Billy In Maldives Wonderland

[Billy the Kangaroo]

Sorry this is so long, please feel free to not read any further when you lose the will to live. I have tried to include some diving stuff in here honest.

Late Booking
– great price,
– Maldives,
– five star
– all inclusive
– WOOOOOOOO

Bad news, fly from Manchester via Gatwick, no upgrade seats available, no way to blag extra luggage allowance for dive gear on Monarch - although they do have provision for golf gear, wind surfer, canoe. What’s that about ? Nice lady advised I might not get away with golf bag filled with dive gear.

After some imaginative packing, got main suitcases to just over weight allowance and my hand luggage ( dry suit bag ) full of heavy stuff, practiced waving about nonchalantly as tho it were empty and agreed for daughter to take us to airport and hold some stuff back at check-in to be put in baggage after weighing.

In the event, it weren’t necessary, main cases just over the limit – no problem, left my hand baggage casually on my shoulder and they didn’t feel the need to weigh it. But no window seats left and we could only sit across an aisle as ”Gatwick had claimed them all.”

As it happens, I sat with a German couple and my wife with a German couple with a baby. Dunno why there were many Germans on the flite from Manchester to Maldives – or why people take babies on long-haul flights with no seat for them.

We had an extended stop-over in Gatwick whilst the local Kwik-fit changed a wheel; otherwise the flight was long and uncomfortable. Arrived in Male and had a series of queues at a succession of desks before we were eventually - Allowed in the country, Baggage checked for porn, pork, booze and bibles , Thomson checked, Hotel checked, Seaplane checked – what fun.

Eventually we were taken on a bus across the airport to the seaplane station. We checked in again and told to wait. One of the group had just got a drink from their waiter when we were told to board. - all the luggage on the seaplane, no weighing, no problem and we were off. And now we are really in Maldives and it’s really as you would dream, tiny white-beached islands arranged in huge circles ( atols ). Most islands have only one or no property on them – absolutely stunning.

After around a half hour, we splashed down and coasted to a platform between two islands were we got off the seaplane and onto a local-design boat ( a dhoni ) belonging to the island. We had paid extra for the seaplane, but after the long flight it was well worthwhile and had the weather been bad, hours on a speedboat would have been horrendous.
A few minutes on the dhoni and we tied up on the main jetty on Sun Island. This is like a traditional English pier with a restaurant and dive centre built on the end. Our luggage went by cart and we followed the staff on foot to the reception area. Just walking down the pier was great, clear, clear blue water, teeming with fish – some as long as my arm. In fact we lagged behind gazing and enjoying and as we caught up in the reception area, we were handed a cool towel and cold drink a-la-coconut - arriving with style. We then sat in the comfy part of the reception area where we were given registration cards to complete. These were checked for us before went to the desk to be all-inclusive banded and given the key to our cottage and taken to it by golf cart.
Now for a couple of ‘admin’ things -

We were ‘all-inclusive”. In Sun Island this entitled us to eat in ONE of several restaurants and drink in only three bars and only till 1.00. This was no hardship, but the prices were SO expensive for anything other than this, that going full or half board would be crippling. With our normal all-inclusive we were more than happy with the food and drink included.
We could upgrade our all-inclusive to 'Platinum' and this would be an extra $150 per day each – which would allow any drink, any restaurant, room service, excursions, diving etc – and it is easy to imagine circumstances where that would be a real saving – but would have cost us much more than the holiday itself.
In order to ‘keep control’ everything you had - you had to sign. If the ticket was stamped “all-inclusive” then it didn’t get charged to your room.
Sun Island is huge and we were several minutes walk away from the restaurant, main beach area. As a result of that, it was possible to hire bicycles to get around the island.
Our deluxe ( base level ) unit was more than OK, it had a big bed, fridge, satellite TV, seating, bathroom with toilet and sink. The shower was outside via the glass door of the bathroom. On one of the first days, my wife was perched en-toilet when she spied a member of staff up the coconut tree alongside our unit. For the next few days, she needed a towel up at the glass door and a good look-around before using the shower or toilet.
We also had our own beach furniture outside the unit, but could not take drinks from the bars to use there and the minibar contents were not in our all-inclusive package – so they were hardly used.
In the restaurant, you were allocated a table and waiter for the duration of the holiday.
In the main bar, you seemed to be informally allocated to a waiter and he always was the one who brought your drinks if he was on duty. I began to think of him as my “beer fairy” as replacements would magically appear as the old one was consumed.
By the beach and pool ( there was a large pool with a swim up bar ) we had the same spot for a couple of days – with loungers and a swingy chair tied to a tree. After these days, the towel boys automatically set it up and saved it for us every day.
In fact, the staff throughout the resort was absolutely marvelous – the management and organization was a disgrace/ shambles, but the people were great.

