As you could have read in my previous blog our holiday in the Maldives was pure paradise to me. I dreamt about visiting these islands for a long time already and after having been there I can assure you it's totally worth it.
The Maldives have it all: pristine beaches, stunning house reefs, abundant natural beauty, gorgeous sunsets, pastel colors all around, excellent food, and of course lots of class and luxury.
But not everyone has an endless vacation budget and the costs do add up here as this is one of the most prestigious destinations in the world. Package prices and traveling off season (with chances of rain on occasion) can help reduce the costs, and there are more and more cheap accommodations being offered on the Maldives lately.
Combining your luxury resort stay with cheaper or local homestays can make your trip more affordable and could be a good combination if you want to experience more of the local life.
But I can help by making your visit to the Maldives more affordable as well.
But what to do on these tropical and pristine islands. You can fully unwind, get a nice tan and become completely ''zen'', but I myself like to explore and be active during my trips as well.
The reefs and marine life in the Maldives are certainly amazing and something that can not be missed as you can see here at Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru:
The sea related activities here are so abundant that I made a top 5 of the activities that I loved the most, which I will show you through many of my own pictures and videos:
Snorkeling Safari
The water in the Maldives is so clear that you can already see the reef from the island. And as the access to the reef from Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru and Angsana Ihuru is so easy and close to the islands a snorkeling trip is a must, just see for yourself why:
Unfortunately parts of the reef were damaged and lost their color due to the warm sea temperatures last year, but nevertheless I had the most amazing time during my private snorkeling trip with Hassan at Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru and the underwater views are amazing.
The marine life here is so abundant that we even swam with 5 sharks and 1 sea turtle in 1 trip! Hassan was so kind to make this great video of our snorkeling safari for me:
A shame that some of the pics came out a bit unclear because of the murkiness of the water that day, but of course I went in many more times as the use of the snorkeling gear was free of charge.
Marine biology class, stingray and turtle feeding
As mentioned before Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru has its own marine lab, is very active in cleaning and maintaining the reef, and has its own extensive turtle shelter.
To educate the visitors about the reef and its inhabitants they have a daily marine biology class which includes stingray and turtle feeding. This can be visited through the complementary speedboat transfer from Angsana Ihuru as well. Truly a unique experience that can not be missed.
Private Sunset Cruise
One of the most romantic things that can be done here, and as a real boat lover this certainly was something for me. With this classy catamaran completely reserved for the two of us we set sail towards the surrounding islands during sunset with views likes this:
Although this will cost a bit more, the gorgeous setting of having this classy ship all to ourselves including champagne and canapés was really special.
Dolphin Cruise
When I was younger one of my biggest dreams was to swim with dolphins, because they are such playful and magical creatures.
Even though this dream was realized many years ago already on Curacao, it was still a unique experience to see a group of playful dolphins in the wild.
If you join a dolphin cruise here you don’t have worry if you see them at all, instead the question is how many? After a 2 hour boat trip onto full sea we encountered several groups of dolphins all swimming and even jumping and doing tricks around our and other boats.
Unfortunately I was not able to catch their tricks on camera, but I did manage to capture a short video of them swimming under and around our boat:
Private Beach BBQ
This is also perfect for couples and of course very romantic! This experience is offered on a private sandbank in the middle of nowhere as well, but we preferred to have this 3 course meal freshly barbecued by our villa and served to us on the beach right in front of it.
We also really liked the jet-ski drive, although this can get quite rough, depending on the weather and is more a man’s thing in my opinion😊
But when I visit the Maldives again for a longer stay I would definitely love to get my PADI as this is the perfect place to get your dive certificate and even swim with manta rays and whale sharks further out to sea!
Next to this there are many more activities offered here such as a multitude of divine spa treatments, cooking classes, local island visits, speedboat rentals, big game or night fishing and even a submarine journey.
And these 2 resorts offer various options and equipment for non-motorized watersports which can be used free of charge as well.
I hope this blog convinced you that the Maldives is a definite must visit, also for people who like to be active.
And of course if you want to explore even more a combination trip with nearby India or Sri Lanka is easily made.
For more daily pics of the Maldives you can follow me on social media as well via the buttons at the bottom of my site.
