One Week in the Maldives - Travelogue Part 2
To the previous travelogue for Maldives – Maldives Travelogue - Part 1
First impressions of the Maldives
Approaching Maldives the view from the plane window changed. As you could see for hours the endless blue sea suddenly began to stand out the small Maldivian islands with their lagoons, filled with light blue and turquoise water. The view from above was extremely beautiful! We could see both entire islands and entire atolls (groups of islands in a certain shape).
The resort in which we would be accommodated offered 2 types of transfer from the airport to the island of the resort - by speedboat or by seaplane. The speedboat cost $150/person roundabout and the seaplane $300/person round-trip. I decided that there is no point in spending so much money for a seaplane as interesting as it sounds, since our flight from Dubai to Male will be during the day and we actually saw the same views from the plane that we would see from the seaplane.
Male's airport turned out to be quite small considering the size of the island, and only had one runway, takeoff and maneuver. After a plane landed, it had to turn 180 degrees and go back on the same runway to get to the terminal that was at the beginning. These maneuvers + the abundance of charters to one of the few countries open to tourists in the world caused a little delay on our flight and we had to do 4 tours in the area above Maafushi Island until it was our turn to land.
We made the necessary maneuvers on the runway, forward, back, the plane stopped, and just going outside, we felt such a heat wave that, as we were dressed in long pants and sleeves, we almost got sick. There was no place to cool off, because at the terminal in the arrivals area, there were no air conditioners, only fans. Passport inspection went by surprisingly quickly. The seal of Maldives has sun, fish, turtle and seaplane 🙂 Very, very cool!
Transfer Airport - Resort
The resort we had booked was called Summer Island Maldives. He, like any other resort, had a small desk at the airport that every tourist had to go to to transfer to the island. We traveled with two other couples together to this wonderful island - some Russians, and the other - I don't know where they were from, but then they became our neighbors in a bungalow. We had to wait about half an hour before the speedboat came.
As soon as we were uploaded, we were given life jackets and small glass bottles of 330 mm water in reusable foam cases. I was very pleasantly impressed by these little glass bottles. The crew of sailors consisted of three men dressed in clean, ironed, blue-and-white uniforms and all wore masks. The transfer from Male airport to Summer Island Maldives, as I wrote above, by speedboat cost 150 dollars/person in return, and with a seaplane 300 dollars/person in return. The boat transfer took 40 minutes and a seaplane takes about 10 minutes.
Even when we got out of the boat, we couldn't believe where we got! So much blue water, so many shades of blue…we were really very impressed. I've always thought that the photos from the Maldives are further processed and the colors are saturated, but live the colors are exactly as they are on the cards - the sand is just as white and the blue is really so blue that even seeing it with your eyes in front of me, again It looks too saturated and unreal beautiful…
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We were greeted with a glass of fruit juice and wet towels, which were perfect for this hot weather. This was followed by check-in, which took about half an hour to an hour, since we had to fill out some kind of health form and there were additional checks due to the pandemic. The “reception area” consisted of a huge open-air shelter with no walls on three sides, a desk with two computers at one end, and numerous small tables and chairs in the rest of the space where tourists could sit. Our luggage, which had been collected at the airport, was in the hands of the resort staff, who transferred it from the airport to the boat and then from the boat to our bungalow. Once check-in was complete, it was time for them to take us to our bungalows.
As soon as we left the reception, we found ourselves in a great tunnel of coconut palms and other tropical plants. It was also very impressive – like in a jungle. There was sand all over the island. We walked barefoot all the time and completely on sand. There was no cement, no tiles. There was white fine sand everywhere, even in the restaurant and reception. Only in the rooms were tiles.
Walking by the villas, one thing immediately caught our attention - the two umbrellas next to each door! From what dawn they put umbrellas at each villa, I don't know... While we were there for 7 days it rained exactly zero times. Not a drop!
Beach Bungalow
The bungalow we stayed in for the first 5 nights was also wow. It turned out that I had booked a lower class room in a two-story house, but they gave us a one-story bungalow right on the beach with a great view. We even had a swing hung on the palm tree in front of the bungalow. (occasionally there was a secret fight for the swing with our neighbors on either side because they didn't have a swing and accordingly they watched when it was free to use it and they 🙂 Everything was more than what I imagined I would see on Maldives.
