|
|
Island Information
Ari-Beach Resort Ari-Beach (formally Dhidhoo Finolhu) is to the north of the South Ari Atoll approximately 104 km from Male airport taking 3 hours by speedboat or 30 mins by seaplane. I visited the island in April 1995 and although I'm sure it has been developed further I believe the management have kept the "no shoes no news" attitude generating a "get way from it" atmosphere. The island itself is relatively long and narrow (1700 x 300 meters) - you can walk around it along the long stretch of clean white sandy beach in about one hour. The house lagoon is interconnected with those of three neighboring islands, thereby giving a large coral-free area ideal for all kinds of watersports. The resort has 71 Standard and 50 Superior rooms. Standard rooms featuring ceiling fan, air conditioning, private bathrooms, fresh water supply, and IDD phone. Superior rooms featuring air conditioning, hot and cold desalinated fresh water supply, private open air bathrooms, IDD phone, mini fridge, and terrace. Needless to say there is a diving school, which when I was there (and where I qualified to dive) was run by Eurodivers. I was impressed with the quality of the dive sites in general and feel the South Atoll has the better diving spots. At the time I did not have the camera housing and so was unable to take any underwater pictures.
Kanifinolhu Resort Kanifinolhu or "Kani" is located on the eastern reef of the North Male' Atoll. Transfers are by speedboat or dhoni taking between 30-60 mins. It was established as a resort in 1978 and is approx. 750m by 180m. I visited this resort in May 1996 and have a mixed opinion over the resort. The accommodation is good, having air conditioning, telephone, mini bar, bathroom with shower or bath tub, hot and cold fresh water, hairdryer, terrace/balcony, but I believe they have completed some of the building work by taking coral sand from the main beach, leaving a very coarse covering of sand rather than powder soft which the islands are famous for. The lagoon is shallow and has very little life in it, with the offshore reef being a good distance out with a very strong tidal current through the access channel which it is not recommended you snorkel beyond. There was a twice daily house-reef snorkel dhoni organized by the hotel which was well used by guests. The house-reef was of reasonable quality, helped by the fact the boat anchored in reasonably deep water preventing people from being able to stand on the coral bed. The diving was again managed by Eurodivers (who operated a discount if you had dived with them before) who had a very good local knowledge of dive sites. The dives were often a hours journey time, with house-reef diving banned by the hotel. Although no picture was taken a 4-5 mtr whale shark was seen during one dive. Many dives were "drift dives" - an excellent way of being carried by the channel currents in the atoll and simply being picked up by the dhoni boat drifting above you. Air expenditure can be lower and dive times longer - if you don't mind maintaining neutral buoyancy and just admiring the view - the level of visability is often stunning.
Villamendhu Resort Villamendhu is located in the South Ari Atoll approximately 60 miles from Male airport taking 25 mins by seaplane. The accommodation is excellent, being listed as 4* with 100 or so rooms. Facilities include air-conditioning, hot & cold fresh water, shower, mini bar, telephone. The island as a whole is superb, being relatively small 900 by 250 mtrs, taking about 30 mins to walk around at low-tide. The resort management have tried and succeeded in creating a balanced mix of tourist luxury without taking the Maldivian atmosphere away. The rooms are very secluded and appear to have been built around the trees where possible. The effect can be seen from the lagoon as it is difficult to see there are rooms on the island. The house-reef on Villamendhu is the best I have seen anywhere in the world. It is probably about 40 mtrs offshore and drops to about 35 mtrs depth. Shore diving is permitted and there are about 3 different dive points on the reef. Boat diving is also arranged, but in view of how good the house reef was, coupled with the fact you could dive at whatever time you wanted, I didn't use the boat often. On occasions I did the diving tended to be drift diving again, often seeing many sharks, rays, turtles and on one dive a school of dolphins. The unusual thing was to hear the dolphins calling underwater before you could get a sight of them passing overhead. The snorkeling was also excellent, with many Blue-fin Tuna present, baby sharks in the lagoon as well as turtles on the house reef. Many of the u/w pictures for Villamendhu were taken on the house-reef, several whilst snorkelling. Without doubt Villamendhu remains my favourite Island, until I visit a better one perhaps.....
|
