Maldives Surf Report and Forecast – April 2024

Last updated: 23 April, 2024

Surf Report – March 2024

The 2024 Maldives surf season has begun in fine style, with the south-facing breaks of Gaafu Dhaalu firing up with solid swells and glassy conditions through March.

The Indian Ocean has been providing swell through March from both of Maldives major swell windows.

The SE swells usually don’t fire up until later, however, active monsoon troughs south of Sumatra have produced enhanced SE fetch south of the equator, resulting in a pulsing mid-period swell across much of the Maldives through mid-March.

Blue Bowls looking idyllic, 18 March 2024:

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Through the second half of March, the SW-S groundswells began in earnest, building to a peak around the 30th March with Beacons and Blue Bowls on the pump.

The long period and hint of east in the groundswells ensure that the East-facing rights like Kandooma also benefited with this swell pushing in with solid lines ahead of expectations for the season.

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Southern Atolls Perfection in March, pic Bob Fawcett

Forecast: April 2024

Moving in to April, the Indian Ocean looks set to revert to a classic early season set up.

This is a good thing for surfers heading to both the Southern Atolls and the Male Atolls. Strong low pressure systems are pushing up from below South Africa and sending long period SW groundswells toward Maldives and Indonesia. A series of lows will traverse an arc south of Madagascar from the 8th to 14th April, which should produce increasingly stronger SW – SSW groundswells in Maldives 10th to 18th April. The South-facing breaks of Gaaf Dhaalu and Laamu will do best in these swells, peaking around 16th-18th April. Expect some well-overhead long-lined sets at breaks like Vodi (Laamu) and Love Charms (Southern Atolls) with glassy conditions. This SW groundswellis expected to ease from 19th April in to mid sized overhead waves and continue to pulse until around 24 April 2024

Surface Winds 5 April show southern ocean fetch of strong SW winds setting up classic SW groundswell for Maldives and Indo – from Swellnet WAM

At the same time, the eastern Indian Ocean, the area south of Indonesia and west of the Australian continent is also set to produce a long-lasting small to medium swell train heading to the Maldives from the South East quadrant. A large high-pressure system west of Australia is squeezing against lower pressure, setting up a moderate to strong fetch of SE winds pointed toward the Maldives. This is good for the east-facing breaks like Kandooma, Machines, F1s and Yin Yangs. South-facing breaks like Tiger Stripes and Blue Bowls will also do well with a combination of SE and SW swells in the water. The SE swell starts to pulse in the 3 foot at 9 seconds from 7 April and should hang around this level until the 12th April, when a stronger pulse around 11-12 seconds period should give some extra push on the set waves and will hang in around this size until at least the 18th April. The SE fetch is set to become turbocharged around 22 April when an embedded low squeezes up against the high, pushing a stronger SE swell train toward the Maldives. Expect this stronger SE swell to start appearing across the east facing breaks from 25th April and continue pulsing in the overhead plus plus range until at least 30th April. East facing breaks like Kandooma Right, Jails, Honkeys, Yin Yangs, Machines F1s will all offer consistent head high to overhead waves under light winds. South Facing breaks like Love Charms, Blue Bowls should also pulse in the well overhead range.

Overall its looking like an exceptionally fun end to the month across all regions of the Maldives – enjoy

Surface Winds 7 April show East Indian Ocean fetch of moderate SE winds creating SE trade swells for Maldives. Note slack winds over Maldives, glassy doldrums – from Swellnet WAM