SUP Surfing Maldives

As featured on Distressed Mullet:

I just got back from the 2nd most amazing trip to the Maldives. The first most amazing would have been one in which I was on a live-aboard, hopping from island to island, surfing various breaks, and getting pointers from Colin McPhillips. Alas, unforeseen circumstances arose and Colin McPhillips was unable to make it to the coveted Perfect Wave Colin McPhillips & Moonwalker All-Board Adventure –this year. I’m ready for next year! There I was, with a decision to make, the tickets were already purchased to fly over to the Maldives but Corey (Lil’Spoon) and I only had one board, no clue where to surf, and didn’t want to spend a fortune (which happens quickly when trying to book things in the Maldives…). What to do? We only wanted our trip to be one week instead of the originally planned 2 because Corey could take that second week to fly down to help with the IndoJax Surf Charity in Varkala.  Surf Camp Luckily, Marie, our Perfect Wave representative found us a surf hotel with only 5 days to spare until our trip… at a better price than I was able to find after perusing the internet for hours. I kept looking and everything I found was already fully booked, nowhere near surfing, or way too expensive! Marie came to the rescue and booked us at the Cokes – Thulusdoo Surf Camp, which was not next to one, but TWO fantastic surf breaks. Furthermore, the camp had extra boards available for use (albeit no longboards or SUPs). 

Corey and I flew in over the atolls of beautiful turquoise water. Once on the ground we got settled for 2 nights in Malé, the capital, and did some sight seeing. I was itching to get in the water, even though the only surf break in Malé is a finicky beast. No two waves are the same, the peaks are all over the place, the waves bounce off the sea wall and you get double peaks, troughs and the most insane constructive and destructive interference patterns I’ve seen. It looked beautiful and challenging! I hopped in and started surfing. In the first 3 seconds I had caught a monster of a wave.