What to expect at Kandooma Resort, the Maldives

Scott Ross is a 48 year old family man.

Scott recently swapped his steamer, booties and hood for board shorts and scored 10 days straight of quality waves, surfing at Kandooma while it’s mid winter in Australia.

Scott kindly shared a bunch of excellent images from his trip and was only too happy to share some important tips and insights into what made his family escape so memorable. He hopes to go back soon..

Scott, what to expect at Kandooma?

I will let him tell you why…

What where the exact dates you and your family stayed at Kandooma?

My Family and I arrived at Kandooma for a ten day family/surf holiday from July 10 – 20, and had waves every day ranging from shoulder height to double over head.

How many days did you have waves?

I got quality waves every day by anybody’s standard, and in lush 29 degree water.

To be able to surf double head-high waves and then paddle up to our Beach House (only 5 steps from the water), and have an outside shower whilst watching guys getting totally shacked was just amazing. I often sat in our downstairs lounge after a surf with my camera, shooting guys in the barrel from the couch! I don’t know any where else you can be that close.  I’m still pinching myself!

What was the predominant swell direction, and how was the wind?

The swell direction was S/SE, and the wind was never a problem. It probably peaked at 15 knots and at its worst was cross/off shore, never was it blown out at Kandooma Right or unsurfable because of the wind.

Did you surf any of the other nearby lefts and rights? How did they rate compared with Kandooma Right?

I surfed another break called Quarters at only 2ft. It is an easy wave, but was a bit disappointing at first until it pulsed. For the rest of the surf, it was a good, head-high and heaps of fun. Kandooma pulsed most days, usually an hour before high tide – although you could surf it all day.
Several nights I went to bed thinking the swell will be gone in the morning only to wake to the sight of overhead sets again.

I only went on two boat trips, both were to Quarters.  I just couldn’t walk away from perfect waves right in front of our Beach House. It was never crowded, although some of the other breaks were because boats from other areas were dropping into them as well.

However, Kandooma Right was exclusive to the island and The Perfect Wave, so only a max of 40 surfers are allowed on the Island at one time. It was not uncommon to see perfect overhead barrels lining up with only 4-6 people out surfing, and only 1 or 2 people surfing from 6am-8am.

Take us through an average Kandooma wave from take off to kick out?

The wave is quality. The take-off is much easier than I had guessed, but once up, it’s down the line on lower tides with fast barrel sections and workable steep walls with barrels on the higher tides.

There is always the best time in the day to paddle out, but this was usually because of the “pulse” that you get in the Maldives. Literally one minute it can be 2ft and a set will roll in that is well overhead, and that’s it, it stays overhead for the rest of the day. Low tide at Kandooma is ok too, there is quite a bit of water on the reef.

What type of boards did you take to Kandooma?

I took my 7’2 and left my 6’6 JS at home, thinking the 7’2 would cover all conditions.

Would you go back again and would you recommend it to crew?

The crew were all very relaxed, everyone shared and hooted everyone onto waves – it was almost too good to be true. I thought those days were gone, but everyone was so chilled out. I would highly recommend this trip without any doubts whatsoever. We travelled as a family with a four and two year old, as so many others did.

Kandooma has heaps of activities going on every day to keep kids and families more than happy over the ten days. The biggest and best thing for me was we all had an affordable “Luxury Surfing Holiday” with our family. I had amazing quality waves, the island is awesome, the food and accommodation is top level, the people are the friendliest and The Perfect Wave staff on the Island are so onto the conditions there.

Any final advice or tips for crew heading to Kandooma?

Take lots of chocolate bars, energy bars, chips and two minute noodles for easy snacks and meals. From all my research, July is one of the best months for waves, and when we go back, it will be in July.