Jailbreaks

Surf Guide

When the wind is just right (or wrong, depending on your opinion), you can be surfing Jailbreaks and hear the noises of what goes on in the building on shore -- no, it's not some medieval torture chamber, it's actually now a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. (Quite popular, considering the Maldives is Muslim and as such, bars all alcohol and drugs.) Regardless, it's much better to be sitting in the lineup than locked inside. This is perhaps the Maldives' broadest wave field, with a bunch of different takeoff spots scattered along the flat reef, some linking up into 100-yard-plus rides, others into shorter tube sections. As it gets bigger, the sections kinda disappear and it becomes one super long, super fast right point, with three or four barrels per wave possible. That's enough to make anyone want to break out of jail. Jailbreaks used to be "owned" by Atoll Adventures (ie: no one could surf there if they weren't staying at Tari Village), but an act of civil disobedience in the late '90s by the Maldivian Surfing Association opened it up for everyone.