As promised here comes the live blog with daily updates from Dhigufaru!

I will use mobile photos while here. There will be a new update with high resolution photos from my camera when back home.

Day 1:

We arrived after lunch time. Since our seaplane was delayed we were offered a la carte at the bar for free 😉

Day 2:

Weather today has been stunning. Millpond sea, and blue sky with a few dots of clouds

Sand is fine everywhere we have walked. More than half of the beaches are talcum soft, other areas like some of the paths and some of the beaches are also of fine sand, though not that powdery soft.

Very little coral rubble on the beach; a little bit some places, but not an issue at all. Beaches are wide as well. Overall very happy!!

Lagoon is stunning!

Dinner buffet on the beach which was lovely and tasty (Raiveribe night). The menu was totally different from the day before. Only saw pad thai noodles and Maldivian curry which was repeated. Live music during the dinner as well.

Snorkeled the reef on east side, 80-90 % of the corals are dead. But there are several big boulders still alive, but few Acroporas. It is easy to see that the reef was beautiful before the El Nino. Hopefully it will grow back soon.

Some of the reef is close (the edge of the blue hole), the outer dropoff is further. It is really huge, so have just seen parts of it. Dhigufaru means a long reef.

Visibility has not been wonderful yet, but a decent amount of fish. Saw big schools of fish, huge parrotfish, batfish, different angelfish, moray and big species.

Nice modern ambient music in the bar (not very loud), EXCEPT when some of the Italians are telling them to change it to their favourites..

Occupancy level yesterday was 87%

A few minor negatives:

-Only a few of the cocktails are included in the AI

-Only laundry included is beach/ swimwear (other clothes are chargeable)

-Biggest letdown to us is just two beer in the minibar.. The regular soft drinks. Spirits are chargeable.

-Only instant coffee is included in the room. Nespresso are 3$ each. However we have brought our favourite arpeggio capsules.

Neither of these are a deal breaker to us, but thought I should mention.

So far good 😉

Day 3:

The lunch and dinner buffet were both tasty.

What really stands out are the desserts, possibly the best we have had in the Maldives. The chocolate cake topped with french macarons was adorable, can’t recall the name..

The beach bar is wonderful, direct view to one of the sandspits and sunsets. Bean bags on the beach.

The lagoon colour is quite uniform blue around most of the island. Light turquoise (shallow). It’s a bit different on the east side around the blue hole, where it grades in different hues.

Vegetation behind the beaches is somewhat young, and palms are not very tall. Internal on the island it is lush, walking on the pathways surely gives you the jungle feeling.

Went snorkeling on the reefdrop on the North side. The reef on that side is even better in my opinion. I guess it’s not marked on the snorkelling map because the sea is more choppy. White tops on the waves. It’s on the outer atoll edge. However, some more coral and lots of fish! Big sharks as well 😉

Day 4:

We had a great relaxing day to recharge our batteries, not doing much. Lounging in the great weather, snorkeling and eating too much food.

Also noticed that there is even more birds here than usual. We found the source to that! They have a huge open cage where birds are fed, and they are free to come and go as they want.

They even have a big blue Ara parrot on the island, next to the diving centre. It is really beautiful.

We both had a Balinese massage at the spa. The therapeuts were professional and delivered a good massage. It was so relaxing and we felt wonderful afterwords..

Day 5:

I was snorkeling on what used to be the best part of the reef. I thought I had been there before, but my navigation in limited visibility earlier was obviously not good enough.

The coral formations are still there after the El Nino, and it must have been one amazing reef!! Wonderful varied aquascape, large boulders, thilas and maybe about 90% coral coverage. Large tabling acroporas, huge staghorn gardens etc. Sad to think 80-90% is dead now.

But also saw healthy soft coral gardens, anemones, huge Goinopora hard corals and a few large octopus. A lot of fish as well. All caught on camera 😉

Enjoyed the sunset in the comfortable bean sacks next to the bar with a bottle of sparkling. Simply bliss!!

The Athiri wine cellar (a la carte restaurant) opened this day. But we have been so far happy with the buffet restaurant, so we felt no urge to spend money for it yet. We will see, maybe later.

Day 6:

The trip to the picnic island (sandbank) yesterday was lovely! Just the two of us there. Talcum soft sand, with a surrounding lagoon that was truly beautiful.

We also snorkeled the reef that was on the west side.

The picnic bag was filled with more sandwiches and fruit than we could possible eat, so we had a nice lunch there. The highlight of our holiday!

We did not go to the regular sandbank that Dhigufaru use, but went to Bathalaahuraa instead. Since we first went to see the regular one was occupied, we were passing close by Kihavah and the newly opened FS Voavah as well, which was a bonus.

Bathalaahuraa is next to Four Seasons’ picnic island (closest resort is Voavah).

In the end of the time there, a single woman jumped off a boat that seemed to come from Voavah (not sure though). Usually resorts don’t let people off when the sandbank is occupied, but she stayed in the far other end, sunbathing on a towel, so we really didn’t mind. We had most of the time to ourselves.

The boats transporting us were large, first a big speedboat, then one of the diving boats which were even larger (45-50 feet) on the way back.

I really recommend this trip.

We went early to bed for a change, as we had caught a lot of sun and too much food..

 

Day 7:

We enjoyed the last full day in paradise. One last snorkel on the east side reef. Saw a lot of fish and again a few octupus.

We considered to try out the newly opened Athiri restaurant, but since there was no all inclusive discount, and we wanted to do the themed buffet, we decided to not try it.Our last dinner was beach barbeque which was lovely in a wonderful setting.

Some last cocktails after the dinner in the evening, but went to our room not too late.

 

Day 8:

Sadly.. departure day..

We woke up early to have a last half day on this wonderful island. Were very grateful for getting late checkout. That way we could enjoy a few last swims in the lagoon and being able to shower close to departure time.

We waited for the seaplane in the Holhuashi pavillion, having some coffee and water together with our host Shamyn.

Then our seaplane arrived around 4 o’clock, and it was time to let it all go…

Dear crew at Dhigufaru, thank you for a very nice holiday at your beautiful island. Already dreaming about going back..

That’s it.. I hope you enjoyed my Dhigufaru blog.

PS. If you would like to get more details, my Tripadvisor blog can be read here:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293953-i7445-k10010899-o120-Anyone_s_Dhigufaru_blog-Maldives.html