We went to Vilu Reef ViluReef for our honeymoon :)

Had one of the villa's on the sand (approx. 5 metres to the sea) .. little private bay with sun-loungers etc. Food was brilliant .. get the same waiter every night, same bar person, same cleaner so you know who does what ...

Go all inclusive (works out FAR cheaper). Never had shoes on the whole 2 weeks.

All the pictures you see are not colour enhanced ... it really is that aqua/blue colour.

Hamish The Wagon :D

Edited to say our island was something like 400m x 400m big. There was only 1 restaurant, 1 bar etc so you were not eating at the duff restaurant while those who paid meals had all the good food.

[Edited by HamishTheWagon - 9/4/2002 2:33:36 PM]

Luke,
three months !!!!!!!!!!
I had to spend a YEAR (thats 365 days to do!) there :) ;)
A long time ago now (all that "not having"),sun, sea, no women, just beer and work........

cheers alan (ex siggies)

p.s. I believe its called "equator village resort" now

[Edited by albob - 9/4/2002 11:17:23 PM]

Decided we're going to the maldives next year would appreciate any suggestions or comments on which island etc. Looking for something with good diving and not much else, which I think just about sums up the Maldives.

We went to Lohifushi earlier this year for exactly the same reason. The diving was fantastic (they have a full Padi dive centre on the island) but the island itself felt a bit 3 star. whatever they claim in terms of quality, knock a star off and don't get sucked in by an all inclusive deal as they'll have you eating in the worst restaurant on the island each day (dodgy buffets) rather than eating (often cheaper) in the a la cartes.

Meerenfushi (sp) is nearby and is meant to be good I think.

Have fun
Gordo

Went to Bandos last year. Again, full PADI centre, loads of dives - house reef and boat trips all over. Also did my first night dive :D.
The islands are all small and so quite resticted. Bandos had the advantage of being quite close to the main island with the airport (can't remember it's name) so if you wanted a bit of a change you could nip over there.
Wouldn't hesitate to recommend it
:)

Went to the Coco Palm last year.... unf'ingbelievable....
Total lazy holiday, went to a local island that was somewhat different to our island.
Snorkeling is amazing, so much to see. I think if I had enough time I would do a PADI out there but they are not cheap , others recommend doing it here and then simply proving you are capable out there.

http://www.rich-b.co.uk/maldives/ima...7-0774_IMG.jpg

...horrible place :(

http://www.rich-b.co.uk/maldives/ima...0-1006_IMG.jpg

...never want to go back :(

http://www.rich-b.co.uk/maldives/ima...9-0997_IMG.jpg

awful accomodation :(

http://www.rich-b.co.uk/maldives/ima...0-1071_IMG.jpg

...never get a taxi when you need one :(

Nope - I would not recommend it ;)

http://www.asiatravel.com/maldives/maldives.html

May have some info...

We bought a book by Lonely planet that was quite good.

Small luxory hotels web site http://www.slh.com

We booked through Kuoni. Everything went smoothly, except the sea plane ride was supposed to be 30 minutes, it would have been had it been direct but we had to drop off at 3 other islands first :eek: it took about 2.5 hours to get to the hotel... After the long flight out if was a bit much...

Try going to the new Atol if you can cope with the sea plane ride, but I can't remember the name of the island we went to. The new Atol is great because it's relatively new and the sea things / creatures whatever you call 'em aren't used to you so don't swim away as quickly. Paul saw turtles and rays when we were there that time.

Or why not consider doing a two island holiday we did that one year going to Baros and then to Fun Island in the Southern part of the Atol, if you go by donni it's a brilliant day out very relaxing, as some of the donni transfers can take up to 4 hours.

But my favorite island was Vilivaru not only was the diving good the island reef is brilliantly laid out for snorkelling as well. We saw a school of over a hundred dolphins when we were there and a water spout - plus it has this bay and the dolphins come into the bay at night to hunt, you can't see them but you can hear them. Vilivaru was my favorite by far - don't book the sister island it's not as nice, but you can cross to it if you want to.

I would suggest that you steer clear of all inclusive, it doesn't work out cheaper ie if you were comparing it to the Caribean for instance.

They work in US$ so if you sat and worked out how much you'd get all inclusive you couldn't really spend that much doing it pay as you go. but if it includes the diving it might be worth considering.

Diving will cost you - be prepared to pay from £350 - £500 if not a bit more I'm going back about 3 years here. All the islands have trained 'usually German or Swedish' PADI schools - all seem very good.

Male (is where the airport is for the chappie who couldn't remember) and Male Island Town is definitely worth a day trip if you're close enough.

Also it's a Muslim Country so you can't take alcohol in so don't bother with duty free on the way out - but we could show you how to cleverly disguise vodka & gin in mouthwash bottles that are still sealed. With a little food colouring - who says it's not Lister-whatsit or that red stuff ;) - but if you're lucky on the way back you'll stop in Dubai which certainly lives up to it's name. (one hour turnaround to go mad)

Don't know if it's still the same but they never used to accept passports that have been Israeli stamped either - might we worth checking if you've ever been to Israel.

