Day 3 (March 11, 2023): Arrival in the Republic of Maldives

It was just after 2AM when we left the remote parking stand at Hamad International Airport in Doha, aboard another packed flight (a Boeing 777-300ER) for the Maldives.  We were seated in the very back — row 70 — next to a couple from Halifax, England, who were enroute to the Maldives to mark their 25th wedding anniversary.  As if the meeting of “two Halifaxes” was not crazy enough, they had overnighted in Manchester, UK the night before their flight, while we had spent our pre-flight time in a hotel in Manchester, NH!  

It was a smooth and pleasant flight, with the typical attentive service of Qatar Airways.  At 3:30AM, we were served a hot dinner.  Our body clocks were so messed up, however, it could have been breakfast, lunch or dinner and it would have all been acceptable!

We landed half an hour early, just after 8AM, and were taken by bus to a small, cramped customs area where multiple flights from Dubai, Moscow, Vienna, etc. joined our fellow Doha passengers to clear customs formalities.  Then we entered into a crazy sea of people carrying signs, seeking to pick up people destined for hotels and resorts far-flung throughout the country.  There are jetties next to the Arrivals area, where boats are waiting to whisk people north, south and west.  We quickly found the person we had arranged to take us to our hotel.  He gave us time to arrange SIM cards, and we were soon in a taxi to our hotel in nearby Hulhumale. 

Fortunately, we were able to check in early.  Once in our room, we lay down and, next thing we knew, it was 2:30PM!  Our bodies were telling us, “Take a sleep now, Burtons.”  Just after 3PM, we left the hotel and explored Hulhumale a little, changing some Canadian dollars into Maldivian Rufiyaa (10 Rufiyaa to one Canadian dollar), then heading for the ferry to Male.

We spent the next couple of hours getting our feet wet, so to speak, in the dense bustle of Male’s waterfront.  Tomorrow, we will explore Male in more depth.  We found a nice spot with a port view for an early dinner, then we took a bus back to Hulhumale.  Ice cream on the hotel’s rooftop cafe seemed like a good idea, but by the time our ice cream arrived, we were struggling to keep our heads up.

It has been a long, 45-hour trek to get from our driveway to here, but we are so excited!  Hopefully, a good night’s rest will set us on a firm footing to launch into things tomorrow morning.

In terms of photos for this day, let me start with our first views of this special nation, taken upon descent into Velana International Airport this morning around 7:30AM. These are just a few of the 1000+ atolls (200+ of which are inhabited) that make up the Maldives.

Deplaning at a remote stand at Velana Airport in Male.  The sheer size of the engines on the Boeing 777-300ER is staggering.

Let me position where we are staying for the first couple of days of our trip.  Hulhale Island contains the airport (centre).  We are staying in Hulhamale (see the blue dot), a relatively newly developed area to catch Male’s overflow.  Male, the capital, is the jam-packed island in the bottom left of the photo.  The bridge connecting Male to Hulhale is the Peace and Friendship Bridge, built by the Chinese.

The Amber Beach Hotel, where we are staying.  Our room is marked by the yellow arrow.

The view of the reef, which lines the eastern side of Hulhumale, from our hotel room at low tide.

These (equivalent to Canada’s Girl Guides) kids were doing a group exercise on the beach across from our hotel room balcony. 

After our arrival nap (we crashed for four hours!), the tide had come in somewhat, making motorized water sports possible.  You have to be fully clothed (shirt and pants) to swim on a public beach here.

The fruit stands have incredible bunches of bananas!

Mopeds and motorcycles rule here.  And they are parked everywhere possible!

Hulhumale’s Grand Mosque, with its golden dome. 

Mid-afternoon, after waking up and shaking the exhaustion cobwebs from our heads, we walked to the western side of Hulhumale and took the ferry from Hulhumale to Male.  It takes 20 minutes by ferry to get from Hulhumale to Male.

The Office of the President of the Maldives in Male.

Flag of the Maldives.

The very modern King Salman Mosque in Male. 


By 5PM, we were starving and tired, so we stopped for a bite, overlooking the busy waterfront.

The Chinese invested $150 million USD to build the Peace and Friendship Bridge, which connects Male to Hulhale (where the airport is located).

Entrance to the bridge.

View of the incredibly congested Male from the Bridge of Peace and Friendship.

Male’s Velana International Airport is, bluntly, an undersized airport that is 30 years out of date, given the number of large jets that arrive constantly. A new, modern terminal has been under construction for years (see the cranes to the left of the photo).