Listen mate, I'll tell you that there are at least 6 excellent breaks North and South of Male that are regularly surfed by the MAT drivers there. I'm going next Monday for a short rotation and MAT has always offered a 5 on 2 off schedule and TMA does a 6 on 1 off schedule. The latter was always a bugger to work for because of this reason. You need one day to wash your clothes and one for surfing in my book. Now are you sold on this huge career decision or what?? If you knew what I know about it now you'd be on that plane tomorrow and who care's if some pilot/hr expert interviewing you for a bigger airline job asks you about the VFR only experience?? It's the best life experience I've had to date, I sold my car to get the ticket, buy a surfboard and I've never looked back.
Good luck with it mate,
Walu