9th Anniversary Celebration - Maldives August 2011 Part V

Continued from Introduction, Male, Seaplane Transfer and Land/Seascape, Accommodation and Food.

Activities - Spa & Diving

There are many activities available around the island offered by the Dive Centre and Water Sports Centre, such as diving, Big Game Fishing, Sunset Fishing, Champagne Cruise, Dolphin Sunset Cruise, visit to local villages, canoeing, snorkelling, windsurfing etc. Most of these activities are chargeable and quite costly I would say. There's also a Recreation Centre which offers free book and DVD rentals, darts, table tennis; as well as a spa.
While hubby was very tempted to try sunset fishing, the less than desirable weather conditions held him back. In the end, we only did a spa treatment and 3 dives.
 
The Spa, open daily from 1000hrs to 2200hrs.

We made a booking a day in advance as spa treatments were rather popular especially when the weather was bad rendering outdoor activities unsuitable.

Main entrance to the spa.

Walk through a tranquil garden and pond before reaching the spa reception.

We were served hot herbal tea and cold towel upon arrival. Was also required to complete a personal particular and healthy declaration form, which is the practise for all spas.

Thereafter, we were led by our therapists to our private couple spa treatment room.

The room is surprisingly very simply decorated. I chose Balinese Massage, and hence an elevated spa bed.

Hubby opted for his favourite Thai Massage. Apparently, his therapist is from Thailand.

Some bath salt for a foot scrub first.

Both of us had a heavenly time with our massages; the therapists were quite skilful and kneaded our muscle aches away. After that, we were brought to the relaxation lounge for some cold herbal tea.

So overall, we were quite satisfied with the service and quality of the massages. But once again prices were not cheap.

Dive Centre, open daily from 0830hrs to 1800hrs.

We were really looking forward to diving in Maldives since the atolls are so beautiful, so would expect a large array of sea creatures for us to explore.

It was already too late to do a check out dive (mandatory) when we arrived on the first day so we had to settle for the check out dive at the House Reef on the second day and 2 boat dives on the third day.

The dive centre is the large building to the left; the buildings on the right are the seaplane platforms and excursion platforms.

There are around 6-7 divermasters, with 2 Chinese ladies and 1 Japanese lady.

Overall the Dive Centre is very well kept with well maintained equipment. This is the back area for washing up and briefing before the check out dive.

This is the platform for descent.

A dive map of Noonu Atoll.

Our dive boat on the third day. There was only one other guy who joined us for the diving. So one DM (Jessica the Jap lady) to three divers.

1st Dive - House Reef

The House Reef is located slightly away from the Dive Centre, we had to swim along an anchored rope out towards a slope, then the sandy bottom about 20m depth. Some interesting corals well surviving with lots of reef fishes. Here we spotted a large stingray which is probably about 2+m in length and 1.2m in width. Other sightings included Dog Puffer, Yellow Box Puffer, not too bad.

2nd Dive - Kan'doodhoo, which is about 30 min away from the island.

This is an interesting wall dive with several overhangs. Spotted large moray, lion fish, shrimps, a few nudibranch, with lots of beautiful sea fans. Unfortunately the visibility was only about 10-15m, otherwise we reckon it would be even nicer.

3rd Diver - Snow White, 15 mins away from Kan'doodhoo.

Jessica told us this is mainly a reef site, but there's an interesting cleaning station for mantas, so I was pretty excited. Overall very boring site with nothing much or new to see, worst the visibility wasn't good. Somehow, we also didn't go to the cleaning station she mentioned.

In the end, both hubby and I were pretty disappointed with the diving. The Chinese DM told us not to expect something like Sipadan where we could see many different sea creatures in one site. Yeah, I was expecting sea turtles everywhere just like Sipadan but I guess I was wrong. They did arrange a dive to Shark Point (on our fourth day) which promises lots of shark action but we decided to skip it.

Ok, this final post concluded our trip to Maldives. The location itself was lovely just slightly marred by some service lapse. Would we return again? Unlikely... maybe 10 years later? But whatever it is, certainly not Hilton Iru Fushi. I mean, not that we were still sore over the incident but there are so many properties in Maldives that we could try. Next time for sure, no seaplane anymore. We were contemplating on Velassaru or Baros (nearer to Male, only speedboat required) previously. So maybe, just maybe, 10 years later.

Here's a parting photo, with yours truly in front of the airbus :) To me, it's rare to be able to board an airbus on ground so must take photo lah. Haha.