02/04/2025
One of our lovely customers has recently returned from Angsana Velavaru, here's her review, pros and cons as with all islands which we always believe in being open about! But she had a great time, thank you Julie!
Visited March, 2025/couple/main interests snorkeling, privacy and good food/drinks/AI, first visit to Maldives
1. Villa: booked over water villa with pool “In Ocean Villa”
a. We picked the villa because we wanted to be close to the house reef plus were intrigued by the separation of the over water villas from the main island. The access to the house reef was amazing, and the reef itself did not disappoint. It was so nice to plunge in the pool after a lengthy snorkel and just sit and look out at the ocean. The actual room was very large with a comfortable bed, separate bathroom and living areas that could be divided off with partitions. Service was thorough and unobtrusive (thanks, Abdulla!).
b. Privacy was great although you could see the other folks in their pools from our pool. The rooftop area was an added bonus with a shaded bed, table and foot wash. I have seen mention of the shower not being private, but there was definitely a full shade that you could pull down to cover the window in the shower (and they were very detailed about that during the villa orientation).
2. Snorkeling:
a. This is mostly why we picked this resort, and the experience exceeded our expectations. The reef/drop off near the In Ocean villas was absolutely stunning with vibrant corals and fish soup. There sometimes was a bit of a current coming in or out, and the reef near the villas is pretty shallow during low tide. It took us a couple of days to figure out that there are channels cleared in the reef to get out to the drop off that coincide with each of the buoys/channel markers that you can see out by the drop off. If you can determine that there is a significant lateral current, it is worth walking down the dock to the upstream end and entering there. Then you can snorkel with the current to the other end of the dock and exit. There are communal ladders at the end of each channel. Rinse and repeat. If there are minimal lateral currents, you can likely just easily swim out from your villa. If it is high tide, you can even just snorkel out over the shallow reef.
b. Snorkeling on the main island was also better than expected. There is an amazing shallow reef on the back side of the island with large populations of juvenile fish plus other nice finds including titan triggerfish. It was a little hard to find the access to the beach from the center of the island, but it turns out there is a walkway between beach villas 164 and 165 near the football pitch. You can also just walk around the whole beach from the dock. The second time we snorkeled this area we found a crazy lagoon in front of villa 159-ish with amazing diversity of corals and fish. Also saw a ray and shark in the lagoon. There is currently a pipe lodged in the area that was slightly above water level as a landmark.
c. The resort provides boat transportation out to the drop off area once daily so that everyone can access the snorkeling. It was pretty crowded the day we tried it.
3. Excursions:
a. Our all inclusive included $75/PP/day worth of excursions/treatments. The one we really enjoyed the most was the one hour private snorkel tour which you arrange with the water sports desk. They take you to a nearby reef for an hour which was just as amazing as the house reef yet slightly different. We did this excursion twice because it was so much fun.
b. We also booked a couples massage which was on special for some sort of discount for 90 minutes. Very enjoyable in an outside private spa area with a shower and two tables.
c. Our least favorite excursion was the sunset cruise. This involved a 90 minute cruise on one of the resort boats out around the islands but mostly ended up being a photo shoot for the other couples on the boat. There was some rose sparkling wine and appetizers offered. Was pleasant but nothing really special.
d. We did take advantage of the included laundry service which was delivered at the end of the day in some attractive rectangular baskets.
4. Food/drinks/all inclusive:
a. We purchased the premium all-inclusive to try and minimize extra costs while on the resort. We primarily dined at Azzurro, the restaurant on the dock for the water villas. The food and drinks there were very good with occasional deficiencies. Breakfast was a buffet with eggs and pancakes made to order, and the choices were widely varied and quite good. Can definitely recommend the eggs Benedict and the hash browns cake, plus the croissants were always amazing and fresh. The staff was exceptional, and our team of Fayaz, Ziyan and Ajija took amazing care of us during our stay. We ordered in-room lunch from them twice, and the pasta and appetizer dishes were especially good. Dinner was always great with occasional live music. Our bartender made us some very nice cocktails (margarita and mojitos were our favorite). The main drinks weakness came in the area of the all-inclusive wine list. I was looking forward to some decent wine, but it turned out that a lot of their specific choices were not great (Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot noir, Chardonnay, even the Pinot Grigio). We ended up settling on the cava, French rose and Chianti. The Syrah was never available. I feel like a resort of this caliber should have better wines by the glass (first world problem I admit).
b. We ate one night at the Funa restaurant over the water on the main island which was only open every other day or so just for dinner. We really enjoyed our dinner there and tried to book it a second time but no tables were available. I recommend booking it at the beginning of the week.
c. We ate lunch a few times at the pool bar with was also a little hit or miss for service and food. The fish tacos and club sandwich were pretty darn good, but other items were very bland, and the service was less attentive.
d. One night we ate at the buffet for barbecue night. My husband enjoyed his dishes but I did not. Did not give it another try.
5. The view
a. I my opinion, this was the elephant in the room for this resort. There is a local island with cell towers very close by which takes up a large portion of the view from the villas facing the ocean and the pool area.
b. I must emphasize that this aspect did not ruin our trip in any way, but I was very surprised to see it based on the photos on the website.
6. We would definitely consider this resort again.
Magic of Maldives is a specialist travel company arranging holidays in the idyllic Maldives islands.
