! HURAA. Note double a, AA.

3 Himmafushi - for him a fun sushi; HIMM A FU SHI. Note double m MM and SH.

All three end in vowels, i or a.

Pluses and minuses to remember?

Out in public on the remote islands local women wear hijabs. On the other hand, with everybody worldwide wearing masks, we are pretty used to finding it hard to recognize even our friends. The locals don't eat nor serve alcohol nor pork. However, in the resorts and on the livaboard boats you are likely to find alcohol and pork.

If you want to wear a bikini or bikini top, some beaches are dedicated bikini beaches. Just have two types of clothing in case you need it and check regulations before travelling overseas and taking trips from the resort.

On Tripadvisor there's a wide range or reviews, including some very positive ones from honeymooners.

Here's the shopping bag I must have picked up containing brochures at the World Travel Market, held every year in London in November for tourist boards to promote to travel agents and the media. This year, 2020, the World Travel Market will be an online event.