Hygiene in the bungalow was perfect. Every day it was cleaned, towels changed and a bin was emptied. There was a teapot, hairdryer, dryer, large shampoo packaging, shower gel, body lotion, hair conditioner, bathrobes, safe, fridge, etc. And the bathroom... was exactly what I was hoping to see when I booked, namely - an open bathroom! For the first time we were in a place with an open bathroom and it was really U.N.K.A.L.N.O!!!
In the bungalow, we were greeted by those strong glass bottles filled with water, but this time from 1 liter and without the foam case. 🙂 It turned out that the water is the resort free and when they come to clean the room, they replace the old 2 empty bottles with 2 new full ones. If they didn't have enough, we could order over the phone by dialing the reception and one of the staff brought us more bottles. Separately, there was a free bottle of water for dinner and during boat snorkeling.
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Maybe it's time to spit out the pebble 🙂 What, in your opinion, was the price of the nights at this resort to have so much influence on our vacation decision? Well, okay. In short, we booked a total of 7 nights at Resort Summer Island Maldives via Agoda.com. The first 5 nights were in a beach bungalow and the other 2 in the much popular water bungalows (houses over the water). The price was BGN 160 for a superior room with breakfast and dinner included, but as I mentioned we were accommodated in a beach bungalow instead of some room, without having to pay extra. The price of the water bungalow was BGN 250 including breakfast and dinner. These are prices not for a person, but for the whole room with HB, WiFi and 1 free snorkeling tour per day 🙂 Usually the price for these rooms is about 500 to 1000 BGN per night. Not to mention that for most resorts, the overnight stay costs from BGN 1,000 and up...
We settled in, left the luggage and immediately went to see the beach, which was right across the street. It was already 5:30 p.m. And soon we would witness a unique sunset. We settled in the comfortable cradle of the palm tree and waited. The first sunset on the island was the most impressive of all the others.
After that, we took a shower and “freshened up” after such a long trip and all that running around airports and airplanes, and we were ready for dinner. As we headed toward the restaurant, I couldn’t believe my eyes—most of the tables in the restaurant were in the dark, lit only by candles. So romantic! And this wasn’t just for some special evening—it was like this EVERY evening.
The next day, as tradition dictates, we fell asleep! 🙂 The same thing happened to us during our tour around Southeast Asia. Apparently the time difference and the long journey took their toll. So, we had already missed breakfast, so the next thing we did was explore the island.
Browse and book a budget hotel or resort in the Maldives with a discount. See HERE!
A little more about living at the resort
Summer Island Maldives is a resort located on the island Ziyaaraiyfushi. The island has an oblong shape and is quite small - about 500 meters long and 100-150 meters wide. Green tropical vegetation everywhere. The paths are white sand. There is no concrete. There is no cement. There are no tiles. There is a free gym at the resort, which requires advance reservation due to anti-epidemic measures. I was thinking of taking advantage of the gym, but my husband was firmly against it, and there was no time left for him. There was also an infinity pool of 20 by 9 meters, on which we also spent almost no time - just enough to take a few pictures. With such a clean, sea full of all kinds of fish, I can't understand the people standing in the pool.
There was a single All-In 1 store in the resort that sold souvenirs, clothes, sunscreen and some harmful packaged delicacies. A lot of money went to Sneakers, which cost $2. The most ordinary children's blouses cost $25, magnets - $5-8. Right next to the store was the library, which was closed due to anti-emidemic measures. Games that were available on the island: billiards, jigs, darts, maps, table tennis, beach volleyball, badmington.
Browse and book a budget hotel or resort in the Maldives with a discount. See HERE!
daily life
The days of Maldives passed almost the same type, but not boring. In the morning we had breakfast in the restaurant, then time for photos or just resting on the swing in front of the bungalow, then from 10:00. Group boat snoring, then drone photos (because at noon you got the best photos from above), then snorkeling on one of the island's beaches, then sunset photos, dinner in the restaurant and then it was time to relax on the swing again in front of the bungalow. 🙂 Some of the days we included other activities like kayaking or evening fishing, but that's why you read below.
