Tourism and surf resorts/boats are heavily regulated in the Maldives. It's really hard to do even a half-way feral surf trip there. Since the islands are so isolated, the only way into the Maldives without spending a lot of money is to go thru the capital, Male or airport next island over. You have to have legit permit to go almost everywhere from the airport or Male island.

From there, everything surf related is regulated. You might be able to go get a quick boat from the airport island to the small capital island of Male (barely 1/2 mile square with tall buildings crammed on it, looks really trippy), then scout around for some kind of cheap boat trip to one of the surf spots. But, I think it's so regulated and strict, that if the boat guy got caught, he'd have his fingers chopped off or some other Muslim extreme punishment.

The wealthy East Indians pretty much run all the resorts in the Maldives, and have lots of influence and power over the local less educated and poor Maldivians. Hence, there seems to be some kind of attempted coup or take-over there every few years or so, because of the inequities.

Good luck, but definately know what you're in for, before you just grab a plane ticket, with no accomodations. You might be able to negotiate a cheaper deal there with the resort reps at the airport, but it'd be a crap-shoot. A lotta hassle for a little savings.