News from Boutique Beach in the Maldives

Our great friend and partner Romney who owns and manages the fabulous Boutique Beach in the Maldives has sent us an update on how the team have spent their time during lockdown. Romney reports of some incredible dive experiences and encounters with whale sharks and how they are preparing for visitors once again.

New WHALE SHARKS and dive sites

We are in the famous whale shark area of South Ari Atoll and we have encounters all year round, one of very few places worldwide that can say that! It has been really special though during this time because we have had whale sharks come to us, maybe missing all the attention they usually receive when guests are here! In the 5 years since we opened over 350 different whale sharks have been encountered with only 8 being female but during the last 4 months we have seen 2 new FEMALE whale sharks and one stayed with us for over 40 minutes. She came right up to us and kept coming back towards us until the final moments when she zoomed right over our heads.

During this time Mette our dive base leader and I have been diving new reefs and new areas and have discovered an amazing soft coral place which is even better than 7th Heaven which is very well known here! Pastel shades of green, pink, peach, blue and lilac can been seen and are particularly beautiful when the current makes them all open to filter plankton from the water as it passes by!

On Kudimar wreck we have regularly seen up to 5 nurse sharks as well as the giant moray and giant mantis shrimp! 

Even Kudarah which is our most famous site, only 10 minutes from our harbour, has been EVEN more crammed with fish schools than before! We have seen grey reef sharks hunting right inside the thila (pinnacle) blocks and now we see rainbow runner schools nearly everyday to add to batfish, blue stripe snappers and humpback snappers! Huge tunas are hunting and we have seen them suddenly become striped and flying past like rockets as they hunt! Simply spectacular! 

BB TEAM and growing organic food

All our team have remained here since flights have not been available for them to return home yet. We all look after each other, eat together and watch our island volleyball tournament together! We have been doing maintenance work to the hotel and also to our dive boat so we are well and truly ready to welcome our guests back when the time comes. 

Together we decided to grow our own fruit and vegetables because it was getting more and more difficult to get fresh food from Male. We have had great success and can proudly show you our produce... cucumbers, eggplant, pumpkin, bitter gourd, chillies, papaya and passionfruit! Our chefs have made us tasty and healthy salads and curries and it tastes extra special when you can say you have grown it yourself! 

We plan to continue growing our own produce when our guests return and they can come and see our garden for themselves! 

NEW Health Standards

We have announced that we will be open from the 1st November and we are making sure that all the recommendations from our Government Heath Authority and WHO and DAN are being implemented before our guests arrive. Our staff will be doing training on best practise to ensure total compliance. Being a small boutique hotel we specialise in giving a personal service to our guests and that includes doing everything in our power to protect them whilst they are in our care. We have just 6 rooms in the hotel and keep our dive groups small with an instructor for both safety and to ensure guests are shown the best marine life this area has. 

During this time we have celebrated our 5th anniversary since we opened and we have received many good wishes from our regular guests!

We look forward to welcoming guests back from the 1st November and look forward to happy days spent diving together. We SO miss their smiling faces and laughter! 

Our reefs and especially our whale sharks are ready and waiting! We hope all of you stay safe and healthy ready to join us in this extra special place in Maldives.

Plan ahead and book your diving holiday to Boutique Beach in the Maldives and enjoy a great saving in 2020! SAVE 30% - discount per room, per night on all inclusive basis, PLUS a free return airport speedboat transfer for two.

Contact our team to book this offer, or find out more about diving in Dhigurah Island.