The island was extremely calm. Perfect for relaxing rest and relaxation. There was no loud music either during the day or at night. During some of the evenings, musicians visited the bar, but they played quietly relaxing music and did not interfere with the tourists in any way.
the food
The nights I had booked included breakfast and dinner. There were 3 restaurants on the island - Hiya and Samuga, which were at the buffet and for the people who had food included in the overnight stay and a separate restaurant AVI - Alakart, where you order from the menu for an additional fee. People who are accommodated in a water villa and a premium bungalow could choose which of the two restaurants (Hiya or Samuga) to eat, while people in other (more budget) villas and rooms could only eat in the Samuga restaurant.
We tried both restaurants, as the first days we were accommodated in a superior bungalow (ie more budget) and then in a water bungalow. As a matter of fact, Samuga restaurant turned out to be the better - a greater variety of dishes and a romantic setting with candles on the table. The food in the evening was not a wow for me as I don't like Asian cuisine and wherever I am in the world I'm mostly looking for Italian manji, and here it was only one night and there was pizza, spaghetti, macaroni. Another night was Mexican, and the rest of the evenings we never found out what they were. However, the desserts were very, very good. Every evening and in the morning there were 2 dishes that were prepared on the spot in front of the tourists - spaghetti, omelets, pancakes, waffles, grilled fish, grilled meat, pizza.
I liked the breakfasts better than the dinners 🙂 The favorite breakfast of both of us was the pancakes and waffles, as well as muesli with fresh fruit and walnuts, put on with small cute cups. Mmm 🙂 The fruits he had available in the morning and evening were baby bananas, apples, watermelon, melon, passion fruit, papaya, grapefruit. We were impressed by how many staff there were in the restaurant - only the waiters and the people who cooked on the spot were at least 15 people. I don't know about the people in the kitchen, but when a dish ran out, something else was immediately circulating, so there must have been a lot of people there too.
There was an opportunity for in-villa dining ie. Order food at the reception for an extra charge and bring it to the bungalow. Bai Gagno, in other words, did not take advantage of this extra, but it struck us that many of those accommodated in water villas ordered food like that.
Lunch, which wasn't included in the price, could have been purchased for an additional $25 per person per day at the buffet, but we managed just fine without that “unnecessary” expense anyway.
There was also a bar - Navi Bar, where some visiting bands played from time to time, but they did not interfere with the vacationers in any way 🙂 Also in it were located billiards, jigs, darts, and in the evening there were candles again on the tables located on the The sand itself.
snorkeling
The resort offered the opportunity to rent flippers, a mask, a snorkel, a life jacket or diving equipment. Just before that, our trip to the Maldives bought snorkeling masks from Decathlon that cover the whole face. They were much more comfortable than the standard snorkel mask set. We hired fins at the resort, and on the second day I also rented a life jacket, because at the first snorkeling with a boat I almost drowned due to the strong current 🙂
The resort offered 2 snorkeling tours with a boat inside the sea every day, and each tourist could only benefit from one of the two of his choice. Tours were held at 10:00. and at 2:30 p.m. and lasted 1 hour. Snorkeling was on 1 of a total of 3 coral reefs near the island. We tried to participate in such a tour every day. As I mentioned, the first day we went to snorkeling by boat on the first day, but the sea was quite rough, I couldn't get any air and almost immediately returned to the boat. For the next 2-3 days we were snoring by boat in the morning and noticed that there was much less current in the morning than in the afternoon.
We finally saw turtles! We couldn't see them on the island of Barbados and the island of Guadeloupe during our transantlantic cruise from Europe to the Caribbean. But now, in Maldives, we went to this snorkeling spot for three whole days, where the turtles are. It turned out that a person can easily pass them by, as they are not much different from the surrounding background. Usually one of the sailors who were in charge of the tour would go into the sea with us and he was the first to notice where the turtles were, he would dive and wake them up, but then they, the turtles, just stood at the bottom and didn't want to They swim because we, the group of 10-15 curious tourists, had fenced them off from all sides and there were all kinds of cameras and sticks that reached out to them 🙂
But once we witnessed something unique. So it turned out that the whole group of tourists had gone quite far and we turned out to be just the two of us and the leader of the group. Then the guide noticed a turtle, dived to wake her up, and she began to swim right in front of us and we after her. It was literally a meter away from us. He climbed to the surface of the water, took a breath, and then dived steeply down into the depths of the ocean. It was a unique experience! Once in a lifetime. Clear blue background and turtle on it.
