Visit to Komandoo 16 February to 05 March 2011

Our second visit to this beautiful resort and will not be our last, hopefully. Visited last time with my brother Richard and sister-in-law Janice and I missed them very much this time.

We stayed overnight at the Hulhule Hotel 5 minutes from Male airport. We arrived early morning on the 15th and spent the day around the hotel pool recovering from our journey from Gatwick. Lovely hotel and would recommend this. We enjoyed a delicious evening meal of barbequed giant prawns at a table on the pool deck. Refreshing sleep and awake early for our exciting journey out to Komandoo. Breakfast the following morning was excellent. Hotel shuttle bus back to the airport to check in at TMA.

Arrival at Komandoo was as we remembered. We had friends with us for their first visit and we enjoyed their reaction and pleasure when they saw where they were going to be staying for the next 18 nights.

Unfortunately, despite booking almost a year previously, we were not able to stay in our requested Jacuzzi Beach Bungalows, but we were accommodated on the sunrise side of the island as we had asked. Initially we were allotted to Marlin Bungalows right at the end of the line and with high tides our steps up to the deck were under water halfway up which meant we needed to walk ‘the back way’ for part of our preamble to the bar and restaurant. Also, as a sun lover, I was disappointed not to have any beach at our bungalow and needed to go to sit on a sun bed near to the beach bar (not totally disappointing then ..) when I wanted to feel some cool breeze.

We were able to transfer to our preferred area of Dolphins after the first week and it was interesting to feel we had something of a two-centre holiday!

Gold All-Inclusive was a must for our budget not having to worry about what we were spending on meals and cocktails during our visit. Silly little anomalies still exist with the Gold tariff however such us bottled beers not included despite them being stocked in our in-room mini bar! We enjoyed our visits to Aqua and the Spa, and three of us tried out the scuba diving. We found one particular member of the staff there to be quite rude; it was obvious he could tell we would not be further partaking of the scuba facilities and therefore generating some income for his company. The lady who did the try-dive however was extremely helpful and friendly and gave us some unsolicited tips for snorkelling about our masks and fins and our technique. Very much appreciated.

Snorkelling both sides of the island was spectacular and we were thrilled to see so much new growth and more colour since our visit two years ago. Turtles were spotted regularly on both sides; we saw one on our very first day and the following one, but not again until we were on Muna and snorkelling off Kuredu. I really enjoyed this aspect of our visit and I am not an experienced snorkeller but felt very confident on the beautiful house reefs. I did avoid a massive grey conger eel who waved about 3 feet of his man’s thigh girth body around at the base of the sea wall at high tide. I knew exactly where he lived and avoided this gap in the wall on my swim out to the reef!!

Our trip on Muna was one of the highlights of our stay. We were a bit taken aback with the price initially, but on our return we all agreed we had had fantastic value for our money. The meal they served at lunchtime was amazing, particularly as we all felt rather hungry after some strenuous snorkelling to find turtles and manta!!! I still have wonderful day dreams about my experience of snorkelling with such huge but gentle creatures who seemed to be just as interested to explore us as we were to see them. One of the boat men stayed with us in the water with a life ring should we need to cling on for a while to catch breath. He was particularly kind to me by diving down beneath me when I had descended the ship’s ladder to put my fins on for me, and then to remove them when I swam back to clamber back up! A much appreciated and valued gesture to me, particularly as I had not requested this of him.

All our meals were spectacular and served by such friendly staff. And all cocktails were enjoyed. Absolutely nothing to complain about on either score. The beach bar was a lovely place to regroup to watch the sunset before returning to our bungalow for a much needed shower before dinner. Sanwar welcomed us daily – even flagging us down one afternoon when we were circumnavigating the island in two canoes and helped us to ‘beach’ before rushing back to the bar to make our favourite drinks!

One sadness was to see the end of Aqua Pier demolished by a huge container ship which needed to be re-floated off the reef (having caused much environmental damage) and then not able to stop as it was towed near to the Pier. Repair works are going to be lengthy, noisy, and cause much disruption to the sunset side of the island. I did however enjoy watching the comings and goings of the dhonis bringing staff and supplies to the resort. We noticed the rubbish was thoughtfully taken to the end of the main jetty for removal very late evenings.

We were very reluctant to leave Paradise Komandoo after eighteen days of almost wall to wall sunshine. It rained twice; once I noticed when I got up to the loo in the middle of the night, and once just before dinner, but it had stopped by the time we had decided to take the umbrella along with us.

Dolphins swan alongside the dhoni as we were taken to the platform where the sea plane was waiting to take us back to Male!

We will return………..

(Willing to answer any specific questions anyone may have about an upcoming trip to Komandoo they are planning to make)