Ocean Beach Maldives — Hotel in South Ari Atoll

Wonderful place to stay – we’d go back in a heartbeat! Ocean Beach treated us to the vacation of a lifetime. ||||In January 2018, we stayed at Ocean Beach Lodge, the smaller of the two Ocean Beach properties; the Lodge is located on the northern side of Hangnaameedhoo. Both are lovely guesthouses; each is located beachfront. For the transfer to the island, Ocean Beach sent an agent to meet us at our Male hotel and escort us to the speedboat, which took about 45 minutes to get to Hangnaameedhoo. The seas were calm and the voyage pleasant. For departure a week later, Fathu booked us on the 7 am return boat to Male, where again he had arranged for us to be met at the jetty and escorted 100 meters to the airport ferry.||||The Ocean Beach Lodge had a cozy feel to it and was somewhat closer in proximity to the beautiful “bikini beach” than is the Inn. If you bring kids, they will be doted upon by Imran, Ali and the other staff, and older children may strike up a game of football or badminton with local kids. Fathu, who runs the two properties, and the rest of the staff exuded competence, warmth and kindness, and were very responsive to our every request. The rooms were clean, well-appointed and tidy. There was a refrigerator in the room, and the hotel staff kept us well-supplied with bottled water, free of charge. The shower has hot water. There is a porch on the ground floor, from which you can probably see all 400 people living on the island at one point or another. Say “hello” or “ciao” (many Italian guests on Hangnaameedhoo) and you’ll get a big smile back. On the upper floor, the balcony is a lovely place to relax, read a book or watch the island fruit bats put on a show. ||||The tourist guidebooks warn that food is less than appetizing in the Maldives, but that was not true at Ocean Beach. For breakfast, there are eggs, bread and Nutella, cereal, chapatis, juice and a range of tropical fruit. We didn’t eat lunch at the hotel, but had its tuna fried rice and fruit lunches provided on the excursions; these were more than adequate. Nightly dinners at the Lodge were feasts, and included a couple of types of salads, two curries, chicken, potatoes, one or two kinds of pasta/noodles, delicious freshly caught fish, samosas, chapatis, papadams, and two kinds of rice. Cakes and local desserts are made by Fathu’s wife, and are terrific. Our first night was another guest’s birthday, and there was a tasty chocolate cake, with Fathu leading everyone in singing “Happy Birthday” to the guest. Imran, Fathu and Ali circulate throughout the dining area, making sure everyone is satisfied and helping guests plan island adventures. The only down side to the menu is that Ocean Beach Inn/Lodge don’t have a proper coffee maker, instead providing only Nescafe instant coffee. That is probably a function of how supply chains work in the Malidives. Bring your own ground coffee and French press if you need real coffee. ||||Wifi is not terribly fast at the Ocean Beach Lodge, but we didn’t go to the Maldives to surf the internet. If you need connectivity, your best bet is to buy a SIM card at the airport in Male. Right after you exit Customs, turn right and go the Dhiraagu cellular shop. For US$22, you get 15 gigs of blinding fast 4G data, and it works EVERYWHERE – even on and between the remote islands you visit on excursions. ||||Snorkeling around the island is fantastic. In the shallows, you can see butterfly fish and young (but somewhat shy) black-tipped reef sharks. From bikini beach, swim out past the coral to the dramatic and stunning drop off. On the swim out there, watch for eagle rays. At the drop-off, swim along the beautiful coral, and watch as dozens of different kinds of fish – all the colors of the rainbow – swim past you in their underwater universe. The current is occasionally a little strong, but there are places to return to the beach all along the way. Dolphins play along the edge of the reef occasionally. And from bikini beach around 5-6 pm, the sunset is gorgeous.