This beautiful country is all about the turquoise water, white sandy beaches, and tropical sea life. You’ll love all the adventures in the Maldives you can find. Many people consider it their dream vacation destination, imagining days laying around the white, sandy beaches and turquoise water.

While some only see this as a luxury honeymoon location, staying on the local island is altogether a different experience and one that is more affordable and perhaps cultural. I stayed at Mirian Sky and through them, got to try all these incredible adventures that I’ll always remember.

Tips Before You Go:

• We highly recommend Kiwi for finding the best possible flights to the Maldives. Compare the different routes and prices on their site.
• The Maldives is warm all year round, so you’ll be sure to want to dress for it! Check out our favorite summer essentials here.
• Yes, you do need a visa to visit! iVisa makes it super easy to figure it all out.
• Since these are all the best adventures in the Maldives, you’ll want to get travel insurance just in case something goes wrong. We LOVE World Nomads, and it’s the most recommended company around.
• For even more tours in the Maldives, we use Viator. Check here for all their available activities.

Adventures in the Maldives at Mirian Sky Hotel

1. Turtle Snorkelling

Turtles are one of the big three, along with shark and mantas, that people want to see in Maldives. And these adorable green mammals are much easier to find. We were brought to one of their frequent sighting spot to snorkel and saw a total of four turtles during our hour-long snorkel. They were friendly enough to let you swim alongside them.

Turtle spotting aside, there are some wonderful fauna and corals to be seen at the spot. Picnic Island and its surrounding sea are brimming with sea life and we saw a turtle there, too (as well as an octopus!).

2. Dolphin Safari

By luck, we stumbled into a pod of Sharp Tooth dolphins on our way to a shipwreck and they cruised with us for a while. Though we didn’t manage to snorkel with them as they swam too fast, we got very close on the speed boat. Smaller, darker with a pointier beak than the bottle-nose dolphins, there were almost twenty in this pod. During one of our attempts to swim with them, we heard their sonic communication – which was an experience in itself.

3. Sand Bank Visit

One of the things that I had seen of Maldives before my visit was a drone video of the couple on a deserted sand bank. Needless to say, I was excited to visit one. A natural body of sand that congregated by the way of waves and currents, the sand bank we visited was made of broken corals. Combined the white sand with azure and turquoise water and you have paradise!

4. Shipwreck Snorkelling

There are numerous shipwrecks around Gaafaru Island and Anchor Point is the closest one that happened 150 years ago. The only visible sign of it above the water is a single metal rod that reaches above the sea level, but the underwater world is something else entirely.

Claimed by nature, the shipwreck is now a haven for fishes and other sea creatures. You can still make out the top part of the ship and its rough shapes, though in many parts it’s already overgrown. I was surprised at how many sea lives there are – nature will always find a way!

5. Sunset Dinner by the Beach

Given the romantic setting as well as the beautiful sceneries, it would be a shame if you don’t enjoy a sunset beach dinner. A surprise by our lovely host at Mirian Sky Hotel, the eight guests were treated to a sunset dinner at the bikini beach of Gaafaru. With the sun setting behind us, I shared one of the most romantic moments in my life with two German sisters and our lovely host.

Served buffet style, we had some fish from the line fishing as well, which leads to my last item on this list…

6. Line Fishing and Eating Your Catch

If you have never fished before, you must try line fishing! I had very little faith in my fishing abilities, however, aside from failing to cast the line, I was able to catch two fish by myself. Done in the evening and twilight hours, line fishing is a delicate act of knowing how much you should release the line and play tug-of-war with the fish.

We caught eight in total, not counting an accidentally nurse shark (we let it go, of course). Which was cooked for dinner that night!

Where to Stay in the Maldives:
Mirian Sky Hotel on Gaafaru

I spent a week at Mirian Sky Hotel in the Maldives. A three and a half hour ferry from the capital Male or an hour on a speed boat, Gaafaru is a small, unspoiled fishing village with a population of just over one thousand.

If you want to experience a local island in peace and quiet with friendly staff and excellent service, then you are in the right place.

The two-floor hotel is modern, clean and has all the basic amenities. The hotel isn’t very big, which is nice and peaceful, and the reception area is the same as the dining room. There’s a small outdoor patio with a place to wash sand off your feet.

Here’s a quick video of the hotel as well as my room:

The air conditioning works perfectly, the room is clean and well equipped with a mini-fridge, LCD TV, wardrobe, vanity table and chair, double bed. The bathroom, standard of many South-East Asia countries, consist of a shower with no curtain or stand.

There’s also a fan if you aren’t cool enough! I enjoy my room so much that I end up staying in and watching a movie from my hard-disc in the evening. I am anti-social, I know.

While the room has a balcony that does face the sea, you won’t use it much as it’d put you in direct sight of the mosque.

The food, prepared by the chef Mohammed, exceeded my expectations. I had pancake, omelet, and toasts for breakfast, there’s also tea, coffee, and cereal, too. He will literally make you anything you want and does the best salad! Lunch and dinner usually consist of salad or pasta with chicken or fish. Though you can get authentic Maldivian food, fried rice or noodles etc as well.

Everyone at Mirian Sky is friendly and did their best to take care of me and make sure my stay was great, as they do with all the other guests!

Now that I’ve finished gushing, here’s some nitty gritty info:

• Shower gel and shampoo are provided, as well as towel and beach towel.
• You have free use of bikini beach and their sun bed and umbrella. However, the beach is not on the doorstep and requires a five-minute walk or so. You will have to cover up your bikini or swimsuit as well since it is a local island.
• The WiFi is very weak and glitchy. It only works on one device at a time but does work all over the island. I recommend that you get a SIM card if the internet is essential to you.
• Its proximity to Male is a huge bonus. The choice of cheaper daily public ferry if needed is a superb option. However, the fact that it’s opposite a mosque opposite means you’ll hear it every morning at 5 am.

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