This is where tourism
began in 1972. Kaafu Atoll consists of four geographical atolls;
North and South Male’ Atoll, Gaafaru and Kaashidhoo Atolls. The
atoll is located almost in the centre of the Maldives atoll chain.
With 80 islands in all, only 12 are inhabited. That includes the
capital, Male’ and the island of Hulhule on which Male’
International Airport is located. While the first resort opened with
just 30 rooms in 1972 now there are a total of 3657 rooms
distributed amongst 44 resorts in the atoll. In fact the biggest
concentration of resorts is in North Male’ Atoll. The atoll is
dotted with dive sites, many of them well known in the diving
community. Manta points, interesting reef formations, coral gardens
and wrecks are all part of the diving experience in these atolls.
The Maldives Victory, which sank on Friday the 13th 1981 near the
airport island of Hulule, is now an exciting diving attraction.
Kaafu Atoll is also a haven for surfers. The eastern reef of North
Male’ Atoll has many recognised surf sites for the avid surfer -
‘Cokes’ at Thulusdhoo is one. Most of the recognised surfs in the
Maldives are in North Male’ Atoll. Transport to the resorts in Male’
Atoll are by ‘dhoni’, motorised local vessels or by speedboat. The
island of Thulusdhoo in North Male’ Atoll is a centre of commercial
activity. It is most famous for its Coca Cola bottling plant-
certainly one of the few, if not the only plant that uses
desalinated water. The State Trading Organisation (STO) has one of
its main warehouses for dried fish on the island. It is a
trans-shipment point for dried fish, smoked and salted fish for
export. Vessels from the northern atolls loaded with dried fish stop
by at Thulusdhoo to sell their fish. In addition to these there are
garment factories and a boat building facility that uses fibre-glass
to build the traditional ‘dhonis’. The eastern side of Thulusdhoo is
famous for its surfs aptly named ‘Cokes’.
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