By Landolfo Mancini 
Fulidhoo is a small, inexpensive local island that we recently visited in the Maldives, as well as the island of Dhigurah, which we loved for its beaches and sandbanks.
Apart from diving, the main attraction of Fulidhoo is the shark and stingray beach, where you can see nurse sharks, sea turtles and stingrays in the shallow water and even have yourself photographed with them.
Of course, Fulidhoo also has the white sand and clear blue waters typical of the Maldives, and there are family-friendly hotels for only per night, so this is a good option if you want to get your dose from the tropics without spending a lot of money.
In this guide you will learn how to get to Fulidhoo Island, what to do, where to stay and everything you need to know before you go!
How To Get To Fulidhoo Island
There is no airport in Fulidhoo, so first you need to go to the capital of the Maldives at Male international Airport (MLE), which is about 55 kilometers from Fulidhoo.
From Male, you can take a speedboat or ferry directly to Fulidhoo.
In the public Speedboat
The main way to get to Fulidhoo is by public speedboat, and so we left. There are daily departures in the morning and afternoon from Male Airport and the city.
The speedboat ride to Fulidhoo takes just under an hour and a half and costs about per person for a one-way trip. It was very bumpy in our experience, but I’m sure it depends on the weather.
On the plus side, the boats are new and the seats are comfortable. They also have toilets and plenty of space to store luggage and will give you free bottled water during the trip.
Boats from Male to Fulidhoo depart at 10: 00 and 16: 00 (only on Fridays at 9: 30). And the boats return from Fulidhoo to Male at 7: 30 and 13: 30 (only on Fridays at 7: 00).
However, keep in mind that there are several speedboat companies operating this route and that the timetables seem to change from time to time, so I would check the timetables with your hotel before you set off.
You can ask your hotel in Fulidhoo to book the speedboat for you and then pay it with your room bill when you arrive. That’s what we did, and paying by credit card saved us from having to carry a lot of cash with us everywhere.
In a private speedboat
A private speedboat rental costs much more than public speedboats, but can be more convenient if you are traveling in a group of at least 4 or 5 people and need a direct connection to Fulidhoo Island.
You should be able to arrange this with your hotel in Fulidhoo.
By Public Ferry
You can also take the public ferry from Male to Fulidhoo. This option is slightly slower than speedboats, but much affordable. The ferry ride to Fulidhoo takes about 4 hours and costs for a one-way trip.
This route runs from Male to Fulidhoo on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 10 am. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10: 30 he returns from Fulidhoo to Male.
Ferry timetables may change from time to time, so you should confirm the current timetable with your hotel in Fulidhoo. However, you can’t book tickets in advance, so it’s a good idea to show up a little earlier to make sure you have a seat.
The ferry departs from the Hulhumale ferry terminal in the city of Male (map here). It is important to note that this is not the ferry port of Hulhumale, but the ferry port of the same name in the city of Male. You can reach it in 10 minutes by taxi from the airport.
Note: if you are coming from Maafushi Island, you can take the ferry directly to Fulidhoo, this way you don’t have to go through Male.
How To Move Around The Island
Fulidhoo is a very small island, so you can go anywhere.
In fact, they don’t even have cars on the island, there are only a few small electric walkers to transport luggage from the pier to the hotels.
The island is only about 700 meters long and 250 meters wide, which means that you can walk from any hotel to the beach or pier in 5 minutes or walk around the entire island in less than 30 minutes. It is quite convenient.
A beach with sharks and stingrays
The main attraction of Fulidhoo is the beach with sharks and stingrays. It is the long beach that covers the southwest side of the island and is marked as a “stingray lookout” on Google Maps.’
Stingrays come to this beach every day and every night to search for the remains of fishermen, and usually a nurse shark or a sea turtle will also appear!
Of course, there is no guarantee that they will come, but in the 2 days we spent on the island, there were almost always stingrays on the beach, and other people reported the same experience.
We saw more than a dozen rays at once! It was a fun experience. You can watch them from the shore or have yourself photographed with them in shallow water. Don’t touch them, but it’s okay if they touch you.
Is It Safe?
That’s what we asked ourselves before we came here. Is it safe to be around sharks and stingrays like this one? Good question. To be honest, the sharks around Fulidhoo are nurse sharks, which are quite harmless to humans.
And stingrays? Unfortunately, we all remember what happened to Steve Irwin, but I think this situation was a strange accident. Steve followed the jet into the water to film it, and he apparently saw it as a threat.
Stingrays are mostly gentle animals, and as long as you are careful not to step on them, chase them, or make them feel threatened or harassed in any way, they are unlikely to hurt you. Not to mention that the water here is really shallow.
It is impossible to say that, of course, it is 100% safe, but many tourists come to Fulidhoo every day to see stingrays and take pictures with them, and we have never heard of any bad incidents.