To get to most atolls in the Maldives often requires a transfer back to, then from Malé again, since although inter-atoll ferries seem to be common, there are seemingly none which go between the different atolls… So on Wednesday, the plan was to first take a speed boat from Fulhadhoo, Baa Atoll (at 7am) back to Malé, then take the 10:30am speed boat to Dhigurah, South Ari atoll, from the same jetty in Malé.
Conveniently, in the Maldives, all boats are tracked via the app and webpage https://m.followme.mv/public/, so all you need to know is the name of your boat, and you can track exactly where it is at all times! Very snazzy! The boat from Fulhadhoo to Malé was appropriately named “Atoll Cute”, and took 2 hours to get us back to Malé, after stopping at the neighboring islands of Fehendhoo and Goidhoo. Then “Aslan” took us to Dhigurah, via the Airport.
Once again, on arrival in Dhigurah we were picked up by our hotel. We’d booked Nikabliss guesthouse, which was very close to the jetty, but with heavy bags and in the midday sun, we welcomed the lift. The hotel was lovely. I was worried that it was a little far from the main bikini beach, but we came to learn that EVERYTHING on Dhigurah is quite far from bikini beach! Instead, this hotel was new, clean, and had the best 3 guys managing it, who made us feel incredibly welcomed to the island and part of the family.
The island is about 3km long, and only about 250m wide at its widest point, so it’s very long and narrow. The town is condensed into the northern widest point of the island, and Bikini beach and the famous sandbar is right at the southern tip of the island, about a 2.5km walk from the town, through a dense equatorial jungle.
Our first evening was raining quite badly, the storms of the monsoon had definitely caught up to us. We walked around the town and found a little spot for dinner.
On the first full day we decided to try and walk it to the Southern tip of the island. We walked first to “turtle reef” on the western side of the island. We arrived very hot and sweaty, having come through the thick jungle. The reef was OK, no turtles that we saw, visibility close to the beach was very poor, but quite far out (about 40m) it was good, and the reef here was much better. There was no current really too, so the snorkelling was enjoyable.
We then decided to keep moving south, as turtle point was only about half way towards the southern most point.
Along the path we came across a little picnic area which was nice, but as a public area, it was no bikinis again. And we thought that some locals might be missing a trick, as if there was someone here selling cooled drinks from a icebox, we’d have definitely been up for one!!
We continued on, past a few little private beaches accessed by little paths shooting off from the main path. Some had sun beds on them, others the traditional Maldives chairs (which is a rectangle filled with a net as a seat, either as a bench, or suspended from a tree). They are not the most comfortable, I have to say, but they are everywhere and you get used to them eventually!
We stopped at one about 3/4 of the way towards the end with a bench and had another swim and cool off.
Then we attempted to get to the end of the island. Eventually, the road runs out and you’re walking on narrow paths through the trees or directly on the beach. It was SOOO hot, and after a long walk, either in direct sun, or the steaming forest, we were done. We didn’t know how long left we had to walk. But we had a number of a taxi haha, so we text for a pick up and sat in the shade swotting away mosquitos waiting to be picked up!
And a quick word on that… mosquitos… OMG, there were A LOT, not just here, but throughout the whole Maldives. Fortunately, they don’t have Malaria here or anything like that, but we got eaten alive, seriously! And that was also with covering ourselves in repellent. We’re starting to get a bit more used to it now. But in the first week, we both had countless itchy bites!
So we got back and had showers to cool off and remove the layer of salt and sweat! And then watched the sunset from the local beach, next to a little ice cream van, which was very popular with the locals (and us), dressed in team kits for either volleyball or football. Both men and women, which was nice to see.
The next day, our second here, was VERY rainy!! There was a big storm which lasted all morning and into the early afternoon, and it was absolutely chucking it down with black skies. So we took the opportunity to catch up on blogging, I made a couple of videos, Dave did some photo editing. I also phoned Rupert (Pete) and he seemed happy, which was nice.
Then in the afternoon, when the rain finally relented, we took a taxi to the end of the road and finally visited the sandbank at the end of the island.
It was really nice, and had some good amenities, like plastic parasols, seating, even a toilet and tap, we wished we had persevered the day before…
We spent the afternoon watching baby sharks (yes more baby sharks haha), rays, a couple of HUGE ones, and playing in the water, before watching the sunset.
