When you think about the Maldives today it’s hard to imagine that just 50 years tourism was only just beginning and at the forefront in those early days was Kurumba. 1972 heralded the start of the tourism industry in the Maldives and the uninhabited island of Vihamanaafushi was furnished with 30 modest huts made of coral stone, coconut timber and palm thatch to provide the first ever resort in this remote island nation in the Indian Ocean, with Euro-Divers providing the scuba diving activities. One can only imagine the feeling of wonder that the first guests felt when they arrived and waded through the sparkling lagoon to the island and experienced a true tropical paradise and underwater realm previously unseen and untouched by tourists.
Fast forward 50 years and guests still have plenty to look forward to and get excited about! Kurumba remains the closest resort to the airport which is great news for those who prefer not to have a lengthy transfer and simply want to get off the plane, hop on a luxury speedboat for 10 minutes and start enjoying their well-deserved holiday. With 24-hour transfer availability, guests don’t need to worry about what time their international flight arrives or departs, they can maximise their time at the resort and, as an added bonus, they no longer need to wade through the lagoon!
Let us know in the comments below if you’ve been to Kurumba and when your first visit was – let’s see who has the earliest date!
Everyone is welcome at Kurumba; the resort welcomes families, singles, couples, divers, snorkelers and ‘sit-on-the-beachers’ too. A wide selection of room types caters for all budgets and wishes while the array of restaurants suits all tastes – it’s a different world to the fish curries and rice dinners of 1972. Younger guests can enjoy the fun-packed kids club and those as young as 8 years can join the diving action with Bubblemaker activities.
Kurumba’s house reef has always impressed snorkelers and divers and today it’s no different, it’s one of the best house reefs in Malé Atoll to see black-tip reef sharks amongst countless other species thriving here.
In the last 50 years many dive sites have been discovered and Kurumba’s divers have many excellent dives available to them. In the summer months, Lankan Manta Point is a great spot for fulfilling bucket list dreams of swimming with mantas, it’s just 20 minutes away and holidays here are cheaper in the summer-time – add it to your travel list! The world-renowned site of Chicken Island (also known as Tuna Factory, Fish Factory and Fish Tank) is only 15 minutes away and offers incredible diving with lots to see.
Kurumba has five Marine Protected sites close by and some of them are in the top 10 dive sites in North Malé Atoll to add to your diving trips: Nassimo Thila, Banana Reef, Okobe Thila, HP Reef and Embudhoo Express. Marine Protection means that these sites have a great chance of remaining as magical in another 50 years’ time as they are now.
We hope you can come and help us celebrate our 50th Year in the Maldives by visiting Kurumba, the place it all started.
Everything started with my Open Water Course at Koh Tao, Thailand. I’m hooked with the first breath I took underwater – this magical and peaceful world with all these different colors and creatures made me forget about everything else. It felt like an addiction.
This time made me realize that I don’t want to keep diving only as a hobby. I wanted to become a Diving Instructor and make diving my profession.
I was working as an entertainer in one of the resorts in South Malé atoll. The first time I tried diving I absolutely fell in love with it, so every day off I would go diving.
I was lucky enough to meet people from Euro-Divers who helped me complete my instructor course and employment later on.
That trip changed everything. Since 2014, I visited more than 50 countries in three continents.
2019, 2020, 2021 – still in Maldives, enjoying what I love the most.
Im sonnigen Süden (Ägypten) lernte ich im Urlaub die unglaubliche Unterwasserwelt bei einem Schnuppertauchgang kennen und lieben.
Anfangs arbeitete ich im Tauchcenter im Büro, mir wurde jedoch schnell klar, dass ich die Gäste nicht nur über Wasser sondern auch unter Wasser begleiten wollte. Somit machte ich die Divemaster Ausbildung.
I studied Hotel management and ended up working for several years in different Hotels/Resorts around Italians seaside where I spend my days off diving and achieving the Dive Master rating.
I choose to stay in Oman because of its unspoiled dive site, beaches and many undiscovered dive places! We do not have mass tourism here and the country itself is spectacular besides being the safest place to live in.
Bored and burnt out of the stressful life in Holland, I quit my job as Manager Back Office & Finance and I went to Curacao for holiday. On this tropical island I took my first breaths under water with Instructor Marc, who is still my buddy in life.
Diving keeps me grounded, relaxed and connected with Mother Nature (myself). It supports me to let go, to put things into perspective and it helps me to stay focused and balanced in my position as a manager.
But diving was not at all my purpose of the journey, in fact I was not even a diver yet, I became a diver after I got passionate in freediving in Egypt in 2012 while freediving with dolphin in the wild, eager to become a snorkeling guide, I did my life guard licence and then my PADI open water!
I love freediving but scuba diving is an all other story for me, learning scuba diving make you discover part of yourself you didn’t know, you learn to control things that you would have never imagined possible, I regularly see many of my students discovering how calm they can be underwater when in life they tend to be hyperactive and then in the other hand I see calm or introverted persons becoming excited and move like a torpedo underwater 🙂 so diving might not be for everyone but it is definitely to discover!
I decided after my hospitality studies to enter this fascinating new world. I have started my career in Club Med as Guest Service and had the opportunity to travel some of the famous destinations for diving or snorkeling.
I am the perfect example of someone who was scared of diving, the only advice I could give is to believe in yourself.
But since I was young, I knew I wanted to travel the world, to go on adventures, have fun and meet people from everywhere. Unfortunately, those jobs didn’t give me the opportunity to do it so after 5 years I decided to move to Thailand.
Scuba Diving is a sport of passion.
During this time, I wanted to try something new, so I started scuba diving and I will never forget my first underwater experience. I felt nervous at first but at the same time a lot of excitement.
Some people might think that diving is a difficult sport, but there are many ways to enjoy safe diving for any age or gender.
