Madoogali 19th - 29th June 2010
North Ari Atoll


This was our 4th visit to the beautiful Maldives. We have previously stayed at Fihalhohi in June2006 and Filitheyo twice in July2008 & June 2009.


ARRIVAL
We arrived from Stockholm via Doha to Male with Qatar Airways on the quiet night flight and then had to wait for two hours at the seaplane terminal. Already from the air we could see all those beautiful islands glowing in the sun and we were so excited about coming to the Maldives once again! We arrived around lunchtime at Madoogali and were greeted very friendly with a drink and infos about the island/mealtimes etc in the reception. We just couldn`t wait to take off our shoes and start our holiday!
We had e-mailed a few weeks before and requested beach bungalow number 25 with the little palm tree outside on the beach and we actually got it, so we were really happy and enthusiastic!


THE ISLAND
Madoogali has 56 beach bungalows which all face the sea. When we arrived, only 18 of these were occupied, so not many guests at this time of year and it stayed very quiet throughout our entire holiday, which was fine with us.
We were the only couple from Sweden on Madoogali and the other guests were mainly from Italy and Germany.
At low tide, you could walk along the beach all around the island. With photostops here and there, this took us about 30minutes. Madoogali has lush green tropical vegetation with lots of green bushes, palm trees, different colourful flowers everywhere and fruit bats clinging in the trees. Small curious "maldivian chickens/birds" walk around the island, too, and the occassional heron sits on the beach at sunrise.
There is the open main restaurant for buffet style/menu meals, the main bar next door with inside/outside sitting area, shop, reception, a small spa, Veli Bar and the dive school & watersports center near the jetty. There is also a large cage with parrots and other small exotic birds and there is an opening in the cage, so if they wish, they could fly around freely on the island. Most birds didn`t, but we had two greenish parrots outside our bungalow on many days, sitting singing in the palm tree.
At 7pm, there is the shark and ray feeding at the jetty.


BUNGALOWS
As already mentioned, Madoogali has 56 cosy beach bungalows which all face the sea. We had Beach Bungalow number 25 with our very own palm tree right outside on the beach. Inside, there was a large double-bed with mosquito netting, a sitting area, desk and mirror, large wardrobe and seperate bathroom. Outside, the furnished sitting area on the terrace had lovely oceanviews through the palm trees. There are sun loungers with your bungalow number written on them on the beach. No cushions for the sunbeds though. Our room boy was very creative and often folded the bed sheets in beautiful patterns and one night, the bed was decorated with flowers, which was a nice treat.


HOUSEREEF
Madoogali has an excellent housereef all around the island! The coral gardens are amazing, we saw sharks (white-tip reef shark, black-tip reef shark & nurse shark) every day when snorkelling, lots of turtles, large schools of fish, eagle rays, moray eels, colourful anemones etc & it is truely the most amazing housereef we`ve ever seen in the Maldives!
BUT there are no real man-made exits to the housereef for snorkelling, so sometimes at low tide it could be a challenge to get over to the reef edge because of the huge coral gardens everywhere.


RESTAURANT & BARS
We had Fullboard and had all our meals buffet/menu style in the main restaurant. The buffet breakfast is a bit boring and could need improvment, not much to choose from. We would have loved cheese, pancakes or waffles, for examples.
For lunch and dinner, there was always a different soup for starters, sallad and bread buffet, pasta live cooking, two main courses to choose from (fish or chicken/beef) which the waiter come to your table with and then dessert buffet with various cakes/pudding/fruits, tea and coffee. We had the same table for our entire stay. Food was really good and tasty but after a week, it was quite often repeated. We celebrated our wedding day while being at Madoogali and the staff had decorated our table very beautifully with flowers and coloured sand. We also got a cake with candles and the text "Happy Anniversary" which was really nice! The staff was really caring in every way!
We often had a drink at the main bar to watch the FIFA World Cup with newfound friends and we also visited the Veli Bar to watch the sunset, which is a very nice bar right on the beach, and have a chat with the friendly indian man who serves drinks.


STAFF
Mostly maldivian staff, some are from India. Very very friendly, always smiling and welcoming staff who really couldn`t do enough for you! Excellent service at all times!


EXCURSIONS
We went Deepseafishing for 5 hours for $280/boat and we had the boat for ourselves + 4 staff members. We caught 12 tunas, 4 barracudas, 4 wahoo and after a long fight, Peter could drag up a 60kilo sailfish/blue marlin, which was really exciting! What a catch! It was definitly adventurous! We also saw a school of dolphins swimming by our boat!
We also visited a local island, Mathiveri, for $30/person for 3hours and it was interesting to see the traditional way of life of the Maldivians.


