10 Days in Maldives – Day 03 – Guest Beach @ Huraa

Given the various challenges our party of noob snorkelers experienced on Day 2 – including Peter who didn’t want to give it another go – our host @ The Sunrise Huraa, Sameer, proposed that we go to an easier location for our Day 3 snorkeling outing where the waters would be relatively calmer, and at just waist level. Unfortunately, tides and the fierce overcast on Day 3 morning forced us to move the outing to the afternoon, and we settled for a visit to the ‘Bikini’ aka Guest Beach on Huraa Island.

This stretch of beach sits on the northern part of the island, and is seeing significant development, which has also enlarged the overall land mass of the island quite a bit. Trying to find Huraa’s Bikini Beach will essentially lead you to a spot that’s 100 meters away from the shoreline!

Google Maps hasn’t been updated yet with the new location of the beach!

I reckon it might be a little hard for visitors to find this beach the first time, so Sameer and another staff member brought us there – it was a ten minute walk from The Sunrise Huraa – then stayed in the area to help two fellows from Beach Heaven tidy the area and also pick up whatever trash they could.

To be sure; it’s an OK beach, and the water was reasonably clear though not as pristine as some of the other beaches in this area are. But the kids didn’t mind, and we spent two hours lazing in the area. The Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 G2 was out for the long shots, and the pictures turned out pretty well: Eye AF worked, though C-AF with Tracking didn’t.

A couple of signs will show up when you’re near the beach.
That’s how the area looks. I reckon it’ll still be at least a year before the area completes development.
Male Model of the Year LOL.
Not particularly good weather for photos, but just perfect for the kids to play without getting cooked in the sun.
Club Med Kani is in the background and looked equally deserted too in this off-peak month.
The ladies strolled 40 meters out from the shoreline for this.
Let’s have that man to man talk now.
The seaplanes flying overhead every 15 minutes or thereabouts.
The kids’ catch of the day: a bucket of tiny crabs.
Letting the little critters free.

Continued in the next post!