красота! the beauty!

Island. Magnificent. Rich vegetation. White sand, like everywhere else in the Maldives. Well maintained. Fallen leaves and washed ashore corals and shells are collected in the morning and evening, so it is always clean. Everything is very well arranged. The only trouble with this island, like most other islands, is that it gradually sinks into the water. Local staff cite global warming and rising ocean levels as the reason for this. Tsunami did a great job too. It is as a result of it that the beach strip has now become much narrower than it was before. Locals are trying in every possible way to strengthen and elevate the coastline. Along the entire perimeter of the island, sandbags fastened together are laid out perpendicular to the ocean. Then they throw sand with a special apparatus placed in the ocean. When we first arrived, we didn’t even know they were there, it was a perfect, smooth beach. But then, after 2 days of heavy rains, and a somewhat raging ocean, they were washed away, and quite strongly. Then we were able to see all the "structures" of our beach.
As a result of the tsunami, the island was practically not affected, except for the above. The water came calmly, covered the entire island for a meter, and disappeared in a day . .
Villa. Located 30 meters from the water's edge. The area of ​ ​ the villa is about 150 sq. m. A large house, with a roof of bamboo and palm leaves. Only natural materials were used in the construction. Large bed in the middle of the room. Corner sofa. Half the perimeter of the room is occupied by floor-to-ceiling windows, so you can look out over the ocean while relaxing on your bed. The room has 2 ceiling fans and air conditioning. Bathroom, 2 showers, 2 sinks, toilet - all located outdoors, but under a canopy. The patio (behind the villa, surrounded by a rather high bamboo fence) consists of two sun loungers, a table and a jacuzzi. There is also a small garden. Oh so beautiful. In front of the villa (from the side of the ocean, on the beach) you can relax: 1) on sun loungers under a canopy (this is simply necessary from 11 to 16, when it is very hot); 2) at a table standing directly at the windows of your villa; 3) on sun loungers standing in the open sun.

Weather. At the beginning of our arrival, it started to rain for 2 days, more precisely, a tropical downpour. Lil never stop. However, despite this, we were not too homesick. Around - beauty! Oddly enough, it was during the rain that we took some of our best photos on the island. The contrast of the black sky and turquoise water is simply amazing! We even went swimming as the water in the ocean is very warm. True, only we Russians decided on such a feat!  Others were sitting at this time in the bar, sipping beer. We joined them only in the evening and quite managed to catch up with them!  The rest of the 9 days the sun shone, sometimes there were clouds, but there were not many of them. The day is very hot and humid. Therefore, the afternoon nap, accompanied by the air conditioner turned on, has become the norm for us! : )
Tourists. At the beginning of our visit, the balance of power was approximately as follows: 5% Russians, 50% British, then approximately equal percentages were divided among themselves by Italians, French, and Japanese. Everything was orderly and calm. In the second half of the vacation, apparently, all the Japanese suddenly decided to relax on this island! They definitely scored 85 percent! There were clearly not enough calm, nice people among them....They could almost pass over your head, because they needed to go there, and they were always looking for only the shortest path to their goal... (on the island it is not customary to go through the villas of other vacationers). Especially dangerous are the Japanese who gather in flocks. But I think it was just a coincidence.
Restaurant. The food is beyond praise! So, breakfast: the whole set of a classic English breakfast, freshly squeezed juices of 6-7 items in any quantity; especially for the Japanese, probably several types of broths with noodles, fruits in any quantity: watermelons, mangoes, melons, pineapples, mangosteens, etc. , whose names are not remembered. There was also a buffet for lunch: fish in various variations, tuna was especially common, as it is found right on the island. A lot of fish, meat in curry sauce; mussels, king prawns. On the grill you can order fish, lamb, shrimp, chicken, various kebabs, a lot of grilled and stewed vegetables. Great desserts. I would like to find fault, but it never happened...
Dinner is on the menu. Everything was wonderful! From exotic - ate kangaroo.
Wines - $30 and up. France, Italy, New Zealand, USA. In general, the prices on the island, frankly, are overpriced for everything! Water 5, beer $5.5, cocktails at the bar $10.50 (no alcohol was found in them  ), etc.

Wardrobe. First, DO NOT BRING YOUR SHOES!! ! On Banyan, EVERYONE (except waiters) goes BAREFOOT, including for breakfast, lunch and dinner! So accepted. There are slippers in the room. All floors in restaurants, in the bar are covered with sand.
Secondly, there is no dress code. For dinner, 80 percent of men wear shorts, others wear light trousers. We also recommend leaving gold and diamonds at home. It looks funny there. Everyone came to rest! Light trousers and dresses, breeches, tops are appropriate. Half of the clothes that we took with us remained in our suitcases. Don't make our mistakes!
Corals and all marine life. Corals go around the entire perimeter of the island, starting 40-100 meters from the coast (be sure to visit the neighboring island - Angsana, where the corals are located 5 meters from the coast). In addition to all sorts of beautiful fish, we constantly saw reef sharks (80-120 cm), once a turtle. At five o'clock, the stingrays are fed at the pier.
Masks and fins are provided free of charge. We took masks with snorkels with us, and flippers - there. They took a canoe and swam around the island. The beauty!
SPA. It is better to visit on the neighboring island - Angsana. Banyan and Angsana share a common system of government. Every 2 hours a free boat runs between them. Travel time - 5 minutes. On Banyan, 1.5 hours of massage costs an average of 200 dollars, on Angsan - 2 times less (this is the information of our friends who lived at the same time on Angsan). The massage is the same.

Entertainment, excursions. There is a CD player in the room, take your CDs with you! TV - only in the evening in the bar, usually they show rugby championships!  Free Internet (although only one laptop in the same bar). In the evening, once a week, dinner is served on the beach, the local "ensemble" is invited.  It's all fun! There are many excursions, our friends, since they visited all of them, advised us to go only to the local island, and also to see dolphins. This is what we did. Dolphins are a must to visit, but the island is only for the purpose of shopping. Prices there are much lower than in duty free. For example, a photo album on the island cost $ 7 (the price was reduced by 30% as a result of a ten-second bargaining), and in duty the same - 40 with a ponytail. We did not buy anything on the island except for the album, thinking that everything would be the same in duty free, and of better quality, and then we were very distressed when we realized HOW we were mistaken!
Staff. Friendly, responsive, professional. From the moment of your arrival, one of the waiters, as it were, is “assigned” to you, and in the future, he serves you mainly. The reception is ready to solve any of your problems, if only... You know English. We didn't have any problems with this. My husband is fluent in English, and I am at the level of everything - I understand everything, but I am silent. : ) Otherwise, we advise you to think deeply before choosing this island for your vacation. There are no Russian-speaking staff there at all. Only at the level of "thank you", "good morning"...
If you can afford a reasonably expensive holiday, choose Banyan! Honestly, nothing to complain about! The holiday was great! You will not regret!