Playing in the sea is a way of life for the Maldivian people - most local people are accomplished swimmers, sailors and surfers, and no wonder: there is more sea than land in the Maldives, and the warm clear blue waters around the islands provide one of the most appealing ocean playgrounds in the world. While some tourist prefer to just relax in the luxury of their resort or just paddle in the shallows, many quickly take to the waves - on sailboats, kayaks, windsurfers and water skis - or head beneath the waves, by going snorkelling and scuba diving.
Each of the many resorts in the Maldives has a sports centre with facilities for a range of water-sports and activities, and a resident diving school that offers dive training and guided tours of the best nearby dive sites. Those resorts that strive to maintain the tranquillity of the surroundings tend to specialise in non-motorised activities such as sailing, windsurfing, and kayaking, while the larger and family-oriented resorts generally have very large and extensively equipped sports centres that cater for waterskiing, jet-skiing, kneeboarding, wakeboarding, and parasailing A few even offer more exotic water activities such as kite-surfing, water bicycle polo and underwater hockey.
Wakeboarding and kneeboarding are increasingly popular water-sports that combines techniques used in water-skiing, snowboarding and surfing. Like water-skiing, the rider is towed behind a speedboat or jet-ski. On a kneeboard the rider sits on their heels and is secured to the board with a strap over their thighs. Wakeboard riders stand on the board with their feet in rubber bindings, usually with one foot forward like a snowboard. Kneeboarding is often preferred by people just starting out in "tow sports" and is relatively easy to learn, especially compared to water-skiing which can involve a lot of falling over when you are just starting out. But many of the skills and techniques learned in knee-boarding can be used in wake-boarding and water-skiing as a rider gains more confidence and experience. Kite-surfing, or kite-boarding, uses a stand-up board like a wake-board - the ride is propelled not by a speedboat, but by a large para-foil kite controlled by the rider.
Kayaking is a popular way to get around the resort islands, and most resorts can arrange kayaking tours where guests can carry a picnic to a remote island beach. A few specialist tour operators based in the capital Male run sea-kayaking tours of parts of the islands, accompanied by a motorised "mothership" that carries equipment and provisions for several days. Most of the resort use simple open-deck plastic kayaks that are effectively unsinkable, and some offer open-decked kayaks made from clear plastic that give the paddler a view of the fish, corals and other sea life as they skim across the surface, just like a glass-bottomed boat. Kayaks also make excellent transports for snorkellers who want to explore further away from the house reefs - it is easy to get into and out of them from the water, they can help keep your food, drinking water and camera dry while you swim, and they are easily towed by a snorkeller in the water by holding the rope attached to the hull.