Angsana Velavaru Maldives

Out of 4 other islands we’ve visited this one has the best beaches. We initially had a room on the north side which was lovely but the beach was too rocky for easy bathing. we asked to change and we were offered a room on the south side which was perfect - opposite the inpool villas where we could watch the sea planes coming in to land. Beautiful beach right next to large sandbank. All staff were excellent and went out of their way to please; the room boys were excellent so too staff in dining room with special mention to the guy on the egg station! We were slightly put off by occasional flies hovering near the food. Our own waiter, Mahid, although quiet, was first class and gave us excellent service. Food was good and plentiful, but nowhere near as good as Bandos Island, where selection, cleanliness choice and variety were second to none.

During the spring of 2019, my family traveled from Charlotte, NC all the way to Angsana Velavaru and it was absolutely incredible! Upon arrival, we were greeted with a delicious cold snack after almost 22 hours of travel, which was great! I could immediately tell that not many people from the USA made the trek all the way out to the Laccadive Sea, which was later confirmed by many of the staff. We were also unique in the fact that we had one room on the island and one room over the ocean to accommodate everyone as the 3 large suites over the ocean with two beds were fully booked for our dates. This separation added a unique challenge since upon our arrival, we learned that the ferry between the island and the water suites only ran (I think) every hour, meaning we had to carefully coordinate everything from breakfast to dinner, which was not a huge issue, but hotel staff were very reluctant to any exceptions. The only time this became a true issue was when someone in our party’s spa time went slightly over, and they were forced to wait for an hour on the island until the next ferry so they could get ready for dinner. Again, not a huge issue, but it would not have been a big deal in my eyes to make the extra quick trip across the water. The rooms overall were very nice and comfortable. The spa center was absolutely incredible and the Thai masseuses were specially trained for their posts. One of the best experiences of my life! The water sports were lots of fun, and I loved the free wave runner time! Now onto the food... Most of the time, we ate at the Funa restaurant (the restaurant over the water) because the food and service was much better than at the Kaani restaurant. The food was absolutely fantastic, and we even opted for the lobster dinner one night! Their menu was very broad and almost everyone could find something to eat. Considering where we were geographically, the quality was amazing. However, there is one thing that I did not enjoy, and yes (lol) it relates back to the water taxi. Typically, we would eat late and be the last ones at the restaurant. We were never on the last taxi, but when we would finish up to go back to the island (also where the staff stayed), all of the kitchen staff, bar tenders, and servers would also join us on the ride back. During the course of our stay, the staff was always incredibly friendly and helpful, but it did feel a bit awkward being surrounded by a bunch of the staff in a pitch black water taxi at night. Moving onto the snorkeling, (I’m very sorry if I botch his name) Ageel was very very nice! We did go on the Waleshark hunt and did catch a glimpse of one after many hours right as we were about to leave. He was very friendly and professional, and brought a great energy to trips. Above all, the coral was incredible and the best I’ve ever seen!!! One of the purposes of our trip was to see the coral before it, unfortunately, disappears due to increases in ocean temperature and inevitable sea level rise. The fish and organisms were also like nothing I have or probably will see again. The Atolls are unique because it creates a “shelf” or “wall” that goes staring down and all of the creatures swim and grow on the sides until you can no longer see the bottom! Speaking of fish, we were allowed to go on a late afternoon/evening fishing trip, which was awesome! The man in charge of fishing was a British Marine Biologists who also happened to be the DJ (more on that later), but was fun to talk to. However, it was clear that he was not liked by the rest of the hotel staff who were, for the most part, locals from the Maldives (and many of the were from the island right next door!) My father caught a fish, however it was protected by the Government as an endangered species. It was getting near the of the fishing trip and he still hadn’t caught anything, so one of the local Maldivian citizens offered to use his ability to take the fish (as I learned that the protection laws don’t apply to Maldivian citizens) and give it to him as a gift. However, this caused a lot of frictions and tension between the British man and the Maldivian man who spoke moderate English. The British man repeatedly yelled at the other hotel staff member “That’s endangered, throw it back! Throw it back!” This was kind of an skyward position for us, but we declined the fish and thanked the Maldivian man very much for trying to give us the fish, but we were already lucky enough to have caught one other, which we did enjoy the next day! I did previously mention that the British Marine Biologists was also the DJ, which was a lot of fun! When we got there, it was an absolute blast and we had a lot of fun with not only other guests from across Asia and Europe, but also some of the staff from Asia as they are allowed to interact with guests on a social level after hours. This was really fun, although I was pulled aside by one of the younger male Maldivian workers who I could also tell didn’t like the British man by the bar while ordering a libation. He (weirdly) asked me if I wanted to prank the British man and then asked me if I thought he was gay. I thought this was also a little weird and awkward, but I pinned it on the cultural differences and continued to have a good time. We also participated in soccer with the staff and karaoke night, which was a ton of fun! We attempted to take part in as much as possible as I know they work hard to put on these events. Lastly, when I was in the gift shop, I met a very nice Maldivian man who helped me mail a postcard back (It took four months lol) to where we lived and gave me several notes and coins of the Maldivian dollar, which was a very nice gesture and a cool collectors item! That was very nice. Final thoughts: Once again, considering where we were geographically and how remote it was, it was an absolutely incredible experience all around! The food was good, spa was amazing, nice people, incredible snorkeling, lots of fun activities, and interesting people from all over the world. For those wondering, I would say ~40% were Asian and the other 60% were European or Russian. This was very cool as I have never interacted with so many people from around the world at once without having any other Americans around and the same was true for them as many had never met any Americans before (I hope we made a good impression!). I highly recommend Angsana Velavaru with the small request that they make some changes to their water taxi and can ensure that their staff remain as professional as possible around guests, as I fully understanding the cultural and religious differences between the various groups. Thank you to everyone, especially our waiter who we had for almost every meal and did a great job! Stay safe during these crazy times! -Ben