Tippytoes12
Contributor
This was the second part of our Maldives trip in May 2016. The first week we spent on Emperor Voyager.
Living in the UK we are fortunate to have generous annual leave allowances, so we wanted to stay fora second week. We did a similar trip last year and spent the second week on Bandos Island. This was a very beautiful island , near Male with all of the amenities such as two pools , entertainment at night etc. However the dive centre was not pretty miserable and the costs extremely high.
This year my husband found a new all in dive resort on a local island which got fabulous reviews and was near very good sites in the far south. We booked six days and the plan was to catch a ferry there from Male. However the weather was very dodgy , so we flew. The flight was organised for us by the hotel. This worked brilliantly, an agent from Boutique Beach met us at the airport and showed us the way. A quick 30 minute flight took us to the far South of South Ari Atol , Mamagili Island, where a speedboat was waiting to take us to the other island.
This was not the postcard Maldivian island , but was a working island with a working harbour , a community , a school ..so far more real than a resort island.
The dive resort was on a pathway , opposite a narrow but very beautiful stretch of beach. The resort was so nice , we were thrilled with it. Our room was brand new with a large open air bathroom, beautifully decorated and had absolutely everything you could possibly need. The staff could not have made a better first impression and wow the food , lovingly prepared by a Sri Lankan chef was awesome. Being a local island alcohol was not allowed , which did not bother us. There was no menu , the chef would just ask what we wanted for the next meal. Every meal was accompanied by a fresh juice and unlimited tea , coffee ,water was included.
We could dive wherever we wanted , so the first day we asked to go to the guide's own favourite site , Broken Rock which was a large thila covered in soft corals and masses of fish. There was a large gap swim through in the middle festooned with pale pink sea fans with masses of colourful fish. We did ten dives in all over four days on similar wonderful sites ,that we had dived from the liveaboard. We saw white tips and grey reef sharks on most dives , enormous octopus on the early morning dives , many eagle rays , turtles and masses of fish. We also had some great nudi spots.
The routine was to meet at the dive centre at 7.50 for an 8 am departure. The crewe prepared gear, changed tanks and did everything we needed. There was a toilet on board , unlimited water and coconuts or similar for snacks. It was choppy on the surface but the crew were just great.
We saw one manta from the surface , but not on the dives. We did afternoon dives on two of the days , but it was extremely choppy. The coral was in excellent condition, the hard corals had some damage from bleaching or typhoons , but the soft coral was wonderful and undamaged. The fish life was prolific and varied.
The side of the channel where whale sharks are seen year round was very choppy indeed , but we went out one afternoon and didn't see any. The liveaboards had arrived in force by then , as well as lots of snorkelling boats , so there were boats everywhere. We then did a dive and still no luck. However when we were just around the corner from the harbour the captain shouted the magic words ...whale shark , whale shark ...jump jump. He saw it from the surface at 10 mats while driving the boat ! We jumped in, saw this fabulous creature right below us and had ten minutes swimming with it. A couple of free divers then arrived with their Go Pros and it swam off into the deep...perhaps it would have done so anyway ! We were very very lucky.
We loved our time at Boutique Beach and enjoyed it far more than the resort island the previous year. It rained a lot more than it did last May , so we missed having beach time or dinner on the roof , but would love to return some time.
It was a little cheaper than the liveaboard and we enjoyed seeing a proper Maldivian Island. The food was fabulous and the service superb. Most times it was just us two and a guide for the whole dive. It would be perfect in better weather and probably a nice option for a couple or family with some non divers. A snorkelling guest had fabulous spots. There was one other dive centre on the island and many guest houses. Many other local islands have new nice hotels that are a nice option as well as or instead of a liveaboard.
Living in the UK we are fortunate to have generous annual leave allowances, so we wanted to stay fora second week. We did a similar trip last year and spent the second week on Bandos Island. This was a very beautiful island , near Male with all of the amenities such as two pools , entertainment at night etc. However the dive centre was not pretty miserable and the costs extremely high.
This year my husband found a new all in dive resort on a local island which got fabulous reviews and was near very good sites in the far south. We booked six days and the plan was to catch a ferry there from Male. However the weather was very dodgy , so we flew. The flight was organised for us by the hotel. This worked brilliantly, an agent from Boutique Beach met us at the airport and showed us the way. A quick 30 minute flight took us to the far South of South Ari Atol , Mamagili Island, where a speedboat was waiting to take us to the other island.
This was not the postcard Maldivian island , but was a working island with a working harbour , a community , a school ..so far more real than a resort island.
The dive resort was on a pathway , opposite a narrow but very beautiful stretch of beach. The resort was so nice , we were thrilled with it. Our room was brand new with a large open air bathroom, beautifully decorated and had absolutely everything you could possibly need. The staff could not have made a better first impression and wow the food , lovingly prepared by a Sri Lankan chef was awesome. Being a local island alcohol was not allowed , which did not bother us. There was no menu , the chef would just ask what we wanted for the next meal. Every meal was accompanied by a fresh juice and unlimited tea , coffee ,water was included.
We could dive wherever we wanted , so the first day we asked to go to the guide's own favourite site , Broken Rock which was a large thila covered in soft corals and masses of fish. There was a large gap swim through in the middle festooned with pale pink sea fans with masses of colourful fish. We did ten dives in all over four days on similar wonderful sites ,that we had dived from the liveaboard. We saw white tips and grey reef sharks on most dives , enormous octopus on the early morning dives , many eagle rays , turtles and masses of fish. We also had some great nudi spots.
The routine was to meet at the dive centre at 7.50 for an 8 am departure. The crewe prepared gear, changed tanks and did everything we needed. There was a toilet on board , unlimited water and coconuts or similar for snacks. It was choppy on the surface but the crew were just great.
We saw one manta from the surface , but not on the dives. We did afternoon dives on two of the days , but it was extremely choppy. The coral was in excellent condition, the hard corals had some damage from bleaching or typhoons , but the soft coral was wonderful and undamaged. The fish life was prolific and varied.
The side of the channel where whale sharks are seen year round was very choppy indeed , but we went out one afternoon and didn't see any. The liveaboards had arrived in force by then , as well as lots of snorkelling boats , so there were boats everywhere. We then did a dive and still no luck. However when we were just around the corner from the harbour the captain shouted the magic words ...whale shark , whale shark ...jump jump. He saw it from the surface at 10 mats while driving the boat ! We jumped in, saw this fabulous creature right below us and had ten minutes swimming with it. A couple of free divers then arrived with their Go Pros and it swam off into the deep...perhaps it would have done so anyway ! We were very very lucky.
We loved our time at Boutique Beach and enjoyed it far more than the resort island the previous year. It rained a lot more than it did last May , so we missed having beach time or dinner on the roof , but would love to return some time.
It was a little cheaper than the liveaboard and we enjoyed seeing a proper Maldivian Island. The food was fabulous and the service superb. Most times it was just us two and a guide for the whole dive. It would be perfect in better weather and probably a nice option for a couple or family with some non divers. A snorkelling guest had fabulous spots. There was one other dive centre on the island and many guest houses. Many other local islands have new nice hotels that are a nice option as well as or instead of a liveaboard.
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