HotelFihaalhohi Resort

[MALDIVEDIVER, 18.01.2008] What a Fantastic little Island, Fihalhohi Island Resort is in the South Male Atoll in the Maldives.
After a 10 and a half hour flight from Gatwick we landed at Male International Airport, we were escorted to the Speed boat. The transfer was only 40 minutes with views of other islands on the way.
As we approached the island we knew this was the Paradise we expected. Tall palm trees, white sand beaches, bright blue skies and turquoise sea. We walked down the small wooden jetty to the reception while the boat crew carried our cases. We were given a refreshing fruit drink with cool towels then filled in our registration cards. We were taken to our room by the staff who very kindly carried our heavy cases, we tipped them a few dollars for this.
Our single storey beach bungalow was very nice, with a very large double bed, dressing table, bed side draws and wardrobe. There was a large ceiling fan and a good air conditioner. The bathroom was well equipped with all new fitting with large bath, great shower, toilet and sink with hair dryer.
The front of the room opened onto a veranda with 2 chairs and a small table, this was shaded by the tall palm trees, through which we could see the beautiful white sand beach and the turquoise sea. (15 steps away)
After unpacking we walked around the island, it took all of 20 minutes, but it was beautiful.
The beaches varied from narrow to wider depending on the tides. The tall palm trees and bushes gave shade from the hot sun if you needed this.
The Reception.
The staff were excellent and very helpful, you could book trips to local islands, dolphin reef trips, ( we did this trip and it was fantastic over 50 dolphins surrounding the boat for over an hour) sunset fishing, snorkelling and visit to Male for shopping, sea plane for ariel photos to mention a few.
If you booked any trips the reception would give you a wake up call so no need to worry about waking up on time.
The island operates a 1 hour behind Male time to give more sun at the end of the day.
They offered a fax, phone and internet service. Also you can use your mobile phone.

The Main Restaurant.
Most guests are on half or full board and all eat in the main restaurant. All meals were buffet style. The food was very good with themed evenings:, Italian, Mexican, Asian, Maldivian, barbeque grill etc.
At breakfast the choice was a cereal selection, pancakes, waffles, omelettes, boiled eggs, toast, baked beans, cheese, tomatoes, sausage and bacon ( but not the same as UK bacon and sausage) a selection of fresh fruit, croissants, fruit juice, tea and coffee.
At lunch and the evening meal there was a choice of soups, a delicious salad section, different types of pasta with sauces, various rice dishes, grilled fresh tuna, beef , chicken, pizza, vegetarian dishes there was always a 'curry corner', with popadoms, chutney, different curries and plain rice. And very good desserts from light mousses, decorated sponge cakes and everyone favourite 'Profiteroles'.
The Surf Café
This bar/Café was on the beach where you could watch the sunset. They offered a menu with toasted sandwiches, salad, chips, pizzas, etc at a very reasonable price all under £5. also ice creams and milk shakes. This is not included in you board so you would have to pay extra if you were a bit peckish between meal times, we only eat here a couple of times as the food in the main restaurant was so satisfying, but both meals were very good as was the service from the always happy smiling staff. You can also book a candlelight evening meal -very romantic.

The Fisherman's bar.
This was the main bar next to the restaurant. You can sit inside where there was cooling fans or outside on the decking which over looked the jetty and lagoon. There was a wide selection of draught and bottle beers and all branded sprits and a delicious cocktail menu.( which I had many of).snacks were available here also ice creams and milk shakes and fantastic cakes. I resisted, but my partner had many a slice.
The service of the bar staff was excellent, always smiling it was a pleasure for them to serve you.
There was entertainment every night, even bingo and crab racing.
The Boutique,
There is a small shop for essentials and souvenirs well worth a look around.

The Water Sports Centre
Wind surfing, catamaran, canoes, banana boats and donut ring rides.
Ocean Venture Diving Centre
The dive centre was very good with an special attention the safety,( always a good sign) the staff were all German but spoke excellent English and were very friendly,. All divers do a 'check out' dive where the instructor watches you do a few skills then a dive on the house reef. Qualified experienced divers can dive the house reef in buddy pairs when ever they want to, you just order your tanks the night before then sign out at the beginning of the dive and sign in at the end. The boat dives were very good and no more then a 20 minutes from the island.

The House reef was very close to the beach, with fantastic marine life with tiny fish to large shoals of larger fish (I could name then but I don't want to bore folk who are not that interested in fish as I am) Ok well tiny fusiliers/damsel fish to unicorn fish and massive groupers/wrasses.
The lagoon was shallow and perfect for the beginner snorkeler. You can hire all snorkelling equipment from the dive centre.
There is a Ayurvedic centre on the island, even though we did not use this folks we spoke to said it was very good.

Rooms
There are 3 types of accommodation :-
Classic rooms.
Which have basic bedroom and bathroom ( no bath- not that you need a bath as the showers were great) but you have to pay extra for air-conditioning- $10 per day. All Single storey.
Comfort rooms.
These were larger with bath and shower and aircon included in the price. Single or 2 storey.
Water Bungalows.
These were very nicely furnished and only 12 of them out in the lagoon, very private with your own decking with table and chairs all screened from the next room.
All rooms are cleaned twice a day morning and evening. Beach towels are provided. A good idea which I have not seen on other islands was a plug in insect repellent in the bedroom, I normally get bitten but I must admit that I did not get a single bit while I was there. Each room had 2 sun beds with your room number on. There was no problem with anyone using you sun bed. ( not that we used ours that much)

This is a no shoes island, we took ours off and did not put them on again until we left for the airport.
Dress code was swim wear ( no nude or topless sunbathing is allowed in the Maldives) t shirts and shorts for the day, and maybe longer shorts for the evening but no dressing up here which is great and relaxing.
We tipped our room boy ,waiter and bar staff for their excellent service they had given us. $10-15 a week. (not a lot to us but very appreciated by the staff) A one off tip for the boat crew for help on the diving trips.
We booked through First choice and travelled mid December 2005.

Weather
We had only 1 day of rain the other 13 days were hot and sunny. I have not detailed the prices on the island as these can be found on their very informative website http://www.fihalhohi.net/ english/ We have visited many islands in the Maldives, but as simple this island was, it was beautiful with a fantastic house reef, and wonderful staff which made all the difference. We don't normally visit the same island but we would certainly stay on this island again.

Update:-
Well we did stay again on this island in June/July 2006. for 2 weeks.
We had a fantastic warm welcome back from all the staff.
This time we stayed in an upstairs room, which was just as good as the downstairs room, maybe a little more private on the balcony and slightly more shaded.
We have never been to the Maldives in our summer months, but the weather was fantastic, We had a hour or so of light rain first thing in the morning on a couple of days, but very hot and sunny all the other days, with a nice breeze.
The service was as great as before and maybe even enjoyed it more this time.
We won the Bingo- the prize was a candle lit dinner for two on the beach... it was wonderful.
We also visited the Ayurvedic centre this time for a massage, it was very relaxing and well worth the price.
This is the only island that we have stayed on twice and to be honest I would certainly visit again.