You may have seen a separate post on Worldwide giving details of deals still available at Sun Island. You have my permission to break away from reading this, shew to your other significant parties and book NOW, go whilst the going is good.


Diving ? – OH I almost forgot. Well, we had 15 days on the island so for the first few, I chilled, snorkeled, drank, played pool, read, basked etc etc. Eventually we went down to the Dive Centre. There were no “special” deals to be had, you either committed to a number of days unlimited diving, or paid by the dive on a sliding scale, the more you did, the cheaper they became. Although they were expensive, you are a captive market and it would be unthinkable to go all the way there and not dive. On top of this you pay extra for equipment hire, and the boat element of the dive and if you want bigger cylinders – 12 rather than 10 liter. So allow more than normal for diving as you have already booked by now.

The best I could negotiate was that I didn’t need to do a formal check-out dive and could go straight on a boat, however, as my wife hasn’t dived since Jamaica, this was not relevant as she needed one – which was absolutely OK by me. So we booked a checkout and here is the logic in pricing - a dive is a dive is a dive. If you go on a trip, you pay the boat fee on top, There are always dive staff available, if you chose to go alone on the house reef – it’s up to you. If you want a buddy/ guide then there is no extra charge.

In the event, I went with another couple and my wife on her check-out which was really a house reef dive at the start of which the others had to do a mask partial flood and regulator remove and replace. During the dive, everyone ( including myself ) was assessed and this score was used on trips to establish groupings.

We booked the morning two-boat dive trip for the following day, but in the event got there just as the boat chugged out of the dive centre – 8.30 start means "we will wait till 8.30 and go if you are not here". In most days, the boat left early as everyone was on-time.

So, we decided to simply do a house reef dive by ourselves – my wife was less than positive by this stage ( which is why we missed the boat ). In kitting up and walking to the entry point, she jarred her knee so was less than happy doing a giant stride. Once in, she was under-weighted and stressed. I donated one of my weights and we descended. The plan was to swim to the wall, drop down to 18 metres where there was a rope leading to an outcrop at over 20 metres. When we reached the wall, she gave “no way am I going down there “ signs and so we bimbled around the wall at one point being at 18 metres.

To be honest, this dive was a real disappointment, my wife wasnt in the best of favours, the house reef had nothing we hadn’t already seen snorkeling and my wife came up feeling sick, hurty knee, poorly tummy, well pissed off. At this point she announced she was NOT going to be stuck on a boat all morning with no toilet, she would enjoy the on-shore facilities and I could dive as I wished.

In the event, I did three boat trips – two dives per trip. The dive centre has facilities to store all gear including your own lockable locker, so it was simply - book on the sheet in the Dive Centre the number of dives and 12 litre tanks required, arrive at centre IN GOOD TIME, collect any gear ( cylinders would already be on-board). Chug out – around one hour typically - during which assemble equipment and suit up. Be given guide and grouping based on dive grading and briefing. Buddies were only allocated at end of dive - stay awith the group, and when any two were down to 50bar they were told to ascend with a safety stop together. Dive for around one hour, back on boat, eat a bit of coconut, chug for around half an hour to next site whilst changing tanks. New briefing, dive two – typically shallower and shorter, chug back to dive centre by around 12 to 1.00.

What about the diving ? – well, as you would expect, it was stunning.

What did we see – shit loads of fish, many kinds of butterflies, triggers, angels, lionfish, parrotfish, clownfish. Big octopus, turtles, eels, sharks. I will try to post some photos soon as I cannot describe the colours and quantity of stuff out there.