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Apart from turtles, the other two fish that are popular for observing the Maldives are the gray reef shark and the manta. We did not see a manta during snoring. Only from the port pier did we see a manta that even a murano (water snake) down in the water, but it is not the same as being with them in the water. However, a gray reef shark was walking right in the bay where our beach bungalow was. On the very first day, she passed before my eyes, and when I was very shallow. After a few days we purposefully went a little deeper to look for her in her rooms, which were in some underwater rocks and there we managed better to photograph and look at her. It was about 2 meters long, looked quite menacingly and swam very fast.
In addition to turtles and several sharks, we also managed to see many other diverse fish - nemo fish, even fish, swordfish, needlefish and other unknown golden, orange, color, white, silver, neon fish species.
Other activities
On two of our days we hired Kayaks to tour the island. The price for 1 hour was $20 for a single-seat kayak and $25 for a two-seater. For the first time in my life, I got on a kayak and realized that it is not at all as easy to row as it seems from the outside. The first we hung out in the water villa area and the swing in the water, but the second time we toured the entire island in about 25 minutes. They also offered for rent a paddle board, mini catamaran, windsurfing, bananas, water skis, etc. However, the truth is that we rarely saw anyone using these things. Mostly people hired kayaks like us.
Night Fishing. This was one of the activities I definitely wanted us to take part in. There were “night fishing” excursions twice a week with the same sailors who had taken us on the daytime boat snorkeling trips. We set out at 5:30 p.m., enjoying the beautiful sunset, and returned at 7:30 p.m., when it was already pitch black. There were three couples and the sailors on the little boat. One of the crew members caught the first fish, but shortly after that, I was the first among the tourists—Yippee! In total, during the two hours of fishing, I caught 3 fish, and Simeon caught 2. There was a Russian couple with us who caught so many fish—enough to feed at least 20 more people. They were definitely on a roll…
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Оther activities which the resort organized were:
– Romantic dinner (4-course gourmet menu) on the beach with lighted lanterns along the table - from $80 to $170 for two. I really wanted to have such a dinner, and I was not given so much money. Therefore, one evening, as we were walking around the island, we saw such a romantically decorated table, the newlyweds of which had already had dinner, but the table and lanterns stood. And we, as Bai Gagno himself would do in the Maldives, sat down and took pictures at the foreign table 🙂
– Picnic on a sand strip – $250 for two. I really don't understand why this thing is worth so much!?
– BBQ dinner – $60 per person. Once a week at the beach. Again the same question - why so expensive?!
– Sailing with a traditional sunset boat + champagne bottle – $100 for two
- Excursions to a local island - $95 per person, but were banned because of COVID.
- Professional photo shoot -80-130$ - banned due to COVID as photographers came from a local island
– diving courses
water bungalow
The last 2 nights we were accommodated in the so-called Water bungalow (houses over the water). The bungalow was just as big as the beach bungalow we were accommodated in the previous 5 days. Unfortunately, the bathroom was not found here and looked at the neighboring bungalow, which was bad. There was a window on the floor to watch the fish through and there was also direct access to the water through stairs. And something important - there was a lifeline 🙂 Hmmm. As soon as we settled in, we decided that we would go down the stairs of our water bungalow (as it should be 🙂 and we will have a little snorkeling in the area. Yes, but no! We were caught by such a strong current that with a lot of effort we managed to We're back in. Only then did we find out why some of the belts were standing in the sea... It turned out that the current is OK in the morning, but in the afternoon it turns and becomes dangerous.
The area of the water bungalows lacks all vegetation - neither palm trees, nor bushes, nor any other trees. The path that leads to them is wooden and when it is baked by the sun it becomes impossible to pass it on bare feet. Otherwise, before that, we used to walk barefoot everywhere on the sand, which is everywhere else on the island, but not in the area of the turbo-gass water forks 🙂 Anyway. We definitely liked the beach bungalow more than the water one. The water bungalows are very beautiful on the side and are photogenic, but they also have serious flaws, which I have already mentioned.
