Early Maldives surf season keeps delivering

Maldives surf report: Mavaahi  Trip 3 – Southern Atolls | Words and photos by Bob Fawcett.

Our last trip down in the Southern Atolls (in 2015 Maldives surf season) had a bunch of surfing talent frothing to sample the quality and power this remote region can deliver.  Also keen fisherman, our support vessel/tender (the dhoni) proved an invaluable resource allowing us to not only fish but surf, snorkel and explore in different areas at the same time.

With the wind up a little and the swell down a little, we warmed up for a few days on some fun waves but the boys soon got restless and wanted more.

With a mix of old school and young guns and on a punt and an island with an unpronounceable name, we split up and planned to meet at a spot marked X on a crude hand drawn map. The fishermen took the long route in open sea waters while the old dogs cut across the atoll arriving well before them.

From a distance, the unmistakable peeling of whitewater showed there were waves and as we got closer we saw that in fact clean right handers were running down the reef for over 150m. All the old boys were over the side and into it except poor Hugo, who had left his board on the dhoni with the young guns and could only sit and watch and blow steam till they arrived sometime later.

We surfed this break for three days or more, I can’t remember.

The old boys cruised and the young guns ripped and some great surfing went down by all. At night, the roles reversed and the old boys charged providing some very memorable entertainment. On our final day, with everyone completely surfed-out, another boat turned up and we were actually glad to leave it to someone else.