Our next destination was Guraidhoo Island, another small local island only a few minutes from Maafushi. Due to the pandemic or covid-19, as I bet we are all very familiar with by now, we received a very unique welcome to the Guraidhoo island. As we arrived, me and my mother had to sit down in order for a health worker to take our temperature, in order to figure out whether we are sick. After that, we were good to proceed to our guest house, where we were the only guests. With only 2 nights booked, we were planning to do some research and then continue our vacation on another island. However, due to the pandemic and to minimise the spread of the virus, tourists were not allowed to travel between the islands. Therefore, we changed our accommodation to something closer to the beach, and cosier overall. During our time at the Guraidhoo Island, our flights were cancelled, rescheduled and we were already mentally preparing ourselves to stay on the island for a couple of weeks or even a month. Luckily, our flight was postponed for a few days and we got to enjoy the beaches for a few more days. As amazing as it sounds, all restaurants closed on the entire island, the diving shops closed down and the only thing left to do was to follow the news, tan and eat.
Anyway, I'm happy I got to experience the Maldives in a way that probably most people don't. We had the opportunity to actually speak to the locals, the children started to recognise us and there was one little girl who I met almost daily who were excited to just say "Hello" to me on a daily basis. I wouldn't mind visiting the Maldives again and hopefully by then be able to see some of the other local islands. Until next time!
