Bob Schiff recently traveled to the Maldives and scored solid, warm water surf on a 10 day trip in March.  Here’s the story as told by Bob!

Prelude: How much has changed!

Surf travel is a delicious combination of those two ingredients, but so much has changed with recipes.

As a grom, it was lucky enough to catch a ride down to Trestles for the day, with a guaranteed ride back.

As a Senior in High School, it was plotting with a couple of surf buds to sell a ‘photography’ trip to the Administrators of an almost month-long end-of-school project.  It meant convincing one Dad to front the $600 for a well-used, but reliable station wagon, provision, save and research the length of Baja California.  For photography, of course.

What we had in our back-pockets was a surf treasure map of spots marked in pen from a variety of questionable sources.  And off we went, pulling over to the side of the road to take a quick snap of ourselves in indigenous surroundings with our backpacks on, only to jump back in the car to pursue the next ‘x’ on the map.  We slept on the beach at Zippers when there was nothing there, and visited every beer distribution point we could.

And so began the Do-it-yourself surf trips.  Further into Mexico, Hawaii, Costa Rica, a family trip to the Caribbean.

Then, Jack Beresford said in ’91 ‘GLand.’  There’s this outfit… and so began (for me) the next phase of travel: surf destination package deals.  There was Tavarua in ’93, and then it was back to DIY travel.

As courtship and family evolved, surf trips became a compromise in meeting all objectives.  There was a France/Spain trip where I remember pulling my board through a small window in a smaller hotel in Paris, with the hopes of scoring after wine-tasting in Bordeaux.  Mundaca was accompanied with a proper visit to Guggenheim Bilbao and fine dining in San Sebastian (courtship, pre-kids mind you!)

And, with kids, surf travel was akin to pulling the plug on a cathode-ray tube television.

Just as the lights seemed to turn off, as I remember in a conversation with Tom Backer, ‘it’ll change again.’  And they did.  And, when they did, call me Rip Van Winkle.

Maldives Outer Atolls 2015

This was a milestone birthday treat, only 1 and 1/2 years late. I was working up to then on Visa Token Services, which supports digital wallet providers, initially ApplePay. They launched, we launched and only then I launched.

The MasterMind: Marc Blouin is a long-time friend from San Diego, and we share many DIY travels.  He went to the Northern Atolls the previous year, and planted the seed for this one just at the right time. He nailed it!

A trip from here to there is pretty much what you’d expect: 15.5 hours from SFO to Dubai. 7 hours in Dubai (see video,) then another four hours to Male. We stayed there until fairly deep in the night before catching an inter-island to the meet the Handhu.

Panorama of what greeted us just outside Male airport

We first hopped a water shuttle to Male proper, but there was a real temptation to just swim

Aboard our flight were two others from the Bay Area: Ryan Jergensen and Nate, both Dentists. They planned to the finest detail: besides carrying CostCo’s finest munchies (to the delight of all and introduction to some,) they pre-arranged an exchange with local Dentists. For that reason, we’re all here for the moment

When Ryan and Nate went to meet their counter-parts, Marc and I plowed across Male in search of the coast and waves. Given the climate differences, time differences and traffic, we found surf and looped right back to catch a shuttle to happy-land: the Airport Resort (Huihule)

Day use passes parked us pool-side, where our toughest decision was which lager to drink. So… our day slipped to evening, and those coming back from their surf trips rolled in and shared their tales. Froth and beer foam. Good!

Last leg: At this point, all bets are off. Manic excitement followed by the reality of little-to-no sleep. Truth: I fell asleep mid-JOKE to Ryan Jergensen, and coming back around I thought nothing of it… until Ryan asked me for the punchline. I asked him what he heard. Unfortunately, I had no idea what joke I was trying to tell, and still don’t….

So, eventually we arrived at our destination. Given my tank was empty, I was good to arrive at Kaa… Kaa… what the heck? And, is that a Gecko on the sign?

And, finally, on the top bunk, Dreamland

Surf guide Shadow has a plan

To take us to amazing reef passes

The motor starts in the morning (first light.) We quickly became Pavlov’s dogs… because… this.

So we go, and go, and go again