Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa - Maldives

Maldives

Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa is a beach resort located in South Male Atoll,  Maldives. It is about 40 minutes boat-ride from Male, the airport. I went there for the holidays. It was a nice place to relax and have fun. There are actually two resorts under the Anantara name, Dhigu and Veli (more upscale) but they are just next to each other.

A direct flight from Singapore brought me to Male in about 4 hours. Singapore Airlines has two flights to Male from Singapore: one in the afternoon and a night flight. I think that the afternoon flight is the best because when you arrive in the Maldives, you are not too tired and have more time to spend to recuperate. Whereas with the night flight would have you arrive around midnight.

As Singapore is 3 hours ahead of Male, it is is 3 hours ahead from France. When you arrive in Male, after checking in the island staff wait for you with a sign for you to follow them to board a boat that would take you to the island. The boat ride lasts about 35 to 40 minutes depending on the sea conditions

I stayed in a water bungalow at the Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa. The water bungalow is a bungalow that is above sea level, giving a direct access to the water and spectacular view. You also have the option to stay in a beach bungalow along the beach.

Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa Water Bunglow
 
The room is quite nice and spacious with a big terrace. There are free life jackets available in the cupboard but the beach bag is costly. They give free slippers and on the first day they offer a welcome fruit salad (which is very good, especially the pineapple ^^) In addition, they give a short bed-time story every night.
 
Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa Water Bunglow
Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa Water Bunglow 
Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa Water Bunglow

Here is a list of dining options on the island:
  1. A coffeeshop which only offers buffets. It is only opened for breakfast from 0700 to 1030 a.m and for dinner. 
  2. An Italian restaurant
  3. A grill restaurant where you can choose between beef or seafood, as well as the cooking method you prefer. 
  4. A restaurant on the pool terrace which is only opened for lunch. 
If you get bored of the options on the island, you can always travel to the other island, Anantara Veli, which has another 3 other restaurants - a Thai restaurant, a seafood buffet restaurant and a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant. I tried the Japanese restaurant and found it quite good.
 
There is a big common pool which is very nice and where there are not too much people. The pool is near a terrace where you can have drinks and snacks and have lunch.


There is also a fitness center, an outdoor volley-ball and badminton court. If you like playing tennis, there is a court on the staffs' island where you can go to by boat. According to my father and brother, it is a well-equiped court with lightings for night games, and a good flooring.     
           
Aquafanatics - sports center
Aquafanatics - sports center
 
Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa offers a huge range of water activities: kayaking (free for two hours), sailing, windsurf, wakeboard, waterski, kite surf, jet ski rides, parachute, and fun activities such as banana rides. There is also snorkeling equipment available for rent and they do organize snorkeling trips, diving trips, fishing trips (that I do not recommend), dolphin trips and more. The resort's staff speak more than one language, some speak five languages including Japanese, French, Spanish, English.

The main jetty and diving departure area
The main jetty and diving departure area
 
For diving, there are courses and diving trips in the morning at 0845 and in the afternoon at 1500. Night dives are also available upon request. The diving instructors are very nice and helpful: they advised me to take the Advanced Open Divers Course which consists of 5 dive, which is cheaper and more convenient. 

The instructors brought us to some nice dive sites where corals start to regain their color and where you can see a large variety of fishes and/or sharks. If you are lucky, you can even see stingrays and eels. There was one dive site where you can do explore the remains of a ship wreck which sunk there. Back on the boat, everything is quite well organized. The tanks and equipments are already on the boat when you hop on it and after the dive, they offer fruit-kebabs and bottles of water.

 
Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa


Here is my take on the resort and island:

PROs

    Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa
  • The staff are nice and friendly
  • Island is quiet, peaceful
  • Nice white sand beaches
  • The activities are fun, there is a variety to choose from
  • Nice diving and snorkeling sites: the corals are colorful, and you can even get to see manta rays and perhaps whale sharks.
  • The pool is big and there are not too many people and children; it is facing the sea and the staff sometimes offer some snacks in the pool. 
  • Easy navigation from one island to another which is convenient.
Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa
Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa

CONs

Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa
  • It is a little too expensive. You have to pay for almost everything else on the island: the activities, food, items such as bags. For instance, I went for a fishing trip (we caught only ONE fish) and they asked us if we wanted to have our fish for lunch but it was not free of charge!!
  • Not all staff were pleasant and friendly. Service was inconsistent.
  •  The so-called fresh fruit juices (e.g. pineapple, mango, apple etc..) are all diluted with water. So if you want a genuine glass of fruit juice you have to emphasize that you do not want it diluted.
  • The fishing trip is not worth it as there is not many fish in the region. You might end up disappointed like me. If you do catch any fish, they charge you for cooking the fish you caught for you. 
  • Besides not having many fishes, the fishing trip is a waste of time, money and effort because it is the staff that does the fishing for you. If you want to do the fishing yourself, you have to inform them

Resort Rating:


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