Some of the most stunning pictures one can get out of a Maldives trip would be ones taken on sand banks. These are tiny little islands with white sand, and little else – no vegetation, no shrubbery and tree cover. Our initial plan was to do a visit to one such island on Day 3, but the overcast weather required us to postpone it. Fortunately, we were blessed with a bright and sunny sky on Day 4 morning, so off we went for it. Our host Sameer had two of his staff come along with him for a ‘vacation’ as he quipped, so we were very well taken care of.
The price per person for this half-day outing was a relatively high USD80 (half that for kids), but it was super worth it. The trip as described in the activity guide is three hours, but we ended up spending four hours on the sand bank itself, with another hour spent getting to and back to The Sunrise Huraa. The island is a sort of U shape, and about 90 meters at the widest point. There were other visitors over the four hours we were on the sand bank, but at no point did it feel congested. From the 11 AM-ish late morning, there were just two other groups of visitors left, both of whom also left in the last half-hour of our stay so we had the entire sand bank to ourselves from that point.
The length of time we stayed there also afforded two snorkeling outings: we basically just swam for from the island, and the water levels were as high as waist to several meters deep. And in under a minute’s swim from the shore, we could see abundant marine life. Though like the last two days, we saw more dead than live corals: not unexpected since we didn’t stray too far from the island. The second of the two snorkeling outings was especially memorable too. Sameer hunted a three-inch wide crab on the sand bank, broke it into pieces and gave each of us a piece to feed the fishes in the corals. It was quite unforgettable for the kids, as schools of fishes swarmed around us to feed immediately! I missed it as I remained on the island to keep an eye on Peter and also take pictures, but the Matt, Hannah and the wife were clearly awed by what they saw.
Continued in the next post!
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