Been wanting to go to this beautiful place one day...and here is comes!
(Gopro photography by Arena snorkeling crew)
The sea is so clear everywhere! Regardless of local island or private island or airport...the sea is crystal clear!
Me and my hubby went Maldives for honeymoon trip <3 and following is my itinerary:
Total cost: SGD2500 for 2 persons
Flight tic: SGD500
Hotel: SGD800
Expenses : SGD1200
Day 1:
Departure at Singapore via Tigerair at 7.15pm
Reach Velana International Airport(Male International Airport) ard 10pm (jet lag of 3hours)
Stay at UI Inn
We went towards direction of jetty and waited for public bus along the road side to Hulhumale.
The bus will only stops at 2 places. So to UI Inn, you will need to get down on 1st stop.
The fare is quite cheap. USD3 for 2 person for 1 way trip.
You will need to walk backward a bit to find the UI Inn...It might be a bit scarier to walk in the night but there are alot of travelers with us.
Staff at UI Inn makes you feel welcomed. The room is quite big but abit old style. We just stay for a night so..let it be.
Day 2:
We booked Icom tours speedboat to Maafushi on facebook few days earlier, cost is SGD15/pax.
After having breakfast, we went back to last night drop off point to wait for bus to airport. However, as feeling worry, we ask local people and realized bus stop to Airport is actually quite far away!
We suggest first time travelers to take UI Inn airport transfer so prevent any panic moment as we almost missed the speedboat to Maafushi :(
(if u insisted to take bus, try to walk further and find this pink building, I took this photo where I was sitting at the bus stop waiting for bus to Airport)
Icom tours is quite punctual (we reached at the time where they almost starting departure 😞) Earliest speedboat is 8.45am to Maafushi.
We stayed Arena Beach Hotel-Sea View for the rest of the days.
After arrival, staff from Arena is waiting for us at the jetty to pick up our luggage. Every staffs there is so friendly with a smile 😃 welcome drink was served (papaya juice yum yum 💜). We noticed a board on the wall writing trips for the day, and we immediately get ready for a half day adventure tour the same day! (starts from 10am to 2pm to Biyadhoo reef, Banana Reef, Turtle Reef, Lunch at Sandbank, Dolphin cruise with Gopro photography cost only USD25/pax)
(our sea view room, super beautiful)
(super yummy lunch served! they still bring fruit, juice along, thx the superb crew!)
Day 3:
We booked day visit to Centara Ras Fushi from Arena. Cost USD120/pax, with free wifi, free buffet lunch, unlimited drinks (alcoholic/non-alcoholic), and free snorkeling gear too! Deposit of USD50/pax will be needed for renting snorkeling gear & life jacket.
Pros: Manager brief very well on where to go, what to do, what is inclusive...very nice relaxing place, bar over swimming pool is great! scenery is great too~ nice place for photoshooting. 5pm the resort feed baby shark near water villa, many fishes and baby sharks come along~ Sun beds & towel is sufficient for hotel guest and day visitors. Manager has told us not to snorkel/kayaking near to water villas too, so its good in providing private spaces for resort guests.
Cons; Try to snorkel near the beach but couldn't spotted much cute fishes...Guess not much reef around? Also...we were both bitten by aggressive fishes...after finding out, the fish species is called Picasso Triggerfish...it is really angry despite us doing NOTHING to it...
Day 4:
Booked Whale Shark experience with Arena, but the manager told us in the morning that they went to the shark point earlier that morning but didn't spotted any :(
Too bad we have to change plan...we decided to go for day visit again (as quite worthy)
Booked day visit to Adaaran Club Rannalhi (USD100/pax, with free wifi, free buffet lunch + unlimited drinks too) Snorkeling gear need to rent for ard USD5/pax.
Pros: HOUSE REEF IS INCREDIBLE! just inch from beach, you can already spot many cute fishes~ very very beautiful~ just snorkeling deeper (not too far from beach too), there is bunch of cute fishes waiting for u😆~~ baby shark can simply spotted anywhr too~ Buffet lunch is super delicious💛 the bridge to water villa is strictly for resort guest only, very good in providing private spaces for resort guests. Snorkeling gear provided is better in quality compared to other resorts (at least water won't keep rising inside your mask =.=)
Cons: no briefing provided during arrival :( u have to walk around to find out things urself (tips: try to get a list from reception on all-inclusive package for day visit, there is timetable for snacks :p) Sunbeds, towel is not sufficient. We took some times to get empty sun bed and move to beach ourselves (even the resort guest told us they can't find any too and requested from reception). Went to watersport center and was informed snorkeling gear is out of supply :( after having few drinks at cocktail bar, we managed to get snorkeling gear ard 11.30am.
Due to the beautiful reef around...we will still consider to come back for few days stay.
(yummy snacks before leaving the island)
Day 5:
Relaxing at Maafushi. shopping for souvenirs~ Lunch at Arena is so delicious! Must try their ala-carte food (their dinner is usually buffet style for only USD12/pax only).
Checkout on 12pm. But Arena is too good to provide a shower room for us around 6pm for a quick bath :) :) :)
Book 7pm speedboat with Arena for USD15/pax to Airport for Tigerair 9.50pm flight.
Overall, Maldivian is very friendly and smiley :)
Arena did provided good advice on daily tour~ and always helpful when you have any doubt. (Especially Moosa & Shameel)
Day visit is much cheaper than staying on those luxury private island. However, water villas is so beautiful that we think stay on those villas for once a lifetime will be great too! as we saw water villas is usually located further from beach and might have beautiful reef around~
Go-pro or other waterproof photoshooting device is better than putting iPhone in waterproof bag (those brought from taobao), as iPhone is quite hard to take nice photo underwater, and you won't want to miss any nice scenery under the sea too.
