And so it was , that I flew south from Male in the Maldives.

I had joined a bunch of mostly stock brokers and and financial industry players. These guys are in their late 30s and early 40 s and help to make the world go round…. Yet they are surfers , and passionate ones at that.

In fact , our surf guide was so impressed with how hard these guys went , he went as far as to say that our group spent more hours in the water than any other group that year.

It did help that the surf pumped solidly for 7 full days , and that we scored 5 different breaks all ranging from head high to almost double overhead ,on one fine day.

The most remarkable fact about the outer atolls, is that very few surfers visit this part of the world . There are only a hand full of 5 star (non surf) resorts, and only 2 or 3 surf charter boats that run charters here during parts of the year.

Why you ask?

Maybe because it’s just not that well documented, maybe because its just a flight to far  or a $ or more to much?

But what I have found and seen , is that for whatever the reasons are, they should not be an obstacle.  These atolls, these islands the and these waves are beautiful , sublime and absolutely worth every hour of travel and every $ spent.

My crew, many who have travelled and chartered extensively, were blown away by the boat, the set up and the waves.We only ever saw other surfers on day 6. Another boat of traveling adventurers, looking for the perfect wave . We never saw them again but heard they went a bit further north to surf a left reef set up we had already visited a few days prior.

So we surfed these amazing tropical waves alone, not worrying about or seeing other surfers – unless of course you count the Korean couple who joined us one day on a surf lesson from one of  5 star resorts. A 2 hour lesson at $150 per person they told us. And basically they spend 1.5 hours getting smashed and dragged across the inside reef.

A bit of amusement for the boys and the only company we had in the line up the whole trip, other than the many turtles, dolphins and thousands of fish we saw daily, of course.

Then it was back to the business at hand , surfing! And we did a lot of that.

This area is like no other. It’s southern exposure means that it picks up all the prevailing south swells, as well as much wild and windy weather. But weather brings waves and most of the localized small storms / squalls we had were intense with wind and rain, but we’re over and done  30 to 60 min later.

There are maybe 10 waves in one of these atolls, all with in 3 hours of cruising. And if you know where and when to be at the right place, there are a wave or two for every swell and every wind direction.

I have only experienced such quality and consistency in the Mentawai Islands.  So this is truly one special place.

The trick down here is to find the right boat, the right guide and more importantly, to go at the right time of year.   After sending friends and clients down here and studying the charts and swells over the past 5 years, I have learned and confirmed when the best windows for surf, wind and weather are.   We did 3 back to back charters here over 35 days this year and we all scored 4 to 8 foot cooking surf for 80% of that period. Silly good!

I plan to return soon, maybe I should join the crew again next year, because they have just re booked for same trip, same time, same place in 2016 🙂

Makes you think does it not!?

TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO BOOK YOUR TRIP DROP US A MAIL : INFO@TRUEBLUETRAVEL.CO.ZA

Take a look at our Southern/Outer Atoll charter boats HERE