: It all started five years ago with a simple vacation to a local island in the Maldives. I didn’t plan anything big, I just wanted to rest. But there I met my partner and discovered my greatest passion – the ocean.
It was he who introduced me to the underwater world. He took me on my first dive and I think he knew what he was doing. I fell in love with diving, with the silence under water and with colors that cannot be found anywhere else.
I started coming back more and more often. I must have been here four or five times over the course of two years before I finally admitted to myself that I just wanted to stay here. And I stayed. I’ve lived here for almost three years and I still sometimes can’t believe this is actually my life.
Many people associate the Maldives mainly with luxurious resorts and houses on the water worth tens of thousands of zlotys. Few people know that for a fraction of this price you can get to know the same paradise by living on local islands and experiencing the real life of the locals.
I live on such an island and see it from the inside. My life here is completely different from the one I led in Poland. The pace is completely different – slower, calmer. Nobody is in a hurry here, priorities are different, and everyday life revolves around nature, the sun and the ocean. For someone accustomed to the European rhythm of life, it is a real reset.
Turquoise lagoons and white beaches are exactly as beautiful as you imagine them – and that’s exactly right. But life on a local island is much more authentic than in resorts. And importantly, much more affordable than most people think. You don’t have to spend a fortune to see it all with your own eyes.
The Maldives is a Muslim country and I know that many people immediately ask: “So, do you have to wear a hijab or cover yourself?” Nothing! This is probably one of the most common stereotypes I come across. I live with my partner’s Muslim family – very warm and open. From the first day I was welcomed warmly and treated like part of the family. I dress the same way as in Poland and I have never encountered a negative reaction. My partner and I are not married, we live together and his family accepts it. Moreover, one of the partner’s sisters wears the hijab by choice, the other has not yet made this decision and no one is putting pressure on her. This shows how far popular ideas about life in Muslim countries are from reality.
Cultural differences, of course, exist, but not on a religious basis, but more in mentality and approach to everyday life. We Europeans are direct, we speak straight. People here prefer to remain silent than to stand in line. At the beginning, the approach to time also frustrated me – no one is in a hurry here, even in important matters. But over time… I guess I got a little carried away.
When it comes to racism and stereotypes, I encountered them mainly from Poles on the Internet. The comments usually revolve around the same thing: that my partner is dark-skinned, that he is Muslim, so I will probably soon put on a hijab, start covering myself and get married in a flash. For me, these are empty words – comments from people who simply don’t know what everyday life is like here and judge what they don’t know.
And from the Maldivians? I have never experienced anything negative, quite the opposite. The locals have always been very open and nice to me. What’s more, they are really curious about my life – where I’m from, how I like it here and what Poland is like.
Yes
Only for a while
NO
I want to show local islands mainly because most people simply don’t know they exist, but they are widely available and at very affordable prices. This is not secret knowledge, but somehow it gets lost in the multitude of photos of water villas.
Resorts in the Maldives are largely artificially built. Sand is literally piled onto the lagoons to create perfect beaches for photos. And this leads to enormous environmental damage – corals are destroyed, fish are dying, entire ecosystems are being disturbed. What’s more, many of these artificial islands have no reef at all, just sand and water. A beautiful beach, yes, but no corals, no fish. For someone who goes to the Maldives for the underwater world, this is quite a disappointment. I want people to know there is a better alternative.
We, the inhabitants, call the resorts simply “prisons”, and for good reason. A night at a resort is often around $2,000 per night, a local island? About $80. And once you are at the resort, you are practically confined to this island. Sailing to a local island involves huge additional costs or is impossible. In most resorts, the employees are people from other countries, not Maldivians themselves, so even if you would like to get to know the local culture, there is simply no way.
On the local island, everything is different. You will get to know real Maldivians, their culture, traditions and everyday life. You can freely move around the island, eat in local restaurants and go on trips. I have clients who have been to both the resort and the local island, and most of them say directly that the resort was boring and artificial, and the local island gave them what they were really going for. The standard is really great, the trips are beautiful and all this at a fraction of the price of the resort. Nature is exactly the same – lagoons, beaches and ocean.
