Bandos Island Resort, Maldives
bullshark
Decent dive center with frequent and reasonably priced boat dives (US
15 ala carte). Nitrox is free.
Food is just so-so. Breakfast buffet below average but perfectly
adequate and included in the room price. Cereals, milk, yogurts (all
local), fruits, breads, kimchi etc...but no breakfast meats that you
want to eat more than once. Standard chef station with omelettes made
to order, but not always a good chef.
The coffee will kill you. Its delicious, and strong enough to make
your eyes sweat. Water is RO.
Pork is illegal. You can't even order a Hamburger; a beef burger is
fine, but a hamburger is out of the question. Don't bother with the
lecture about German cities, but do try to order one for lunch.
Alcohol is also illegal. The resort has a bar (as a concession to
tourism) where there is decent live music on many nights. You will
not find a bar in Male, or a restaurant that serve alcohol in any
form.
We had a beautiful "deluxe" (bigger, closer to central facilities and
dining) for 250/night, paying 4 for 3 brings it down to 187.50. The
washroom, though not under A/C was as big as my house, with dual
sinks, bidet, Jacuzzi bath and a separate shower room. Lunch and
evening buffets are available for full meal plan but we chose to dine
at the hotels restaurant(s) which had decent fare of all sorts but we
preferred Indian and Indonesian dishes which were naturally very well
made. There is a high-end restaurant for the hoity-toities which were
apparently absent while we were there because I never a single person
eating there. There is also the inevitable Sundowner bar and grill for
a total of the three restaurants plus the three buffet dining halls.
Everything is open air and temperatures pleasant thanks to breezes and
surrounding water.
The island resort is totally self-contained (as most are) and there is
a fairly spendy water taxi (or seaplanes) to go anywhere, but why
would you do that? The island is a gorgeous jungle paradise in a
private coral atoll in the Indian ocean. Male is where you might go,
and its crowded, close, high-rise and hot. The only thing you will do
there is shop, and whatever you buy it will cost more than it should,
so...we didn't.
Speaking of paradise, the entire island is surrounded by beach; its
about an hour walk all the way around. There are accomodations ringing
the island just inside the shaded canopy that backs up to the beach.
The beach gives way to a shallow coral studded ring (perfect for small
snorkelers) perhaps 20 meters wide that drops to 30 meters all the way
around. Interestingly the shallows are full of baby blacktips. The
deep water had lots of their bigger brothers. Visibility was never
less than 25 meters. If the shore diving is great, the snorkeling is
insanely good. Where else can you swim 20 meters from shore and see
black tips, all manner of indo pacific-beauties, anemones and anemone
fish? Clouds of blue striped snapper, Trevalle, schools of moorish
idols, butterflies, angels and wrasses up the wazoo...all while
floating on the surface. The diving was of course, even better.
BIR also has a self-contained medical facility and a recompression
chamber.
There is reasonably fast wi-fi available for 2.00/hour, which includes
use of a computer and monitor if you're too unfortunate to have a
iPhone or laptop. I used to carry a laptop but an iPhone is a lot
lighter.
All of the staff for the entire resort live in nice quarters in the
center of the island. Naturally there is Mosque since Maldiveans must
be Muslim by law. Sharia law is practiced here, but is somewhat
relaxed for the resorts. The staff is almost entirely male;
eliminating the discomfort of observing women (or al queda / taliban
leadership) wearing oppressive burkas.
Since opening to tourism, their life expectancy has risen from mid-50s
to over 70. They have 99% literacy. The most notable thing about the
staff and the resort in general was cleanliness. Sparkling clean, all
the time, everywhere. All staff in clean, pressed uniforms or attire
all the time. Very, very pleasant.
We did not meet any other americans there. We were perfectly safe and
well received and courteously served anywhere, any time. The closest
thing to social discomfort was passing the 1 or 2 inevitable ultra-
religious that would avert their eyes, however, a "salaam alaikum" was
received and "alaikum asalaam" (pardon the maldivean spellings)
returned - so perhaps the aversion was not specific to us but to all
outsiders. It was probably the imam who would be offended by all
uncovered women and would be obligated to keep appearances.
Travel there was NYC to Dubai (12 hrs), then Dubai to Male (4 hrs) all
on Emirates Air. In flight service included two robust (choice of
menu) meals and a snack; all Halal of course. The entertainment system
is not to be believed. Nice touch screen LCD panels access a near
infinite selection of classic movies, TV, and radio while another
menu hosts about thirty first run movies. All selectable, navigable,
pausable by each seat. If you're coming from Toronto, I highly
recommend a first class suite on the A-380. It's nice to take a shower
before you put on your jammies and the hostess comes to tuck you in.
Dubai is a _pit_. Dusty, sandy, hot and expensive. Horrible air
quality due to sandstorms. For entertainment you can of course go
shopping, get drunk, or go skiing or go shopping. Rentals for the
skiing include snow pants and parkas to go with the boots, skis and
poles. Figure $200/pp for a couple of hours of sliding down a tiny
hill with about 200 ft of vertical. When you're done skiing you can go
shopping. Garrish ostentation is the theme so everything, everywhere
is over-priced. If it doesn't cost too much no wants it or pays
attention to it. iPhone? ...just $1100.00. Don't even think of roaming
in; $2.50/min + LD charges + $20/mb for data and 15% tax on top of
that. You can only call in country and to US. That's not bad though.
Roaming is $5/min in Maldives!
When you think of "desert", you think of hot barren sand with no
trees, no shrubs, no shade, no water. That's Dubai, right down to the
ocean edge. Palm Jumeirah may be a wonder, but its far from a success.
Real estate speculation there was as rampant as Miami. If you want to
see it, Google earth will give a better view; the same with Burj al
arab. Its a beautiful, interesting building and the service and
accomodations are not to be believed, but that's the extent of it. For
1500/night (before tips and meals) I can think of a lot of things to
do and see that are more fun. That gets you a two-story apartment
suite with private servants and a nice view. The shore diving sucks
there so why bother?
Following our stay here, we boarded the Maldives Aggressor for another
week of diving. We loved the Bandos Island resort and would return
again and again if it weren't for the gruesome travel. I can't say the
same for the Maldives Aggressor.
safe diving,
bullshark