||||In our seven days at Ocean Beach Lodge, we took four excursions – all fantastic – to Picnic Island and to Dream Island; to look for manta rays (we didn’t find any, but stopped to snorkel along a spectacular reef); and “snorkeling safari.” Ali from Ocean Beach Inn/Lodge joined us snorkeling and was great at pointing out things we otherwise wouldn’t have seen, such as lion fish, lobster, puffer fish, and – our happiest moment – a hawksbill turtle, which put on quite a show for us. Ali also is very skilled at taking photos on the hotel’s Go Pro camera, and we ended up with some very memorable shots. At the end of this review I’ll post all the fish we identified off of bikini beach and on the excursions. ||||The island has a few souvenir shops and convenience-type stores, where you can buy whatever you forgot (shampoo, sunscreen, soap, etc.) as well as Cokes, energy drinks, other drinks, but of course no alcohol. We ate passable lunches at the Pilot Whale Café (pizza, pasta, French fries, sandwiches were fine), and at another restaurant called something like the Green Garden Leaf (fried noodles and club sandwich were okay). At the latter, the menu is on the wall near the kitchen, and you point to the items you want to order. Lunches and drinks for three people at both places ran about 200 rufiyaa.||||One final thing: take seriously the requests to respect local cultural norms about covering your body while walking around the island – other than at bikini beach. ||||To sign off, here is some of the spectacular underwater life we identified, but it’s probably only about a fifth of the variety we saw, and I didn’t even get started on the many kinds of coral: Black-tipped reef sharks, grey reef sharks, hawksbill turtles, green turtles, banded sea snake, tropical two-winged flying fish, lionfish, lobster, yellowtail clownfish, Maldive anemone fish, sebae anemone fish, map pufferfish, tuna, eagle rays, spotted rays, dolphins, giant moray eels, black pyramid butterfly fish, threadfin butterfly fish, saddled butterfly fish, scrawled butterfly fish, redtail butterfly fish, long nosed butterfly fish, brown and white butterfly fish, masked banner fish, regal angel fish, sheep head parrot fish, bicolor parrot fish, five saddle parrot fish, dusky parrot fish, blue barred parrot fish, moorish idols, white-spotted boxfish, yellow boxfish, lieutenant surgeon fish, powder blue surgeon fish, spotted unicorn fish, orange spine unicorn fish, Indian trigger fish, orange striped trigger fish, Picasso trigger fish, titan trigger fish, blue trigger fish, blackbar trigger fish, orange-striped trigger fish, clown trigger fish, coral grouper, sea bass, snapper, cornet, yellow back fusilier, lunar fusilier, yellowback fusilier, giant trevally, Bluefin trevally, triangle butterfly fish, yellowfin goat fish, Indian damsel, yellow-backed anthias, maiden goby fish, six-bar wrasse, vermiculate wrasse, checkerboard wrasse, lined wrasse, spotted wrasse, royal diacanthus, sabre squirrelfish, black saddle filefish, oriental sweetlip, emperor angelfish, spangled emperor, orange-spotted emperor, humpback snapper, onespot snapper, barred thicklip, phantom bannerfish, Dussumier’s halfbeak, thornback cowfish, five-lined cardinal fish, yellow-speckled chromis, half-and-half chromis, coral hawkfish, banded dascyllus, cloudy dascyllus, threespot dascyllus, peacock hind, starry toadfish, and...

Трансфер ||Подробности трансфера обсудили с Imran по электронной почте заранее. Стоимость – 30 долларов с человека в одну сторону (оплата в отеле позже). В аэропорту нас встретили с табличкой, проводили на паром до Мале, там отвезли на причал, от которого уходит спид-бот до острова. Никаких проблем на этом этапе не возникло. Стандартное время в пути на спид-боте – 1 час 20 минут. Но нам особенно «повезло»: мы прилетели в небольшой шторм. В итоге до острова мы шли 1 час 50 минут, и это было то еще испытание. Совет №1: даже если вы думаете, что вас никогда не укачивает, возьмите с собой соответствующие таблетки. У нас их не было, и мы очень об этом пожалели))). На обратный путь мы подстраховались и купили в местной аптеке таблетки Avomine, хорошие.||2. Отель||На берегу нас встретили и проводили в отель. В отеле 5 номеров: 3 на первом этаже, 2 – на втором. Мы жили на первом, возможностью переехать на второй не воспользовались. В номере есть все что нужно (Wi-Fi стабильный, скорость хорошая, фен, холодильник, чайник, душ, отличный кондиционер и пр.). Число телевизионных каналов – 20, качество сигнала не очень, поэтому берите флэшки с фильмами. В номерах чисто, уборка каждый день. Смена белья и полотенец – 1 раз в 3 дня. Матрасы жестковаты. Но мы попросили топер, и хозяин нам его привез из Мале, бесплатно. ||3. Питание||Мы брали завтраки и ужины. Обед был бы для нас лишним, вместо него мы обходились чаем и снеками. Совет №2: берите с собой конфеты, шоколад, печенее, орешки, т.к. выбор в местной лавке небогат.||Завтрак континентальный (сосиски, яйца, тосты, масло, плавленый сыр, джем, шоколадная паста, национальное мальдивианское блюдо - пресные блинчики, в которые заворачивается начинка из тунца, кокоса и лука, очень вкусно, какой-нибудь фрукт, вода и напиток). Кофе растворимый, за отдельную плату можно пользоваться капсульной кофе-машиной.