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The recent groundswell in surfing's popularity has done much to bolster mom-and-pop board shops and garage shapers along both coasts. But as any veteran water carver will attest, it's also meant more crowded breaks, a rise in localism, and the return of surfboard racks in states like Missouri—unseen since the sport's last explosion in the oh-so-fluorescent eighties. So what is a serious surfer to do? Zip up a board bag and book the next flight to the Maldives.
Boat charters have long been popular in the blue barrels of Indonesia. Now, the Carlsbad, California–based travel company Wavehunters is offering atoll-doting excursions in the less charted Maldives, located due south of India's tip. After flying into Male, the archipelago's capital, you're escorted onto one of four 78- to 110-foot power yachts—the Ocean Dancer, the Gaaviyaa, the Handhu, or the Handhu Fahli—and from there you set sail for seven to eleven nights in search of the area's best surf.
"The place itself was just like Disneyland," says Marko MacPherson, a longtime surfer and a photographer who recently spent eight days aboard the Gaaviyaa with a group of pals from New Jersey. "The waves were perfect. I don't think we had a day without offshore winds."
The Maldives encompass over 1,100 islands—only 200 or so are inhabited—and most will probably disappear beneath rising tides over the next century. Surfers do go ashore to explore, but most meals are laid aboard ship—fresh local fish and fruits like papaya aplenty. Boats can accommodate up to 12 surfers, and guests are attended to by an ample crew of surf guides, first mates, and waiters. The main draw, though, apart from those right- and left-peeling endless stunners, is hanging out in the cabin at the end of the day and swapping stories with friends.
"When it was all over, it was like the last day of summer camp," says MacPherson, "with all these little boys crying. I think there's some serious depression down on the Jersey Shore this month." Likely to go unabated until the next trip.