WEATHER
Temperatures around +32 degrees and very hot. The weather was really mixed. Out of the 11 days, we had 6days of sunshine and blue skies & 5days cloudy/rainy.


DEPARTURE
All too soon it was time to go home again. It was a stormy and rainy afternoon and we had two more stops at Nika and Velidhu ahead of us to pick up other guests on our way back to Male with the seaplane. It was a terrible flight. I was feeling really seasick on the very bumpy ride and we had to try several times to reach Velidhu jetty because of the high waves. Finally, after almost 2hours, we reached Male to catch our international flight with Qatar Airways. We were positively surprised when we found out that we had been upgraded to Business Class on our way home! What a treat!


OUR OPINION
Madoogali is a beautiful natural-looking little jem of an island with white sandy beaches all around the island, cosy beach bungalows and lush green vegetation, colourful flowers and palm trees bending over the blue-green ocean! The staff was really friendly and went out of their way to make everyone feel welcome. Food was good but could be more varied after a few days. Fantastic deepseafishing in North Ari Atoll & excellent housereef! The best housereef we`ve ever seen! We had a wonderful time!

Annika&Peter from Sweden

Madoogali was a pleasant surprise, very good sized rooms,
ours no.41 was in the sun all day & had sunset views to boot.
Good view of the sea from our room, although not all rooms did, some were somewhat obscured by greenery, but all very close to the sea.
On our side the coral was good & within 20ft from the shore, the sea in front made a nice lagoon to swim in at high tide.The other side of the island the reef was a lot further out & not so much coral.
A small traditional island,i.e.thatched roof,no pool or water bungalows.
A lot of you wouldn't like the fact that it's Italian owned, although there were French, German & Austrians too.. They do have entertainment, but not speaking Italian we made for the quiet Beach Bar, inside & outside seating. We were the only Brits, but made friends with quite a few people.
Meals alternated between buffet & served & was very good, something for everyone.
No coffee or tea in the rooms, which we missed, but a good selection of toiletries & a nice touch was a beach basket in each room.Good qualitybeach towels,& beach loungers designated to each room.
Our only gripe was that water was $5 for 1&half Ltrs & the first 11 days they only had small bottles for $3 each, we spent more on water than on beer I reckon. it's the only island we've ever been to where they didn't provide at least one bottle of water free each day.Drink prices, the usual for the Maldives.
We'd be more than happy to go back, the snorkelling was terrific

As the other reviews have said, Madoogali is wonderful. The trip on a seaplane to get there is spectacular, the pick-up from a jetty moored in what looks like the middle of nowhere exciting, and the island itself looks just like a perfect desert island because all the rooms (detached, with nice verandahs) are hidden behind vegetation. The rooms ring the island, which means you have your own little piece of beach in front of you-lovely for private relaxing. The food is great-Italian, with lots of fresh fish every day and some Maldivian food, but not as often as we would have liked. You have your own table and waiter for the duration of your stay, which is very stress-free, and your waiter will keep your bottle of wine from meal to meal if, like me, your partner is a beer drinker and you don't want to drink a whole bottle of wine at one meal!
Snorkelling was good, but a bit scary going out the same channel that the boats come in, and currents tend to be strong-we were there with our 9 year old daughter and although she is a good swimmer and used to snorkelling I definitely didn't feel as safe as at other destinations. The trip out on a boat to snorkel was good, but we had to keep up with the leader (who paid all his attention to a voluptuous blonde who was out snorkelling for the first time), so it wasn't particularly relaxing.
Overall we had a lovely time, except that as English speakers we often got left out of the loop. For example, we started a conversation with one of the staff (who liked practicing their English with us), who informed us several days after our arrival that every night sharks were fed at the jetty. His comment was,'oh, you don't speak Italian, so no wonder you didn't hear about this.' And the other guests barely acknowledged our existence, even though we tried to politely greet people with 'ciao' and 'buongiorno' and so on. I think it was just too much trouble to try to communicate with us, although I would have loved to try out my extremely rusty school Italian. And of course movie night was Disney dubbed into Italian...
In sum, if you wanted to be left completely on your own in a lovely place, this would be a fabulous resort

My boyfriend and I searched through all the Maldive resorts and we finally settled on Madoogali because it was having a promotion the week that we wanted to go. We were pleasantly suprised- the food was wonderful- fresh fish and fruit every day so it is great for health conscious people and the staff were all kind and helpful. Normally, everyone eats in a common area, but you can ask for a special private dinner set up on the beach or boardwalk which we did and loved- so romantic! The excursions are also fantastic- we got to swim with huge Manta rays! Rooms were clean and down to earth. The only thing I would not suggest is a massage- not worth the money. Everything else is highly recommended!