Seaplane
The seaplane is a small plane that takes off and lands in water. It only moves during the day. Several times we saw a seaplane landing at the port of the resort. The first time was quite extreme - we had just settled into the water bungalow, we were about to drown because of the strong current and I heard a loud noise. I assumed it was a seaplane - a miracle of the flight industry. It was quite interesting. The seaplane didn't even turn off its engines. The tourists just got off and he left. It all lasted about 5 minutes. As for $300 per person, that's it 🙂 It wasn't until we were accommodated in a water villa that we saw several seaplanes landing and taking off. While we used to be accommodated at the other end of the island in a beach bungalow, we never understood when it landed and whether it landed at all.
Staff
The staff was extremely smiling and 99% of them greeted us always as we passed each other. They could carry heavy suitcases or take the garbage, but they still had the strength and desire to greet us. We couldn't go unnoticed. There was a gardener who made a very strong impression on us. He, without us asking him, gave us a coconut - just like that, without asking for money. This same gardener one day, while collecting flowers, decided that some of them would give them to me. Extremely kind gesture!
The staff wore a clean and ironed uniform in a color that was based on exactly what the man was doing. If he was a sailor - blue and white, if he was a cleaner - brown and green, if he was in the restaurant - in other colors, etc.
The entire staff was 100% of the time with a face mask, although it was about 30-33 degrees outside. The staff lived in the resort in a designated area, prohibited for tourists. Interrogating them, I found out that they were provided with a room with 1 or 2 beds. On the last night, walking around the island, we discovered that there is even a mosque on the island, which is again hidden from the sights of tourists. The staff consisted of men except 2 women at the reception. In no way did we feel Muslim influence. There was all kinds of meat available in the restaurant (even what is forbidden according to Islam), alcohol, and we never once heard the sound of the mosque, even on Friday at noon, when it was the official Muslim service.
Every day the island was washed of fallen leaves and twigs. Hygiene was at level 10 out of 10. The island was kept in excellent condition. There was a place where quite a few purple-pink flowers had fallen, and there, for a whole week, no one deliberately swept it away, as it looked like a colorful carpet.
One of the things we did most often was to sit on the sunbed or swing under the palm tree and watch the beautiful sea. That's how we noticed the ebb and flow that resulted. Morning and evening at 8:00 a.m. There was a low tide - about 2 meters into the sea. In the afternoon at 2 p.m. And probably at night at the same time there was a rush.
Return to Bulgaria
Our flight from Malé to Dubai was scheduled to depart late in the evening at 11:30 p.m. We checked out of our room at noon and then had five hours to take some final photos on the island. With tears in our eyes, at 5:00 p.m. we said goodbye to this wonderful little place and boarded the motorboat that took us directly to the airport in Malé. There, we settled into the airport’s business lounge, called the Mooniaa Lounge. There wasn’t anything interesting there; even the food was served by a waiter and wasn’t very tasty. Next, we went shopping for souvenirs in the airport’s “duty-free zone.” Then everything started in reverse. The flight from Malé to Dubai lasted over 4 hours. After that, it was a 25-minute transfer from the plane to Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport. This was followed by a bite to eat at Lounge@B, where, for the second time, we already knew what to order. After that, we bought gifts for the kids—a fan and travel pillows. Then came the flight from Dubai to Sofia, which lasted a little over 5 hours.
Landing at Sofia Airport, everyone who was on the plane divided us into 2 groups - those who carry with them a PSR test and those - without. We were without. We got to some 15-20 tables where people from RZI were standing under a 10-day quarantine, those who did not have a PSR test with them. Quarantine was done by saying your names, social security number, address, phone number. We had 24 hours in which if we did a PSR test, the quarantine would be dropped. We hastened to do a test already in Sofia at the Crystal Medico-Dental Center. There the price was BGN 90/person and the result was available within 2 hours. Finally, we sent the results photographed via the phone to the RZI email. We expected to receive an answer from the RZI that our quarantine is running out, but alas - nothing from anywhere. My husband went to his personal doctor about 7-8 days after our return to the Maldives and it turned out that in the health system, we are still quarantined, even though we have met our deadline and all the requirements.
EXPENSES
Transfer airport-resort-airport - BGN 480.
