Maldives is situated in the northern Indian Ocean near the equator
with its closest neighbours being Sri Lanka and India. The Maldives is
an archipelago which has 26 atolls formed by coral. The chain of islands
is spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres, stretches for 820
kilometres and occupies an area of just 300 square kilometres. The 26
coral atolls have 1,190 islands of which 198 have been inhabited. The
vast majority of the islands are close to the atoll reef enclosure with
some in fact still forming. Islands in the Maldives average 1-2 square
kilometres in area and are only 1-1.5 Meters above mean sea level. The
Maldives has no mountains or hills but some islands have sand dunes that
can reach 2.5 meters above mean sea level. The largest island is Gan
which is in the Addu atoll. The next largest is Palm Beach followed by
Kuramath. No individual island is longer than 8 kilometres.
Seaplanes in the Maldives usually only operate during the hours of sunlight. If you arrive when its dark, most likely you will need to stay overnight in a maldives diving resort and catch a seaplane in the morning. The options are to stay at a hotel at the airport or catch a ferry to Male. See the section on Hotels near Male International Airport (MLE) for more information. It is best to wake up early the next morning and get the Maldives seaplane to your resort, that way you can enjoy maximum time at your primary place of stay.
If it is daylight on your arrival from the international flight, step outside the front of the airport doors and you will see the seaplane desks outside which are small and slightly hidden, this whole area is covered. There would only be a few representatives at the seaplane desk and one will confirm your tickets. If tickets haven’t been pre-purchased, simply enquire at the maldives island resort.
Once tickets are confirmed the Maldivian Air Taxi or TMA Trans Maldivian seaplanes will take your luggage and put it in an air conditioned passenger van behind them. You then hop in the van, which has a combination of tourists and resort workers, and take a short 5 minute drive to the seaplane wharf. There may be a wait for your seaplane but there is a small lounge with a TV. Keep an eye on the flight board which will tell you what gate to go to, this again is only a small room that can hold about 12 people or so. After waiting a short while, a representative will then walk you along the wharf past dozens of seaplanes to yours.
Seaplanes in the Maldives usually only operate during the hours of sunlight. If you arrive when its dark, most likely you will need to stay overnight in a maldives diving resort and catch a seaplane in the morning. The options are to stay at a hotel at the airport or catch a ferry to Male. See the section on Hotels near Male International Airport (MLE) for more information. It is best to wake up early the next morning and get the Maldives seaplane to your resort, that way you can enjoy maximum time at your primary place of stay.
If it is daylight on your arrival from the international flight, step outside the front of the airport doors and you will see the seaplane desks outside which are small and slightly hidden, this whole area is covered. There would only be a few representatives at the seaplane desk and one will confirm your tickets. If tickets haven’t been pre-purchased, simply enquire at the maldives island resort.
Once tickets are confirmed the Maldivian Air Taxi or TMA Trans Maldivian seaplanes will take your luggage and put it in an air conditioned passenger van behind them. You then hop in the van, which has a combination of tourists and resort workers, and take a short 5 minute drive to the seaplane wharf. There may be a wait for your seaplane but there is a small lounge with a TV. Keep an eye on the flight board which will tell you what gate to go to, this again is only a small room that can hold about 12 people or so. After waiting a short while, a representative will then walk you along the wharf past dozens of seaplanes to yours.
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