Maldives - Kamadhoo Island: An underestimated island

February/March 2020

This website is part of the description of my journey through the Baa Atoll. Besides Kamadhoo I visited the following islands: Fehendhoo, Fulhadhoo, Goidhoo, Thulhaadhoo, Maalhos, Dharavandhoo and Dhonfanu. At the end of the website you will find the link to the next island.

With the local ferry I traveled from Maalhos to Kamadhoo.

A lonely island on the way from Maalhos to Kamadhoo.

The island

Already from far away, at the harbor of Kamadhoo there is a tower that surpasses the palms by far and that was under construction at the time of my stay. It is probably the most misplaced building in the whole Maldives. I wondered how this building could be approved by the island council. Later I learned that the islanders did not want this building, but the owner had good relations with the government in Male, which allowed the building to be built against the will of the islanders.

The building is owned by a businessman whose main business is the operation of oil tanks on the islands of the country. The tower will one day provide rooms for the owner’s family and friends when they visit Kamadhoo and serve as a guest house.

This ugly building at the port of Kamadhoo was approved by the authorities in Male against the will of the islanders.

This businessman wants to diversify into tourism and was therefore also the owner of the guesthouse ‘Tropical Biosphere Hotel’ where I stayed. Unfortunately, this was not a good choice, as the employees of the hotel were not local people and did not know anything about the island. The guesthouse hadn’t seen any guests for a long time, because the water from the tap flowed brown for days and the air in the room smelled like mold. Also the internet had longer dropouts again and again.

It is a small island, which is only about 500 meters long and has about 300 inhabitants. One half of the island is occupied by the village, while palm trees grow on the southern half. Also the big bikini beach is located in this half.

Only few tourists came to Kamadhoo and some guest houses, including the big Kamadhoo Inn, were closed. Next to me there was a group of Russians on the island who stayed at the Odi Guesthouse and practiced yoga.

A heron at the bikini beach

… and at sunset

You can watch great sunsets from the bikini beach.

Snorkeling

The big snorkeling area is just outside the bikini beach in the south and southwest of the island. Among many other fish species, the Napoleon wrasse living on the reef, the Orange-spotted emperor and the eagle rays provided an impressive snorkeling experience. Sometimes the visibility was very limited. Therefore the photos are partly of lower quality. The best visibility was after low tide with rising water level. Sometimes there was quite a strong current, but never out into the open sea.

A Peacock rock cod

Four Goldsaddle goatfishes

Longfin bannerfishes

I met this Napoleon wrasse, also called Humphead wrasse, almost every day. It can grow up to 2.3 meters long and is by far the largest species of wrasse.