Fulidhoo snorkeling: rays at the jetty instead of a reef at the beach
Translated from the German original.
Fulidhoo was our first stop in the Maldives, and looking back, the island was exactly that: the arrival. Very small, very cozy, and you can unwind wonderfully there.
This is what our day there usually looked like: swimming and bathing in the morning, a good meal at midday — and in the evening at the jetty, watching the rays and nurse sharks that come right up to the beach.
The island is small and, luckily, hardly touristy. There were two or three restaurants in April 2025, plus a few small shops — nothing more. We always went to the same place. The food was really good every evening, the prices very fair, and the people were so nice that they simply let us sit and play cards after dinner.
We felt completely at ease there. It’s the kind of island you recommend to others and want to come back to.
On the other side of the island, where women can go swimming covered, there is a reef — and there is current there too. I was never in the water there, so I can’t tell you anything about it. From above, though, it looked promising.
Getting there: From Malé by speedboat or with the public ferry. The jetty can be reached on foot from the village.
The jetty in the evening
That was our fixed end to the day: first dinner, then a few rounds of UNO, then the jetty. In the shallow water below, they were already waiting — nurse sharks and stingrays, calm and unhurried, without anyone having lured them there. They come right up to the beach.
About 10 people stood at the landing on those evenings. No bustle, no crowd. The rays moved slowly back and forth, and sometimes they came astonishingly close: they glided over the feet of those who had gone into the water, or lay down in the lap of someone who had sat down in the shallows.
Then I felt it myself — a ray over my feet. Its skin felt rougher than I had expected. Only a brief moment, but it stays.
Bay, Entry from the jetty · Current none · seen myself April 2025
Seen: Nurse sharks, Stingrays.
Bikini Beach
The beach starts the way you imagine the Maldives: light fine sand, the water shallow and turquoise blue. It's perfect for playing with kids, and that's exactly what we did a lot with our son.
If you start snorkeling from there, though, you stay over sand for a long time. Now and then a bigger stone, then nothing again. After about 100 meters you're at about 5 meters depth, the water is still crystal clear — and I didn't find a reef there. The fish are correspondingly inconspicuous: gray, silvery, well camouflaged over the light bottom.
What there is again and again instead are the big rays from the jetty. From above you look down on them; in the water they seem a good third bigger again, and they aren't shy. A moment ago there was only sand, the next moment something huge slides right up next to you. Once a completely different one passed through: much smaller, with pointed wings and a very long, thin whip tail.
I had no current here on any day, and I didn't notice anything of low and high tide while snorkeling.
Bay, Entry from the beach · Visibility about 30 m · seen myself April 2025
Seen: Large rays, A small ray with a whip tail, Inconspicuous sand dwellers.
The nurse shark tour
Boat trips with several snorkeling stops start from Fulidhoo, and on many of them nurse sharks are part of the program. The water was 29 °C, below the surface you could see far, and we snorkeled at around 5 meters depth.
Nurse sharks are calm bottom dwellers and harmless for snorkelers, as long as you leave them alone and don't touch anything. Why I stayed in the boat the second time anyway is in the article about it.
Nurse sharks in the Maldives: dangerous when snorkeling? My experience →
Reef, Entry from the boat · Visibility over 20 m · Water 29 °C · Current none · seen myself April 2025
Seen: Nurse sharks.
Where I tell more about it
At a glance
- Local feel touristy
localtouristy
- The island above water
- 5/5
- Access to the reef from the beach
- 2/5
- Underwater life at this reef
- 2/5
- Trips in the atoll
- 3.5/5
Highlights of the island
Nurse sharks and rays at the jetty, evening after evening · A ray gliding over your own feet · The calm of a very small island
Highlights in the atoll
The nurse shark tour
My personal assessment, as of April 2025.
What it was like
At Bikini Beach the water is crystal clear — only the reef is missing: you swim for a long time over light sand, and the fish there are gray and well camouflaged. I had no current on any day, and I didn't notice anything of low and high tide while snorkeling. What makes the island came to the jetty on its own in the evening, without a mask and without a boat. The other thing is the calm — a good island for arriving and winding down.
What the atoll is known for
I did not see this myself — it is here because it belongs to this atoll. Documented, not experienced.
- Many dive guides consider Fotteyo Kandu in the same atoll the best channel dive in the country.
- Miyaru Kandu translates as shark channel: gray reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks and Napoleon wrasse.
- Off the island of Alimatha, dozens of nurse sharks gather at night at a feeding spot — unlike at the jetty of Fulidhoo, where they come on their own.
- The channel dives are not for beginners; they require experience with current.
Sources: Maldives Divers: diving in Vaavu Atoll · Maldives Magazine: drift dives and nurse shark night dives in Vaavu Atoll