Maldives - August

[Hammerhead]

Larry,

Strange, but true - got a price yesterday for accomm only - looooooooong story - tell you about it if you want! Kuoni did us a quote for April/May, which will be more expensive than August, for £655 per person, All Inclusive! ( That would be roughly 1100 US per person for two weeks including transfers.) This would include all drinks, afternoon tea and cakes etc. so a pretty good deal. Their phone no is, hang on, 0044 1306 743000 - ask for Angelita - very nice helpful lady! You could contact resort direct - you may get an even better price. Phone no & email should be on the site.

Can't tell you much about the dive operators as I did not dive then, but it looked as if they ran a pretty tight ship. There is also, unusually for the Maldives, a hyperbaric chamber on the island with a diving doc as well.

Only thing to watch out for is the Titan Triggers - there are lots of them! Just watch out for them and swim around them. ( They always seem to have a malevolent look in their eyes.....)

Also, there was every evening at Blue Lagoon, a stingray feeding session - not usually a fan of this sort of thing, but fantastic to watch, especially the bit where the guy sends them away at the end....to see a 2m plus stingray arm-wrestling with someone while the others queue up and wait their turn is mind blowing! Also worth mentioning is that at the other hotels you can use the facilities and the beaches - there's spa treatments, massages etc. and pools. Usefull for shoving the wife and kids into whilst you are underwater!

God, I sound like a travel agent don't I! Hard not to get enthusiastic though, talking about a place I've been and liked. May not be everyones' cup of tea, but we had a great time there.

Jeff

Jeff,

That's a very good deal, is it for Kuramathi? If so, which hotel? Tempted, tempted.

@ Lily - the meeru site's under construction, but I will do a little digging and see what there is...

Thanks,

Larry

 

[jeff99]

Hi Larry -

Yeah, it's for the village, which is the cheapest of the three on the island. The other two are dearer, and to be honest, a bit er, over the top, as I like it simple. You can use all the facilities - bars, beaches and restuarants, spa, pool etc. on the island, but if you use the ones at the other hotels it's extra! ( They are all owned by the same company, so basically it's like staying at an island with three classes of rooms and facilities, if that makes sense!) It's quite a good deal in the sense that all-inclusive includes drinks, which can be expensive, even water, on the islands nowadays - some charge $5-6 for a bottle of water I've heard - that would soon mount up!

Jeff

 

[bayswaterbabe]

Jeff,

That's a very good deal, is it for Kuramathi? If so, which hotel? Tempted, tempted.

@ Lily - the meeru site's under construction, but I will do a little digging and see what there is...

Thanks,

Larry

Larry,

Sorry about the Meeru link.

I haven't been to Kuramathi but it was one of the resorts I have considered staying at, hence I did a bit of research on the island. Check out these links for info on the island, its resorts and the dive operator there:

http://www.unisurf.com/

http://www.rasdhoodivers.com/index1.htm

The attraction of hammerheads was very compelling but its isolated location and the sea-plane journey put me off a little. The deal jeff99 mentions is pretty amazing value, especially if it includes sea-plane transfers. If it doesn't, be aware that speed boat transfers take 90 minutes.

Have fun holiday-hunting!

Lily

 

[Hammerhead]

I understand the appeal of hammerheads...

 

[jeff99]

Hi bayswaterbabe,

No - the deal is for the speedboat, but when we went there the boat was a large new air-conditioned motorlaunch type thing - very comfortable and cool, but you couldn't go on deck to smoke........90 minutes is a bit of a bummer, but not as bad as when I went to Ari Beach ( now called White Sands Resort) a few years before - it's in the south of Ari Atoll - the boat transfer was 4 1\2 hours! ( The steering gear went 1/2 way there as well and we had to zig-zag at reduced speed for the last bit, making 6 hours in total!) You could upgrade to the seaplane according to Kuoni, but I didn't ask how much it was.

Larry,

The accom in the Village when we went there was fairly basic, but clean, h + c water etc. They had started to refurbish the standard rooms while we were there, so they should have finished by now! Quite nice rooms with a\c, basic but comfortable - nothing special, but OK, if that makes sense! Have been in touch with Embudu and as far as I can make out, the standard rooms don't have hot water - better check, but I think thats right - anyone else been there? What you can do, like we did in November when we went to an island with no hot water is to take a solar shower - they work really well a few degrees N of the equator, and people were even taking photos of ours -

Jeff

 

[pelan-pelan]

See previous posts - we had disgusting experience at Meeru. As did others travelling at the same time. Not a single group - just people we got to know. Stayed in different parts of the resort and then vied with who had the best nasty-story when waiting at the airport.

What counts for nasty? How about litter in the bathroom and sheets suspiciously probably "used".

We spent the majority of our holiday on Vakarufalhi which was simple, unpretentious and totally relaxing. And could one add, scrupulously clean. And there is shore diving.