That evening we scoped out the local sports bar to make sure there was somewhere on the island we could watch the England game, and luckily for us, there was a cafe just next door from the guest house which was showing all the Euros. 😜
One of the main reasons we chose to visit Dhigurah, was because of the presence of whale sharks here. Initially. I read that it was similar to Hanifaru bay, in that during monsoon you get huge congregations of them here, and you’re almost guaranteed to see them. However, unlike Hanifaru, which has drones monitoring the area, the boats here just patrol up and down the coastline with spotters on the roof. But on reading up more and more it seemed “guaranteed” might not be the case, and I read some horror stories about boats harassing the sharks, and hundreds of people in the water fighting to see just one shark… We really hoped it wasn’t like this, but with all the mixed messages online, there was only one way to find out really…
We booked our trip with the guesthouse, $75 per person, because we were told that it included some very good snorkelling, as well as looking for sharks, so even if we didn’t see any, it still sounded good…
The boat departed at about 8.30am and had about 20 people mostly from Bliss guesthouse. We drove South from the harbour, and indeed, we spent the first hour and a half just patrolling up and down the East Coast of the atoll, from Dhigurah down to Dhidhdhoo.
This might have been boring, except for the stunning vistas, the lush green forests of the islands, sandbanks and of course the crystal clear turquoise water. Dave saw some dolphins jumping out of the water (I missed them ☹️), and I spotted a few turtles bobbing at the surface. The water was so clear, you could see the reef and the colourful fishes just from the boat. And we saw countless flying fish!
With no sight, nor sound (there were several other boats on patrol too), we disembarked for some snorkelling.
And it was truthfully, very very good. The reef was between 3-5 metres below us, but the visibility was excellent. There was a strong current, but the boat was going to pick us up at the end, so it was lovely and relaxing. Dave and I found ourselves at the back of the group – taking our time to look at everything.
We saw a turtle, who, just as we passed it, decided to come up for air right in-between us. I almost ran into it with the current. It stayed on the surface for a long time just chilling with us peacefully, until someone on our boat spotted it and alerted the others in our group. As the group splashed over to us to catch a glimpse, the turtle scarpered quickly into the depths. But we’d had some nice time with it, so it wasn’t too bad. Poor thing.
We then spotted a pretty big black tip reef sharks easily 6ft, the biggest one we’ve seen so far, it glided past us gracefully. I don’t think anyone else spotted it. I tried to follow with the GoPro, but it easily outpaced me as we were swimming against the current. It didn’t seem phased by us either way…
We saw another school of moorish idols, which was cool, and I also saw a moray eel on the move, outside of a den, which I’ve never seen before…
Dave also saw another shark, just as we were getting back on the boat, but I was already out of the water.
We hadn’t seen any whale sharks, but the snorkelling was great, so we were still relatively happy.
We continued the search for another hour ISH, before finally giving up and heading back to the harbour… that’s when… WE SAW ONE! Very lucky for us, our boat was the first one who spotted the shark, so it was a race to get into the water before the other boats and people arrived. Dave and I still had our swim stuff and rash vests on, so we literally grabbed our masks (and the GoPro) and jumped. We were the first in, and got a clear view of the shark in front of us.
It was MASSIVE, and so graceful in the water, it was just incredible. I was pleased to see that once all the rest of the group was in the water, everyone was respectful and gave the shark some distance, and I have to say, it did not seem bothered by us one bit. It just continued feeding.
However, it didn’t last, and inevitably, all the other boats soon arrived, and with more and more people in the water the shark was not stupid, and dove down deeper and eventually, was gone from sight.
What a way to end the trip! We headed back to the harbour very happy!
Unfortunately, that afternoon I got quite a bad migraine, so I just spent the afternoon sleeping and taking some medication, and Dave did some photo editing and stuff online. I do get migraines quite frequently, although not often when on holiday. Luckily, this one only lasted about 2 days, and I brought plenty of prescription drugs with me.
We did managed to watch the England game that night, although I think we were the only 2 people on the island happy that we won haha!!
We liked Dhigurah in general, but the size of the island, and the heat/humidity, made it quite hard to navigate without using taxis to and from bikini beach. The house reef still wasn’t as good as Dharavandhoo or Fulhadhoo, and it was definitely more touristy than them too… Plus, the whale shark trip was the only trip we did, mostly because of the cost, the trips were way more expensive here…
Still, one of the major benefits was that the island is served by public ferries, and the next morning, we got the 304 from Dhigurah to our next island; Mahibadhoo, for just 22 MVR each! (About £1!)
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