Reethi Rah Resort - The Maldives

See: News December 2002

Reethi Rah is a lovely, barefoot sort of place - we enjoyed it immensely. If you want somewhere smart and sophisticated - forget it! Most people even go to dinner barefooted.
We went February 1999, and the weather was very good. I think the summer months are the wettest time - one of David's colleagues went to the Maldives last July and it rained most of the time! According to the Lonely Planet guide, Dec - Mar are the driest months, May to November are the rainy monsoon months. The book says that the transitional periods between are supposed to be "calm, with exceptionally clear water".

We asked for a water bungalow if one became available (they were all full) but in the end I'm rather glad we didn't get one. They are all quite close together, and I think they are in pairs, with a shared "living room" - if I remember rightly from the brochure. They are at the very end of the island and it's a mighty long walk to the restaurant, shop, dive school etc which are right at the other! It is also much, much hotter at that end and getting any sleep must be difficult. We were along there, at the "spit" one day and walked through a pool of water that had been left when the tide went out - we got out pretty quick - the water was too hot to walk in!

The normal bungalows are all set back in the trees a few metres from the beach, basically running along the length of the island. The lower numbered ones are closer together - that's where the beach is wider. We were in no 38 (there are 50 beach side ones) and had a little bit of beach at the end of our path which was just big enough for the occupants of two bungalows to share! - it was also just the right sort of distance for the coffee shop (off the middle of the island), and a gentle stroll to the restaurant in the evening.

We went half board, the food is very good, with plenty of choice. The coffee shop does good food for lunch. The spicy beef there was a favourite of mine - but it's pretty hot!!!
The coffee shop's fish curry is also recommended!

David did the five day diving course (English version starts on a Thursday), he booked ahead which was worth doing as he turned out to be the only one doing it - had he tried to book while out there, they probably wouldn't have run the course for just one person. The marine life is amazing. He swam with various types of sharks, turtles, tuna, Moray eels, manta rays, not to mention the huge variety of fish. He went on to do the deep water course and then did a few extra dives. Even snorkelling (I was too cowardly to do the diving), I saw most of those creatures. We were there when the Whale Sharks made a rare appearance and there was much excitement - they are absolutely enormous. The Manta Rays are incredible too.

There are wind surfing, diving, canoes etc. Various "trips" are organised by the resort, we missed most of these because of David's diving. We wanted to go to Male, but not enough people signed up the week we could go, so the boat was cancelled. It's a two hour boat ride from the airport, which is pleasant, but makes the journey very long. On the way back we paid extra and went by seaplane - that's worth doing it was great fun. If we went again I think we'd probably do the outward journey by plane too - it's definitely worth thinking about if you go.

Reethi Rah is very relaxed, and uncrowded. Some of the other islands have lot more accommodation built on a smaller area - some days, I wondered where all the people that appeared in the restaurant in the evening had been all day!

The accommodation is kept very clean - a man comes and cleans, changes the towels, etc every day.
The bungalows are fairly basic - wooden floor, thatched roof, sandy "patio" to each one.
The bathroom had hot water - I suspect it was solar heated desalinated water - there was always enough hot water for showers, washing, etc. You need to take your own beach towels. Each bungalow has two sun-loungers on it's patio - most people seemed to carry them the few steps to the beach.

The island is spotless, the paths are swept daily, and they even sweep along the water line on the beach just in case any bits of seaweed etc has been washed up.

The swimming is lovely, it varies from shallow to very deep, depending where you swim. The "house" reef is near enough to swim to if you want to snorkel there - we saw many types of fish, eels, turtles etc. there.

I was worried about the food - I don't like fish, and was concerned that there would be a lot of fish - however, I was very happy with the food. It is a buffet style, with about five or six main course dishes each evening - you can have as much or as little as you fancy!

We were half board - eating breakfast and evening dinner in the restaurant. We went to the coffee shop for lunch. The menu there doesn't change, but there is enough to choose from. They do sandwiches, curries, grills, all sorts of things. I think going to the same place for all meals would have been a bit dull.

The resort operates a no cash system - everything you eat, drink, buy in the little shop, any trips you take, water sports etc - you sign for then pay the whole lot at the end of your stay. I thought the bill was reasonable, but if you like to spend a lot of time in the bar you might find yourself with a big bill at the end of it!!! David and I aren't big drinkers - we had the occasional bottle of wine, but mainly soft drinks and bottles of water, so our bill wasn't too scary! Some people had huge bills to pay.

I'm not sure how much the diving course was - I think it was about £250 for the five day course, David did a couple of modules of the advanced course too, plus a few extra dives - so you may want to find out how much it's going to cost you before you book! - incidentally, I'd book before you go, if you are already booked they will honour the booking even if you are the only ones wanting to do the course. David was the only person who wanted to do it at the time we were there - if he hadn't already booked from the UK they probably wouldn't have let him do it.

The staff consist of Europeans (male and female), who seem to have lots of the European languages covered between them, and Maldivian men. They were all friendly and helpful.

You should be alright there for three weeks, there were at least two English couples there who were staying for three weeks - one of these had been there before and enjoyed it so much they'd decided to stay longer this time. Several people we spoke to had been before - always a good recommendation, I think!

You'll need to enquire about the air transfer from your operator - we did the return seaplane trip - they calculated it by dividing the whole cost of the flight, by the number of people wanting to fly to work out how much each would have to pay - then they asked everyone if they still wanted to book it. So if the plane was full it cost less per head than if only a few people wanted to go that way. You may find that your tour operator can sort it all out for you. People certainly did arrive at the island by plane while we were there.

And, no there is no swimming pool - but you won't need it, the sea is lovely it's warm and clear and I wish I were there swimming in it right now! It's not too salty either - I sometimes find my skin dries out quite badly with swimming in the sea, but I didn't have those problems in the Maldives.

Make sure you take enough suncream, medical stuff etc as the shop is only small and doesn't carry a big stock of European goods and they can be expensive. Take insect repellent and cream in case you get bitten - but it wasn't too bad there. I didn't get any more bites than I've had in Greece or Italy, or even here in England (they seem to like taking bites out of me), for that matter!

News December 2002

I'm glad we went when we did and got the benefit of the tranquillity and traditional nature of the island.

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