If there’s a prize for the bluest water on Earth, the Maldives has to be in the running.

We’ve been here a few days now and it still doesn’t look real. Every time the seaplane banks over another atoll, the colours seem to get more ridiculous. Electric turquoise lagoons, deep sapphire channels and endless rings of white coral sand. It’s almost impossible to capture just how vibrant it is.

These tiny islands are a geological marvel. What you’re standing on are the exposed rims of ancient coral reefs, built over millions of years on slowly sinking volcanic peaks. As the volcanoes disappeared beneath the ocean, the coral kept growing towards the sunlight, leaving behind the necklace of atolls that make up the Maldives today. Whatever happened beneath the surface all those millions of years ago, we’re certainly grateful for the result.

This is our third surf season here in a row, and we keep finding reasons to return.

Surf season runs from April through October, during what’s known locally as Hulhangu, or the southwest monsoon. Despite the name, we’ve scored nothing but sunshine, light offshore winds and playful two-to-three-foot peelers every day.

This year we’re staying at Six Senses Laamu, a stunning resort in the remote Laamu Atoll, reached by a spectacular 65-minute seaplane flight south of Malé. It’s one of the more secluded corners of the Maldives and feels a world away from the busier central atolls. Apart from the occasional surf charter, the line-ups are uncrowded, the pace is wonderfully slow, and the only real crowds seem to be schools of tropical fish.

One of the highlights was hopping in a boat and heading to one of the Maldives’ countless uninhabited islands. There are more than 1,100 islands scattered across the country, and for a few hours we had one all to ourselves. No waves wrapping around this tiny speck of sand, just crystal-clear water, a handful of hermit crabs and an ocean that resembled one giant swimming pool. Not another footprint in sight.

The weather has barely changed since Indonesia. Twenty-nine in the water, around twenty-nine during the day, and twenty-nine at night. The ocean never gets cold. It’s basically bath water.

For surfers, Six Senses Laamu is one of the few resorts in the Maldives with several quality waves nearby. Shoulders and Petrols are playful beginner waves, while Jetty C’s has a little more push. The jewel in the crown is Ying Yangs, an advanced, slabby right-hander exposed to the Indian Ocean that hoovers up plenty of swell.

The tides flowing through the Maldives’ 26 atolls create powerful currents that can completely change a surf break from one hour to the next. Knowing when to paddle out is almost as important as the swell itself. Tropicsurf manages the surf program at Six Senses Laamu, reading the charts, tides and conditions each day to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time.

Flying between the atolls by seaplane, you quickly realise just how many untouched reefs are scattered across the Indian Ocean. Endless reef passes wrap around tiny islands, creating lefts and rights in every direction. It feels like there’s still so much unexplored potential.

Beyond the surf, what has impressed me most is the environmental work happening at Six Senses Laamu. Seagrass meadows are left exactly as nature intended, even though they’re not the postcard-perfect turquoise many visitors expect, because they’re critical habitat for turtles, rays and countless marine species. Boats aren’t permitted to anchor on the reefs, helping protect fragile coral, single-use plastics have been eliminated across the resort, and they’re pioneering coral larval restoration projects to help damaged reefs regenerate naturally.

At Aquabumps, travel has always been about more than surfing. It’s about chasing light, exploring extraordinary places and creating memories together as a family. The Maldives delivers all of that in spades.

See more photos and reels from our stay at Six Senses Laamu on Instagram here, here and here.