This is a beautiful island very close to the airport. During arrival/departure, you can actually see this island. Although some people had mentioned about noises from the flight, we didn't hear it much. The sound of the waves surpass them.
The colour of sea near the entrance is amazing blue. That's the spot you would want to take the photos if you need to capture the blue colours of the sea. There is a Photo Studio on the island and they give one complimentary photo (hard copy) from a photo session of 30 minutes. If you want more photos, it's $20 per photo. However, you need to book them in advance. Booking them and snorkeling (if interested), should be the one of the first things to do after you reach.
Period of stay - Jan 2021 end.
Rooms:
Type of stay - beach bunglow and water villa.
Beach bunglow rooms are big which has really amazing view of the sea even from the washroom. All the rooms have balcony and a swing, both of which are also pretty big.
The water villas are beautiful. The room is designed in a way that you can enjoy the view of the sea from the bed, washroom and obviously the porch. The rooms have wooden flooring and there are lights beneath the porch so that you can see if there are fishes around. The stairs could be improved since it becomes very slippery due to algae formation.
Rooms amenities:
Both the rooms had similar amenities which include iron and iron table, locker, hair dryer, water kettle, coffee jar, slippers, bath robes and all other basic toiletries. There will be 2-3 life jackets for use.
Food:
Food is ridiculously expensive! However, it's similar across any island there. Any item would usually cost about $30. While making any sort of booking it would be best to include at least breakfast. All in would be even better. You could also carry ready to cook foods to save some bucks.
Breakfast was kind of limited like bread, jams deserts (about 5 items), fried rice, noodles, varities of egg, waffle, pan cakes, fishes and cheese, salad, yoghurt and south indian items like pongal, dosa, idly along with tea, coffee (hot and cold). Most of the items tasted decent but not so good. The chinese items were too oily and little uncooked. The fruit danish was the best of the lot. The menu was repetitive with very slight change in ingredients of few items. So if you're staying for long, you will definitely get bored.
Apart from buffet, there are restaurants catering to different cuisines like Thai, Indian, Chinese along with a continental bar. From the bar, you could see the sea as well as few high rise buildings. I didn't like the bar much. It was very difficult to get service. Even the food served were cold including the fries! The $40 hookah hardly lasted few minutes and it had bare minimum smoke. A total waste! The only things good about it was the view.
Activities:
They have lot of water activities like snorkeling, fishing, dolphin visits, kayak (complimentary) etc. If interested in snorkeling, you should book the first available class for learning the same which happens in the morning from 9-10, in case you don't know. You can then decide to go for snorkeling in the sea which you must because it is an amazing experience! It was a bliss that the classes were complimentary and snorkeling costs only $60 per person. You can also borrow the snorkeling kit for practising or to checkout the fishes near the beach as well. Again, that is complimentary too!
They have gym and swimming pool as well.
Hospitality:
Hospitality is really good. You would be greeted by all the members wherever you get to meet them. However, strangely enough, they generally don't revert when you ask them for something and they say that will get back to you.
Candle light dinners are even more expensive (than the food) and they won't provide with candles inside the room. If you need cakes for any occasion, it will also have to be booked in advance. They had given complimentary cake and wine for birthday (a surprise). The cakes were amazing!
They would arrange for transfers themselves based on the flight timings. Make sure that it is also included in the package. Otherwise, it can be expensive.
Just fyi, drones are not allowed at this property.