||Ужин – всегда свежая и вкусная рыба на гриле, кари, фасоль в остром соусе, салат, фрукты, десерт. Из гарниров – рис, макароны, овощи. Напиток и вода – без ограничения (в отличие от резортов). ||Еда простая, но свежая. Голодными вы никогда не останетесь. ||Совет №3: если хотите, например, курицу или мясо, обращайтесь к хозяину отеля Fathu, тем более он каждый день спрашивает у гостей, какие будут пожелания. В принципе, это касается всего, например, вы можете заказать фрукты из Мале или обсудить экскурсию.||4. Экскурсии||Организовывает персонал отеля. Описание на английском и прайс есть в каждом номере, но цены и виды экскурсий можно и нужно обсуждать. В отеле есть ласты, маски, спасательные жилеты, каяки. Мы брали вечернюю рыбалку, поездку на пикник-айленд и снорклинг на другом рифе, все понравилось.||Совет №4: берите экшн-камеру или подводные чехлы для смартфонов – виды потрясающие.||5. Риф.||Риф отличный, особенно около отеля. Океан в 10 метрах от входа в отель. Живых кораллов процентов 10-20, но живности очень много. Плавали от 3 до 5 часов в день вокруг острова, видели черепах, акул, скатов-хвостоколов, скатов-орляков, фантастических мант (завораживающее зрелище, однажды видели целую футбольную команду), не считая бесчисленных коралловых рыбок.||Совет №5: купите тонкий мокрый гидрокостюм – он убережет от солнечных ожогов и даст возможность свободно перемещаться по острову, т.к. в бикини появляться можно только на бикини-пляже.||6. Пляж.||Пляж у отеля есть свой (5 метров от входа), но с ограничением по внешнему виду: в бикини можно загорать только на бикини-пляже. До него 500-700 метров в зависимости от маршрута. Пляж песчаный, чистый. Уровень воды зависит от прилива – отлива: от «чуть выше колена» до «почти по шею». Океан чудесный, вода чистейшая и ласковая. Цвет воды бирюзовый, как в сказке. Лежаки у каждого отеля свои.||Совет №6: берите коралловые тапки.||Совет №7: обязательно пользуйтесь солнцезащитным кремом в любую погоду, даже если будет пасмурно. ||Совет №8: сохнет все плохо, поэтому возьмите несколько купальников и свое пляжное полотенце.||7. Остров.||Это не резорт, а жилой остров. На нем проживает свыше 400 местных жителей. Есть школа, мечети, больница, аптека, несколько лавок и кафе, дайвинг-центр… Жители доброжелательные, преступность нулевая. Если вы знаете английский язык, объясниться не составит труда. Конечно, есть проблемы с утилизацией мусора. К этому надо быть готовыми. Из живности: крабы, раки-отшельники, ящерицы, цапли, вороны, летучие лисицы. К сожалению, есть комары, но они кусают по расписанию: утром с 6 до 7, вечером с 5 до 6)). ||Совет №9: возьмите репеллент, хотя в отеле они также есть.||Вывод: это был прекрасный отдых за разумные деньги. Огромное спасибо команде отеля: Fathu и его супруге Aadilla, Senthil, Ari и Imran, которые не только во всем помогали, но и были прекрасными собеседниками. Надеемся вернуться в этот...

Booked thinking this would be a great way to save and liked how they had prices and a timetable upfront on their website. Amazing pictures on social media of fresh fish dinners. Paid extra for the room with a king bed and a balcony or patio. Organised the boat through them.||||Arrived and in the welcome meeting found out everything had a 22% surcharge including the boat trip which was not clear at all. Pretty deceptive. ||||Also our room did not have a king bed and had no balcony or patio. Just a regular window to the chair everyone smoked on. That bed was not a king in any country's definition of it. So why did we pay more? We tried to ask the manager but not helpful.||||The food was terrible. No fresh fish at all. Just tins of food. I was constantly hungry. We ate at a few places up the road which was much cheaper and better.||||The beach on Hangnameedoo was covered in tins so couldn't swim. It was really depressing.||||Went to an island for the day which was nice and apparently included lunch, but the lunch was just an option of plain rice and rice with a tiny bit of meat. And biscuits. ||||They didn't follow the schedule on the website. There was a big group of Italians so we could only do what they wanted. It was "this group is doing snorkeling today did you want to come?". Then it was loud Italian music the whole time for hours every day which wasn't enjoyable. ||||The hotel owner was impossible to find for help. The staff were nice. The whole thing felt like false advertising, particularly seeing all this fresh fish and other food on...