I previously did a post featuring my YouTube reaction video the “Top Tenz” creator who did a piece on “10 Places in the World That Actually Kinda Suck” which included the Maldives. Unfortunately (for the creator) and fortunately for Maldives fans, his video was packed with errors and misinformation (which I methodically debunked). Of the years, I have come across a number of cynical myths about the Maldives that probably put people off from experiencing this unique destination. So I thought I would post this piece to set the record straight:
- “Maldives are unaffordable” – While there are many super-lux billionaire properties, there are just as many if not more budget hotels, guest houses, special offers and value-priced resorts (check out my post “Bunking with the Billionaires on a Budget”)
- “The Maldives are sinking” – Climate change is absolutely happening, and one of the biggest areas of impact are the world’s ocean which makes an island nation like the Maldives particularly vulnerable in many ways. But the image of the islands “sinking” is really just compelling characterisation to draw attention to this more complex problem of intensifying weather events, rising sea levels, and the warming plus acidification of the oceans killing coral.
- “The Maldives is unwelcoming to gay guests” – Maldives is a strongly Islamic country and its legal system is very much governed by Sharia law principles which make same-sex sexual activity officially illegal and punishable by fines, prison sentences and even lashings. However, in practice, homosexuality is very rarely prosecuted. And any time it might apply the law, it has been and would only be to Maldivian nationals. While gay travellers might avoid the destination out of distaste for such policies on the books at all, visitors should rest assured that they will not be targeted nor unwelcome for their sexual orientation.
- “The sharks you see are dangerous” – For the longest time, despite the many sharks resident in the Maldivian waters, there had been zero shark attacks. We used to get very still in the water when we saw them snorkeling not because we were afraid…but because they were notorious scaredy-cats. If you moved suddenly, they would quickly swim away. Then Instagram happened which combined with terribly irresponsible excursion operators has contributed to several “attacks” in recent years. Actually, “attack” is a misnomer as the shark really had no intention of biting a human. A better descriptor would be “incidents where the shark got confused by so much tasty fish being thrown in the water that it mixed up the fish with the humans stupidly swimming in the middle of the shark buffet so they could get that cool Insta shot.”
- “There’s nothing to do but lie on the beach” – I’ve written over a hundred articles with the “Activity” tag covering the vat diversity of things one can do at a Maldives resort including riding a jet car, doing a parachute jump over the ocean, go on a treasure hunt, kickboxing, jet wakeboarding, make your own coconut oil, golf, qiqong, wine tasting, aerial yoga, etc., etc.
- “Hospital care is is only available in Male.” – Some guests consider limiting their resort options to those in the Male atolls in order to be close to the main national hospital there. While there a four modern hospitals in Male, there are also another 18 quite modern hospital facilities throughout the country an equally short speed boat ride away from resorts in those atolls.