Surfing came to the Maldives in the late 70s. In 1973 Tony Hinde an Australian surfer took a break from surfing in Sri Lanka and together with a friend set sail for the Africa. He was never to reach his destination. His ship seriously off course was shipwrecked on the shore breaks of Male'. Tony discovered the thrill of surfing on the Maldivian reefs. He changed his name to Tony Hussein Hinde, married a local lady, opened his own surf agency and decided to stay for good.

Cruise operators offer surfing cruises, giving the opportunity to test some of the less recognized surfs in the atolls further away from Male’ atoll. The recognized surf season in the Maldives is the Southwest Monsoon, from May to October.

The Maldives in recent years has attracted professional surfers. Maldives has hosted international surfing competitions which put her as a world surfing destination.

The average size of reef breakers is 4-5 feet, rising to 8-10 feet during the surf monsoon.

Surf monsoon is from late February to mid November, with the best waves coming in during March to May and then again in Sep till the end of November.

Reef breakers are sometimes quite tricky to surf, the water is quite shallow on the surf and the coral beds sharp and protruding.

Surfers are advised to bring all their equipment with them, as there are very few good surf equipment available.