Date Travelled : July 2007

Review Title : Huduranfushi Your Rating 4 Stars. Made By Dr King on 29/07/2007
We had a wonderful time. We enjoyed everything this island had to offer and more !!

---The Good---


Staff - esp room-boy were friendly, kind and extremely hard working. Room cleaned twice a day, Bed decorated with patterns in the sheets and flowers every night. (We weren't even on honey moon) One night it took us over a hour before we got in bed as we didn't want to undo all his hard work and we were taking too many photos of it!!

The speed boat transfers to the island are sooo much better than the normal "Coach" Transfers you have and are definitely part of the high-light of the trip, unlike coach journeys normally where you just want to get to the destination ASAP. They were also smoothly done with no significant delays and the luggage travels with you- so you don’t lose sight of it!!


I did the PADI Open Water Scuba course, ( I was also on the same trip that saw the 3m Manta Ray !!! which was truly amazing along with turtles, eels and out of this world coloured fish ) and the best instructor was the very chilled Italian - Basilio !!

The staff =Again - they were that good !!

The rooms- were very nice and clean- minimally furnished. The air con works well ! And the bathroom is truly unique - the sink, bath and toilet are all enclosed under the roof, while the second shower unit is positioned so its open to the sky !! It is very unusual but certainly fun !!

You can arrange a special dinner at the bar restaurant, where the staff will decorate the table with a message ie congratulations, etc and flowers . They can even arrange it as a romantic table for two on the beach !!! How cool is that . !!!

Bugs - the staff do their best to rid the island of bugs etc. the rooms are kept clean and they smoke out the tress every night !
However, some people complained about the bugs in their room, but were probably leaving food around their room with the door open !!

The food was good, with a themed night that rotated once a week. The secret with buffet food is not to take a bit of everything every night, otherwise you won't want to eat even the best roast beef.

The beach bar – have spot lights on the balcony so you can see the fish in the water – as well as the occasional reef shark – (tip – bring some bed rolls from the restaurant – esp the little small rolls and watch the dozens of fish play football as they try to eat) we were mesmerized for hours – extremely relaxing way to enjoy the evening !!

There are hundreds of deck chairs around the beaches, so no need for the early morning race against the German beach towels !!-
You get fresh beach towels everyday.

Didn't notice any noise or problems with the water bungalows being built !! Really its not an issue at all, so don't worry about this.

Kuda Bandos - is one of the trips the hotel arranges for the Sunday. Highly recommended - as great day out, nice to visit a different island -(beaches were nicer) and they cook up a great bar-b-q dinner!!

On the final night you settle the bill with an accountants record card with all the slips you have signed etc they keep an accurate tab running so you can check at any time during if you like.

Guests - we met some great other guests while we stayed here. At one point we had 2 English, 4 Welsh, 2 Irish and 2 Scottish within the group- Truly United Kingdom !!!! and with a 2 week holiday its great to have some banter with other people.

Bintang - Its the beer they serve from Sir Lanka - its great !!! And ONLY 40 CALORIES a can!!!!!! So you drink it, without worrying about the beer belly !! (I’m Gonna start importing the stuff to the UK when i get the chance !!!)

Multiple nationalities on the Island – Italian, Russian, Israeli, Australian, New Zealanders, not just the British, which is nice !!!


----The Bad---

Not all the beaches are the best in the world, with coral and sea grass around, but nothing too bad. On the far side of the island the beaches were certainly better. Bad the water is very shallow, making it hard to swim

Its not the "all - inclusive" as you get in other countries. 2 of the best bars were pay bars which is really irritating, And the drink selection was not the greatest, but hey, this is an Islamic Country after all!!

Wine - only with lunch and dinner meals in the buffet.

Male trip- Bit of a con - Initially good with a guide showing you the sights of the island - Mosque, Palace gardens etc, but then you get dumped in a rather awful souvenir shop !! which is overpriced. and i suspect there are back handers to the guides to only visit "the biggest Shop in Male". However, you need to drop the guide at this point if you want to go to the shopping centre or to get souvenirs at other shops where you don’t get ripped off !! Ps they like it when you haggle the price !!!

The Jet bike was broken – and probably will be for another 2 months !! So no motorized sports such as jet skiing, or banana boat rides – a real shame !! Also you can’t learn to surf here – the waves are too strong and the rocks too dangerous by the surfers bar. Only experienced surfers can surf here, and even they were getting injured !!! ( Couple of years ago they held a surfing competition on that side of the island)

Overall we had a great time, and made the most of everything even when it rained !! But we always do !!
We have normally avoided the Maldives for the Caribbean islands instead because of the flight time and worries about delays with transfers etc. but no longer !!! We shall definitely be coming back to the Maldives again and again etc

---Summary---

Final important piece of advice to all the Victor Meldrums out there: This is an isolated island in the middle of the ocean !! This is NOT the Spanish Costa Del Sol !! So you can't expect the same facilities as a developed country !!!!! And THANK GOD for that too !! In the Maldives, expect to see the odd spider or ant near the room - but get over it !! Enjoy the relaxing and friendly atmosphere of the people and the Island - remember that's what holidays are for after all !!!