Although we didn’t see Manta at the site Kirky so spectacularly did in January, we did have a close encounter with a whale shark which was WONDERFUL. I am expecting a video snippetof this, which I wll post if/when I can get hold of it.


Back to non-diving – the snorkeling was great around the beach – could see many of the above fish and a few extras such as pipefish. There were small rays and small reef shark on the beach in only inches of water.
Sun Island also does a couple of feeding activities. From one of the beaches, they feed stingrays every night and they come into water barely deep enough to cover them for this food. There must have been over twenty of them – over four feet across – a real experience. Again I will try to get photos on site asap. One of the buggers had a close encounter of the wrong kind with my wife and took a chunk out of her finger. As it's eyes are on one side of its body and mouth on the other, we hardly thought it was the ray’s fault.

From one of the other piers, they also feed the rays every night but in this case throw the food from the pier. Again there must have been a least twenty large rays and a number of large nurse ( ? ) shark. In order to get amongst them , it was necessary to dangle off the pier and drop into the water. Even though the water was not especially deep, to get out required a swim of some 400 yards to the steps – so not to be done lightly.

Recap – How was the holiday ? - Great
Would I go again - Definitely
Diving - Outstanding
Hotel - Super

Have you booked yet ?

If you are not bored and want any more info, please ask.

Bill.....

ps. there a couple of downers - which you can hide when you try to convince your partner to go -

I hurt my foot ( not diving ) which is why I did so few dives.
The trip back was horrible with switched plane, delays, extra stopovers.

But these must be isolated incidents and wouldnt stop me booking tomorrow.

[triplefin]

great report billy for anyone whos thinking of going

[[BoB]Bandit]

nice report :-)
the info about the flight was really helpfiul !!! we fly from mancheater to Maldives in September--staying at Kuredo for two weeks.
but we did manage to pre-book seats on flights. Must admit i am worried about weight
for flights--as i want to take all my own gear :-(

thanks for the info--nice one.

regards
Tommy Gore

[daveyclayton]

Wow. Beer fairy! Fancy Wales this weekend?

[JohnK]

Billy - glad you enjoyed it....shame about the mantas but you jammy sod seeing a whaleshark !!!!! It brought back memories !!

[Scubanut]

A good report there Billy. IMHO I think that Monarch are probably the worst long haul haulier of the lot. I feel that the staff aren't that bothered, just looking forward to a week in the Maldives. They pack passengers in like a cattle truck, no take that back owing to legislation cattle have more room.

The Maldives, a beautiful place, try to get there, scrimp and save, go spend your dollar. Make friends with the kids by taking sweets. Make friends with the locals by buying bits from their little island shops. They all love to chat and bartar (sp?).
We are off again next January for the 5th time. Love the place.

Oh we are flying Emirates, polite staff, never a problem, drinks and meals inlcuded

Scubanut

[JohnK]

Yep - Emirates are superb !!! Where ya going this time. We are going back to Kuredu in 2007

[Dive In Paphos]

Hey up Bill,

Nice report, Just need to book to come and see me in Cyprus now mate!

Have a good 'un


Jonno

[SoggyFox]

sounds fantastic, another entry in the eternal wish list.

green for making me green with envy.

[SCUBA Chick]

Originally Posted by JohnK

Yep - Emirates are superb !!! Where ya going this time. We are going back to Kuredu in 2007

Replying on behalf of Scubanut, being his other half and all that

We are booked onto the Sea Spirit liveaboard again for a 13 night itinery. After being land based for 3 trips (2 diving) we have decided that this is definately the best way to dive there. And we have the excuse that due to problems with the boat we were unable to do the night dive at Maaya Thila...so we just have to go back to do that!!!

I know that you have your non-diver wife to think about John but if you ever get the opportunity it would definately be worth your while convincing her to let you go on one of the maldives scuba tours liveaboards out there

Cheers

Scubachick

P.S As a fellow photographer, thought you might be interested to hear the Demelza Postelthwaite (sp?) is one of the guides on Sea Spirit...if you have a search for her on the web she has lots of UW photo's published...