The Maldivians are one of the most open nations I have met. The door is literally always open, they will always call you to eat, they will always make sure you are comfortable. And families here are a completely different dimension than in Poland. It’s not mom, dad and two children, but often 20-30 people: cousins, uncles, aunts, siblings – all close and involved in each other’s lives. At first it surprised me, now I love it.
But there is also something that frustrates me. Maldivians very rarely step out of line. There are many things in this country that need to change. Most people see it, but no one speaks up. We, Poles, are completely different – we speak directly, we protest, we fight for what we want. It’s missing here and it’s a pity, because it’s a beautiful country with huge potential.
Loneliness? Honestly, I never feel it here. The islands are small, everyone knows each other, it’s a bit like living in a small village. Nobody makes any special arrangements here, you just go out and in a moment you’re sitting with someone for a coffee. There is always someone to talk to, someone to give you a ride, someone to call you for dinner. This is one of the biggest advantages of living here.
But if you’re asking about boredom, that’s a different story. You can literally walk around the island where I live in 10 minutes. The ocean is everywhere and I love it, but the world beyond is very small. Sometimes I find myself missing the cinema, a place where you can just go and do something completely different. I’m not lonely, but what about entertainment? Here you need to be able to find entertainment in your own company.
As a European, I experienced the biggest shock… in a store. It sounds cliché, but it’s true. I remember arriving and asking my partner: “But where is the normal store?” He looked at me strangely and said: “But you go to him every day.” And that was the moment when I realized that the shelves were simply empty. Eggs, milk, toast, three vegetables and that’s it. No choice, no “I’ll take this or that”. This was my biggest cultural shock – not the religion, not the language, just the store.
Product availability is a topic in itself. There are a lot of things that are simply not available here, and if you want to order something from outside, you have to be patient. Delivery can take two or three weeks. Everything then arrives on the island by ferry, which doesn’t run every day, so sometimes you wait and wait. For someone used to ordering for next day delivery, this is a real challenge.
When it comes to more European shopping, you have to go to the capital. But even there, prices can be triple or quadruple compared to Poland. Everything is imported from outside, so the costs are huge.
However, there is something that really positively surprised me – there are no homeless people in the Maldives. Quite. And this is no coincidence, precisely because families here are so large and so close-knit. Everyone always has their own piece of home, there will always be a place for someone. No one is left alone with their problems on the street. This is something we can only dream of in Europe.
Poles’ reactions are usually immediate: “Wow, you live in paradise!” And I understand it, because everyone associates the Maldives with the same image – turquoise water, houses on the water, luxury. Delight always comes first.
The first thing I hear from anyone who comes for the first time is that the colors and nature are exactly as in the photos. Even better. People are used to the fact that reality is disappointing, but here it is the opposite – the ocean is really that color, the beaches are really that white, fish and dolphins are really right next to them. This is the moment when everyone says, “I can’t believe this is real.”
The logistics between the islands is also a big surprise. People think they can order something like a taxi and sail to a neighboring island in 20 minutes. But the reality is completely different – transfers between islands often take place only twice a day, sometimes you have to plan it well. This is not Europe, where everything is at your fingertips.
And what is a positive surprise? First of all, the people – how nice and open they are. And the fact that not all women wear hijab, because most Poles expect it when they hear that the Maldives is a Muslim country.
People are also often surprised that on the island, which can be walked around in 10 minutes, you can normally find a school, a hospital, a pharmacy, restaurants, shops and everything you need for everyday life. And, of course, the underwater world – fish, corals, dolphins right at the shore. This is something that cannot be described in words. You have to see it with your own eyes.
I would say that living in the tropics does not solve problems. On Instagram, it often looks as if all you need to do is move to a paradise island and suddenly be happy all the time. And the truth is that you still have your responsibilities, bad days, stress and missing your family or friends.
You can’t see how many things require patience here. In the Maldives, everything works slower than in Europe. Sometimes you can’t buy something right away, sometimes you have to wait for transport between the islands, and sometimes the weather ruins all your plans.
But at the same time, living here has taught me to slow down. And I don’t think this is visible on Instagram either – that the biggest change is not palm trees and beaches, but the way you start to look at life.
