Day 5 (March 13, 2023): Huraa!

Our two days in Hulhumale and Male came to an end this morning.  After another enjoyable breakfast at the Amber Beach Hotel, we did a final beach walk, then took a taxi just before 11AM to the Male waterfront to catch a speedboat to our next destination: Huraa.  

Huraa is only 25 minutes by speedboat, but 90 minutes by public ferry.  We opted for the speedier option, enabling us to arrive at our beach resort a bit earlier.  700 people live on Huraa, so it’s a fairly small community. The Pearl Sands Resort is located at the northern tip of Huraa on a private beach.

Pearl Sands is a small, intimate resort.  With just two dozen rooms, every room is assigned a table in the dining room.  Honestly, the mix of people here would create the perfect setting for an Agatha Christie “whodunit’ novel!  Picture this:  on one end of the room, a table of 10 boisterous Italians from an Alitalia flight crew on a layover;  on the other end of the room, a table of 10 Russian women, each glamorously dressed, glued to their phones, being incredibly demanding with the servers;  in the middle of the room, six tables to accommodate a German couple, a single German guy, a single woman (not sure of her nationality), a table of three French people living in Dubai, another table of four women, and a Canadian couple — us!  Lunch and dinner were scenes from a movie.  Dinner was punctuated by the drama of a huge sand crab coming out from under a stairway and dashing right down the length of the Italian table, adding screams to the already boisterous banter!

It was a truly relaxing day, both in the warm water and resting on the white sand.  Another day of this tomorrow will be easy to take!

Hulhumale is a man-made island.  In 2008, Maldives’ President, realizing that rising sea levels will eventually overtake his country, started to seek options to buy land to relocate the half million residents of the Maldives.  But another option developed:  to build an island that will withstand rising sea levels.  Hence, Hulhumale was born.  Sand was pumped from the sea to build up the island to two meters above sea level.  Much of the coastline has a slanted concrete buffer as shown above to protect it from rising sea levels.

Innovative lap pool at Hulhumale Beach, near our hotel.

Cute little Hulhumale kitten.

The roosters were going all out this morning. It seemed like a cock-a-doodle-do competition!

And just like yesterday, a torrential rainstorm came out of nowhere. We had just gotten in the door from our beach walk and BAM!  It lasted five minutes and then, as soon as it had arrived, it was over and done with. 

The view of Male as we sped away in our Seashine speedboat to the island of Huraa. 

On the speedboat to Huraa. Equipped with four high-powered Yamaha engines, the ride was quick and comfortable.

Arriving in Huraa’s port.



That’s Seashine 5, the speedboat that whisked us from Male to Huraa at 11:30AM. 

There are no vehicles on Huraa, as is the case with most islands in the Maldives, apart from Male and Hulhumale. Transportation is by golf cart.  The guy in the orange shirt is Rafael, who works for the hotel where we are staying. He grew up in Montreal! What a small world.

Traditional Maldivian dhonis (wooden boats) in the port at Huraa. 

Offices of the Secretariat of the Huraa Council. Basically, the city hall. 

A typical residential street in Huraa. 

Banyan trees just outside of the Huraa village. 

And this is it!  The moment we’ve been waiting for:  our first view of the Pearl Sands beach. 

That’s Club Med across the water, at the adjacent island named Kani.

The little cove of Pearl Sands, where we are whiling away the next two days.  The island’s public “bikini beach” (where wearing a bikini for women or just trunks for men is legal) is on the other side of those palms. 

Pam, upon arrival at Pearl Sands.  Club Med’s overwater huts in the background. 

The washroom of our hotel room. Typical of the washrooms of most upscale accommodation in the Maldives, our washroom is open to the outdoors. 

The view from our second floor balcony. 

It has been a thoroughly relaxing first afternoon in Huraa!  Hurray for Huraa!

Dusk setting in. Apparently, our balcony faces due east. So tomorrow morning, we are hoping to get a great sunrise over the Club Med resort across the water. 

And for a little night cap… This little fella is sharing the room with us tonight.  Many years ago, we had one in our room in Zanzibar.  In that case, brave husband came to the rescue by killing it with a broom.  But that didn’t go over well and has been talked about ever since!  Tonight, there were screams of “Get it out, get it out!!”  With no broom in the room, and given internet advice not to grab it by the tail (they drop their tail when grabbed), there was no immediate resolution to the problem.  Hence, the decision to let it share the room.