So that's my run down on the Maldives - you'll love it

In our experience Hayes & Jarvis are the best to go with as their planes are never delayed - as in the case of Kuoni (also Kuoni appear to be marginally more expensive as well).

Sorry to woffle on - but it's one of my most favorite subjects.
P

Try Ari Beach (in the Kuoni brochure). The diving is excellent and the island is big enough for a bit of peace and quiet. It takes about 45 minutes to walk around, perfect for a sunset stroll (the small islands are crap as you will always hear the generator they have to power everything).
I had a great time there a few years ago - the diving was fabulous (they only visit each dive site once a fortnight so as to avoid over-familiarity).
They also have a footy pitch for the staff - worth getting a team together to play them.
They also have other watersports there, windsurfing, canoing, sailing etc. And the snorkelling on the house reef is pretty good.

I loved spending 2 weeks there without wearing shoes at all.

We went to Coco Palm on our honeymoon http://www.cocopalm.com/ - definitely one of the best holidays EVER - top class resort. Could not recommended the Maldives enough. Also went to Meedhuparu Island last year which was also fantastic.

Good place to get an unbiased/true view on most of the islands individually is at http://www.hellomaldives.com/ - gives you a bit more of a grittier opinion than some of the brochures.

Can't wait to go back :D :D

We went to Lohifushi about 3 years ago - a week touring Sri Lanka, then 10 days in Maldives - absolutely supberb - you'll love it.

The sea is so full of fish - its like fish soup!

Have only been to Ari Beach, but absolutely loved it. It really is the most amazing place in the world.

Had 3 months many years ago training in Gan. Great place, Interesting place to visit now.......

Albob

Did you go when it was "Ours" or just after the hand over??

We went to Velidhu in October 2000, and then went back again last October but to the Royal Island Resort.

Velidhu was very basic and popular with the Germans, though diving was excellent - walk straight off the beach into a tropical fishtank !!

Royal Island had just opened and accommodation and the facilities were out of this world. Beach and diving were'nt good though.

Would definitely recommend the Maldives for lazing around, don't pack any shoes or your driving licence ;-)

We flew Sri Lankan both times and they were terrific, and definitely pay the extra for a seaplane transfer. Hope you get the same pilot we had, as he decided to buzz the islands on the way back to the airport before we came home, and I mean buzzing in the sense of wing tip 50ft from the sea sort of buzzing. This will make you laugh. The annoying i'm Mr know it all from our island, spewed his guts up !!!

Have a great time
CHRIS.

http://hometown.aol.com/kuredu/index.html

Island of Kuredu
Was there this time last year, grrrrrrrreat!

only downer about the Maldives is the long flight, around 13 hours. Whatever you do make sure you take the seaplane transfer option, the boat to Kuredu takes 6 hours!!!!!!, same for some other islands as well, seaplane took 40 mins and some great views of Atol's, etc. £ 90.00 per person and worth every penny. I remember arriving on Kuredu, having 3 hours sleep, going to dinner and relaxing in the bar for a couple of hours just as the boat transfer passengers arrived looking like death, they all tried to change to the seaplane for the trip back.

Just got back from the Maldives last weekend.
Went to Baros for our honeymoon and it was absolutely superb.
Small island (took about 5 mins to walk around completely) only 20 min speedboat transfer from the airport.
Beachside villa with glorious white sands and blue/aqua waters....
Only went snorkelling but the house reef was teeming with fish, sharks, rays and turtles.
Full PADI diving centre and they do night dives, wreck dives and drift dives as well.
Food was absolutely stunning. Seafood is (as you would expect) a local speciality. 4 restaurants on the island. We went half board and if you don't eat your main meal in the main restaurant then you can either get 20% off your evening meal in the a la carte restaurant or you get a free lunch the following day. The main restaurant food was superb and the a la carte was even better and relatively cheap too :D
Nice big bar as well with live evening entertainment. Also had a games room with pool table, darts and table tennis and a watersports bit where you could hire a dingy, windsurfers and canoes etc etc.

All in all it was a superb honeymoon and if you want somewhere to just get away from it all and dive to your hearts content then I couldn't recommend it more. A few people we spoke to on our island had stayed at a few of the other resorts (Bandos and Lohifushi) and they said that Baros was a lot quieter and had more of a deserted island feel rather than a tourist resort feel.

Andy

We honeymooned on 'FullMoon Island' - a newly developed island 6 years ago. Breathtaking... Beautiful place accomodation and people. Would go back tomorrow.

Take plenty of books or things to do cos when you are too knackered from Scuba diving or snorkelling, there is naff all to do! But thats great too!

Loved it - 10 days maneagable - two weeks would send you mad with boredom!

Mak.

Been once before, island called Karumathi (?spelling) and going again 6th October this year to Veligandu. If you just want to relax then i really would recommend it, the islands are spectacular and will leave you speechless. Go on... book it now!!!

Luke,
It was ours (1968 - showing my age :) ) - just who did they hand it over to??
alan

Alan, It was used my all sorts of folk for all sorts of things,for a few years...