Maldives 2024 (Dec) - Thudufushi

Travel

We used the Meet and Greet service from MBW – it worked very well for us. LHR T5 is awful – for a second time we ended up in the wrong lane and incurred a parking penalty of £40. In future we’ll get a taxi.

We’d booked the Club Aspire airport lounge, but it was poor. Uncomfortable, and crowded, but with large empty areas cordoned off. Which? Magazine recently said that neither of the bookable lounges in T5 are any good, and advised T5 travellers not to bother with a lounge - just find a seat in the open terminal area and use the plentiful bars and restaurants for refreshments.

Reasonable Premium Economy 777 flights. On the way back, the aircraft seemed half-empty, and we moved seats a couple of times to try and find ones that worked properly (one had a loud buzzing noise, another had a broken remote control, and so on).

Wonderful Seaplane flights low over the coral reefs and islands.

Thudufushi

Dreadful sand erosion in early December. The area between the Water villas jetty, past the Main Bar and Main restaurant and round to Beach Bungalow 35 was badly eroded, with no beach and with hundreds of unsightly sandbags to try and protect the foundations of the buildings. When the season changes to the wind coming from the NE (any day now), the sand will all be gradually replaced. If I’d booked a Beach Bungalow that had no Beach, I’d be mighty cross.

We were lucky with the weather - the first couple of days were slightly overcast, but then we had wall-to-wall sunshine. The seasons used to change at the beginning of December, but now it doesn't happen until the end of December, or even the beginning of January. We had spectacular sunsets most days.

Our Room

We had asked for, and got, Junior Beach Suite 5, on the sandbank, so we had a 100 metre walk over the soft white sand to get to the sea. No shortage of sand here.

A good room, with plenty of drawer- and hanging-space, and with both sun and shade available outside, kept spotless by our room attendants. In this room category, there’s an extra room containing a sofa and/or a display-case, a dining table and chairs outside on the deck, as well as the easy chairs and a coffee table. Nice outdoor shower area. The minibar contained lots of soft drinks (but no tonic water), and two cans of Vietnamese beer… There are both UK and European electricity sockets – I take adaptors anyway.

Food+Drink

We weren’t impressed with the food this trip. The food on offer, (with some exceptions) just didn’t appeal. However, the BBQ grill and Kalana’s fruit and sweet bar were excellent, as usual. Some of the prepared salads were tasty.

They are awaiting a new, permanent head chef - meanwhile the Pastry chef Saman is temporarily head chef. Shortly after we left, Chef Giacomo returned from Africa to hold the fort temporarily pending a new head chef.

Our waiter Rasheed was a star – smiley, chatty, he often saw us arrive and had already found us a good table with our preferred wine at the ready.

Great to see J Ram behind the main bar, and good to meet the irrepressible Saba at the beach bar.

Underwater

The usual sensational service from the IDive team. We discovered that Govinder is no longer Dive Centre Manager, is “retired”, and is back in Germany. Part-owner Roberto was in residence, backed up by Base Leader Marco, plus Mario and Alessia, with occasional help from Giulia in Watersports and Dani from the resort shop. The boat crew do everything for you – you don’t have to lift a finger. The cost of the ten-dive package has increased to US$ 1300.

IDive urged us to use the DPVs (underwater scooters), so that, on most dives, every diver had one. This makes it easier for them to manage the group of divers, as well as bringing in extra cash (US$ 50 per dive). I used a DPV on five of the dives.

I did ten dives this time. Some great dives, including:

Maavaru Corner (twice) - Both times sensational DPV dive trips with lots of Grey - and White-tip Reef sharks at the atoll-edge drop-off. On the second dive, we were on the way to the dive site when the boat was surrounded by 6 mantas basking at the surface. Then we had a manta during the dive at the cleaning station. Then we spotted a Bowmouth Guitarshark or Guitarfish, Rhina ancylostoma, described as “uncommon”, and lUCN listed as Critically Endangered! It was resting on the sand, right at the atoll drop-off at 30+ metres. Good video from Alessia. The instructors were all positively wetting themselves with excitement. Then, on the way back from the site, the boat was surrounded by a pod of 30 or so dolphins! What a trip!

Thudufushi Tilla (three times) – On the last dive, there was unexpected mad, wild, strong current whisking us along at up to 5 knots.

Thudufushi Kandu - A nice, quiet dive, beautiful table corals.

And of course on all the dives there were masses of reef fish, plus Eagle Rays and Stingrays, reef sharks, Napoleons, Hawksbill turtles, etc. Thanks to Marco, Roberto, Mario and Alessia for some great dives.

Photos

Each page contains about five to ten pictures, totalling approx five to ten MB per page.

Conclusion

Our favourite Maldives destination, nowadays suffering badly from beach erosion. Is this Global Climate Change, or just lack of attention? Food not as enticing as it used to be, in the absence of a talented Head Chef. We hear that since we left it’s received a boost from the return of Chef Giacomo, but this is a temporary visit, while they seek a new Head Chef.

Some great dives and marvellous service from IDive. This trip’s high point was the Guitarshark.

Would we come again? Yes – we have already booked a return visit in a couple of month’s time.