Guest houses on local islands
I just returned from a trip to Alifu Atoll yesterday, I want to share my impressions of the islands and guest houses. During the 6 days of the trip, I managed to visit 4 islands: Rasdhoo, Toddu, Mathiveri, Ukulhas. Today I will only talk about two islands: Rasdhoo, Toddu.
We got on a local dhoni boat, left Male on Thursday, the boat departs according to the schedule at 9 am, the cost is about $ 4 to the island of Rasdhoo, the trip takes 3 hours 10 minutes. In general, I don’t suffer from seasickness, but this time it was a little hard because the boat was closed and sitting inside, after a long pitching, it began to stir up a little. And this spoiled the first day a little, because until the evening I felt bad. I draw a conclusion for myself for the future - if possible, you need to go on deck, get some fresh air in order to avoid such an effect. Rasdhoo Island is in close proximity to Kuromachi Hotel. However, excursions to the resort from the local island are not yet available, because. The hotel management does not give the go-ahead. A little about the island: in principle, a typical local island, nothing particularly remarkable, but it’s always nice to come to a local village after the hustle and bustle in Male. Here you immediately find a real haven of calm and serenity, with measured village life, friendly locals. We stayed at Rasdhoo inn. The owner of this guest house, Adam, is a very wonderful and hospitable person who thinks through everything to the smallest detail and this can be seen in his guest house. A very cozy house with 3 rooms and a small foyer where the reception is located, in the foyer there is a comfortable soft sofa and 2 armchairs. All rooms have windows, one of the rooms overlooks the courtyard, where there is a small garden and a swing. The rooms have: air conditioning, fan, TV, mini-bar. Double bed, wardrobe, bedside table, mirror, desk, chair. There are even slippers for guests in every room. In one of the rooms there is an extra bed, you can accommodate a family of 2 adults + 2 children. In the bathroom: hot/cold water. There are tables and chairs on the patio where you can eat.
Meals are organized upon request at the guest house or you can go to a local cafe. I was told that there are 3 of them on the island. I was only in 2. The food is quite acceptable, but not always what is indicated on the menu. There is also a diving school on the island, with all the necessary equipment and instructors. What's more pleasantly surprised - there is a good gym, admission is free! Another thing that may seem attractive to families is that there is a children's playground nearby. The guest house made a very good impression, clean, comfortable and tasteful, although unpretentious. The downside is that the water has an unpleasant odor. Well, there's nothing you can do about it. It is quite suitable for washing, in no case do not drink! Another minus, there is no good beach on the island, and swimming in a bikini is not allowed (as well as on all local islands), however, there are 2 uninhabited islands nearby where guests are recommended to go, for a small additional fee. We had a chance to go there on catamarans - it was wonderful! By the way, they have it on the list of water activities available on the island. I will briefly talk about uninhabited islands. One is rather more like a sandy spit, with a few bushes of vegetation. Not perfectly clean of course, but it is quite possible to find a clean piece of beach. Wonderful white sand and the entrance to the lagoon. The water is of marvelous color. There is another island very close, it is more used for picnics and barbecues, for this there are all the necessary devices. But dirty. The locals seem to go there for a picnic every Friday.
We spent one night on Rasdhoo, the next day, in the afternoon
we were lucky to go to another island in a speedboat. Local boats also run on schedule. On the expressway
It took us 20 minutes by boat to get to Thoddoo. On the way, the weather turned bad and when we drove up to the island, it began to rain, which, in general, did not prevent us from safely reaching the island.
Thoddoo is one of the largest agro-industrial islands in the Maldives. 70% of the grown products are delivered to the markets and shops of Male, as well as to other islands. For the first time I had the opportunity to see the vast green plantations in the Maldives. The soil here is different from the usual islands, which makes it possible to grow: papayas, passion fruits, melons, watermelons, pumpkins. Eggplants, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and other types of lettuce are also grown here.
We came to this island at the invitation of our friend Karam, he had just rebuilt a brand new guest house and invited us to evaluate and take photos for the website. Guest house Serena Sky inn has 5 rooms so far, another block is under construction, where there will be about 10 rooms. It is planned that there will be 2 blocks, block A and B. The rooms seem huge compared to the rooms on Rasdhoo. This makes it look a little empty, high ceilings, lack of windows and white walls add more space. I think that over time they will equip everything and make the rooms more comfortable. When we made the proper decor for the photo shoot by hanging a picture and adding flowers and fruits, the look immediately changed. The guest house is already ready to receive guests. Since they have just opened, they offer very low prices, so during this period you can rent a room to try everything here for 30-40 dollars.
The water here is much better than on Rasdhoo, no smell. In addition, guests will be offered fresh fruit, so to speak, straight from the garden. Fruit basket upon arrival. They also have planned tours of the plantations for guests, and they will be asked to choose and collect fruits and vegetables themselves, whatever they want. The price of the tour has not yet been decided.
Since the island is large, almost close to Male in area, it is planned to offer bicycles for rent. It has its own beach, very good, and most importantly, you can swim in a bikini. In that part of the island where there will be a beach area for guests, the 2nd block of the guest is just being built, so it will be at the location of the beach front hotel. In the meantime, from the current guest house to the beach on foot, I think it will be 20 minutes.
Again, I’ll say that the guest house left a good impression, I was completely delighted with the island, because I love all this riot of greenery, especially if it’s also with fruits. For food, guests will be cooked at their request, or there is a small kitchenette in the guest room where you can cook yourself, or visit a cafe. The cafe, to be honest, did not leave a pleasant impression, although the food was delicious. But the place is more for locals than for guests. Although an unpretentious tourist, I think he can eat there. The main thing is that the attitude is very respectful and friendly, they cooked as I asked, although not everything was available, but they did the maximum that I wanted and in the end it was very tasty. I'm not talking about the feast with fruit - it was unlimited and just amazingly delicious! That's all for today, in the coming days I will write about the next 2 islands and guest houses on them.
