Maldives surf trip...

[The Mighty Sunbird]

And of course, Indonesia has an absolutely wonderful human rights record, hey.
What godsave's mate said about Pasta is pretty much true. I haven't been to Lohi's.

Lets face it as a whitey surfing in a 3rd world country, ethical compromises will be made.
The trade off? Perfect (and at Pasta Point) uncrowded waves.

[alakaboo]

Learned friends...
I've been offered a spot on Handhu Fahli in mid May, and trying to decide whether to go. Not a free spot.
The boat would be booked out by us, i.e. no randoms.

So from what I gather:
It's the start of the season proper, but swell should be okay.
Expect 2-4 foot and hope for more, but unlikely to get over 6+

It is described as Male Atolls, but really I guess that means North Male because it gets more swell.
There are about 8 breaks of reasonable quality in North Male, 2 of which are off limits. Slightly more rights than lefts and the rights are more powerful
(I'm goofy, but surf better backhand)

There are 8 boats or so running charters, each with 6+ surfers on them. Add boat trips from the resorts and you are looking at 70-100+ surfers in the region?
Expect 5-15 in the water of mixed ability and if you are sneaky you might get a few surfs with fewer.

Tide is not a real factor in surfability of the waves (unlike fcuken Tonga), but currents can pick up around low tide.


Is that about right?

[Donweather]

Sounds pretty spot on Boo. Where'd ya get that info from? They seem to know what they're talking about. How long is the charter for? There's a good chance you should get one good quality swell in an 8-10 day charter. Expect crowds (Euros) to wane as the swell gets bigger. But if you ask me, if you're gonna go to the Maldives (North Male atolls), then stay at Cokes where the accomodation is super cheap and you can chose between a perfect righthander and a super fun lefthander whenever you want.

[steve shearer]

I'm sure the brown man will be cleaning the dishes and baiting the hooks for kemo sabe

[alakaboo]

I just read a couple of the threads on here, Don.
It's only a week long charter, guessing that means 6 days of surfing.

Have to say, it's not exactly selling itself.

Reg, don't be ridiculous. I hadn't even considered the fact that the help might be allowed time off between shoe shining and pressing my linen suit.
I meant no cnuts like you.

[alakaboo]

They mention spearfishing.

[The Mighty Sunbird]

Paging Donweather.

I'll be at Pasta Point for a week from next tuesday.

Anything magical on the charts?

[Donweather]

Hello!!!

Very early in the season for up there, so I wouldn't be getting your hopes up too much.

But here goes:

Tuesday 26th March
3-4ft of SE mid range swell, with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets

Wednesday 27th March
Waning 2-3ft SE mid range swell, with the upper end of this size at the south swell magnets

Thursday 28th March
Around 2-3ft SE mid range swell. Will also be some long period SW groundswell but this swell won't be getting into Pasta/North Male.

Friday 29th March
Small 2ft SE mid range swell with a new pulse of longer period 2-3ft SE swell arriving during the day (could be later in the day). Again will also be some long period SW groundswell moving through the Maldives but this won't be getting into Pasta/North Male Atolls.

Saturday 30th March
2-3ft SE groundswell.

Sunday 31st March
3-4ft SE swell.

Monday 1st April
6ft SE swell.....ha ha, April fooled ya!!!! Around 3ft of SE swell. Again will also be some long period SW groundswell moving through the Maldives but this won't be getting into Pasta/North Male Atolls.


Tuesday 2nd April
Around 3ft SE swell. Again will also be some long period SW groundswell moving through the Maldives but this won't be getting into Pasta/North Male Atolls.

[The Mighty Sunbird]

Thanks Don.

I'll post some pics of the 8 footers when I get back

[CJK]

Hi Don

Heading to Kandooma for a week on Thursday, any chance you could have a look at what might happen with swell? I've got the option of taking a trip north around Cokes if there's no swell where I'm staying, not sure if it's worth it? Anyone else stayed at kandooma resort?

[swvic]

Did a boat trip last year. 3 non-surfing partners came along. At the end of the charter, us couples went to Kandooma for a few days to show an appreciation to the women (turned out the 3 girls all loved the boat anyway and would have been happy to stay onboard longer than the 10 days we did)

Pretty good place to stay if you're into the resort thing. For us, that few days was more than enough. If the surf was on, it might be a different story, but it is quite expensive. The right is meant to be pretty good, but was small whilst we were there. We had been up around Cokes for the whole boat trip. I had one surf at Kandooma, but wish I didn't. Small, cross shore and a high tide which makes for a backwash at the end section. Landing a backhand lip bash, I tore cartliage and medial ligament which had me out of the water for months. Reports are that is is pretty good when on, though it does get less swell than further north. Kandooma is south of Male and Cokes is north. Takes a fair while to get up there from Kandooma

There's also a left on off the back of the little island just south of Kandooma. Easy paddle, but I didn't surf it. The Kandooma boat headed north each day we were there, but not as far as Cokes so they were surfing smallish waves

Spork and ric vidal have done a fair bit of Maldives surfing. Read through their respective posts

[Donweather]

Hi Don

Heading to Kandooma for a week on Thursday, any chance you could have a look at what might happen with swell? I've got the option of taking a trip north around Cokes if there's no swell where I'm staying, not sure if it's worth it? Anyone else stayed at kandooma resort?

Looks like around 2-3ft of SE mid range swell peaking around Friday 19th, waning slowly after this back down to around 1-2ft come Monday 21st. These swell heights are at Kandooma, would be at around another foot or so bigger at the swell magnets of the North Male Atolls.

Tuesday looks very tiny, however there is a bigger S/SE groundswell forecast for Wednesday 24th, but this swell direction won't favour Kandooma. I'd be thinking 2-3ft again, but much bigger up at the swell magnets of the North Male Atolls.....around 3-4ft, with the odd 4ft+ set me thinks.

Thursday sees the S/SE swell slowly on the wane.

That's the best I can do witha quick look (under the pump at work).

Enjoy.

[The Mighty Sunbird]

Hey Don your forecast was pretty much spot on for my recent trip to Pasta. Smaller than last year but still loads of fun.
I am now in the post surf trip dismissal of my home break as not worth surfing most of the time...

[Donweather]

Hey Don your forecast was pretty much spot on for my recent trip to Pasta.

Cheers mate. Where's the pics?

I am now in the post surf trip dismissal of my home break as not worth surfing most of the time...

Oh mate, I hate that feeling sooo much. I always come back and say to myself....why do I work!!!

[CJK]

Thanks for the replies, I'll try to post a couple of pics when I get back.

[The Mighty Sunbird]

Strangely, I took no pics of waves this year. Probably because, being perfect reef waves they looked the same as last year. Just a little smaller. I do have a photo of some crabs tho.

[The Mighty Sunbird]

[Jakaul]

A bunch of mates and I are thinking of chartering the Hamathi next April for 10 days and hiting the Southern Atolls of the Maldives. We've got a few questions and are hoping that the RS forum can help us out. We're wondering about wave size, quality and consistency: how much time is spent travelling between breaks (as we heard they can't motor around at night): what the boat is like and if many other surfers bother venturing to that part of the Maldives?