Rangali Island, Maldives
We actually got to sleep in a little bit today! Our goal was simply to make it to breakfast in time to eat before the buffet closed at 11AM. We successfully did this, then made our way to the most famous part of Rangali Island, the Ithaa Underwater Restaurant for drinks and appetizers.
When Joyce heard we were going to the Conrad, she said we had to go Ithaa as it is often featured as one of the world’s best restaurants. Research showed that dinner could cost upwards of $500 per person. We didn’t want to spend that but we did like the idea of seeing the place. For people like us the restaurant offers a champagne and snack for the bargain price of $55 plus service and tax. Being that I’m not that into champagne I was more interested in a Diet Coke. The two bites of food were delicious and the experience of being 4 meters underwater while eating is pretty neat. It’s not quite as cool once you’ve begun scuba diving but I’m still glad we did it. My highlight of the experience was when a 6 footish black tip shark made an appearance at the very end of our meal.
This is what a $55 snack looks like.
This is what the restaurant looks like through the water from the deck outside the entrance.
On the way back to the room from the restaurant we decided to take the long route and shoot a few more photographs. Below are some of the more artistic shots along with a few that document the resort.
The Sunset Grill. It's in the running for my favorite restaurant in the world.
The orange thing on the right is a submarine. Its name is Nemo.
The building behind the people is the fitness center.
This view makes getting on a treadmill almost seem appealing.
This room was begging for visitors.
The Atoll Market Buffett.
The infinity pool and hotel sailboat.
The entry to our unit from the main road.
In the afternoon I went paddle boarding for the first time and absolutely loved it. It’s hard not to enjoy yourself out on some of the most beautiful water on earth. The water directly on the shore was super calm and crystal clear. Further out across the channel it was slightly more choppy. Coming back into the wind was a great workout for my shoulders. If I wasn’t concerned about skin cancer and looking like shoe leather when I’m 40, I would have spent all day out on the water.
After paddle boarding Ben and I had some of the free Hilton Honors snacks at Mandhoo. We then went for a walk and took some more pictures. The islands truly are as beautiful as all the pictures a person sees of the Maldives. One thing I haven’t noted yet is that pretty much no one on the island wears shoes. All of the “roads” are sandy. There are no cars, only golf carts that zoom around to move luggage and or people who don’t feel like walking. Housekeeping uses wheelbarrows for portions of their work.
This is one of the island's housekeepers with his "cart".
Not a bad bike commute.
If this is your work storage shed, you're doing okay.
Water villa 414.
We never figured out the purpose of this beacon.
This baby black tip shark was swimming outside our unit.
We watched this crab stubbornly drag his shell to a new home base.
This herron is a local named George.
Geckos are all over the island.
Ben and I had so much fun scuba diving that we decided to do an additional dive in the form of a night dive. At the end of our walk we stopped in the dive shop to get our briefing from Rob. We then returned to the room, grabbed a few luna bars and our gear and made our way out to the boat.
Initially the concept of a night dive sort of freaked me out. The idea of being underwater, in the dark, just seems like a bad idea for humans. Surprisingly it really wasn’t scary at all. More than anything it was peaceful, even though we saw a decent sized white tipped shark. Other highlights were a sleeping turtle who had his bum hanging outside the portion of coral he was hiding in and playing Harry Potter by disturbing the bioluminescent plankton.
The sea plane is wrapping up its day's work while we head out for our night dive.
We were joined on our night dive by these perfectly Russian guys.
They say the colors are more vibrant during night dives. In this case it seemed true.
After we returned to the island we cleaned up from our dive and made our way to the Sunset Grill for dinner. This was hands down my favorite dinner. We ordered starters, a main course and dessert. This restaurant, like Mandhoo, uses an ipad for a menu. This menu had pictures for EVERY dish, which made me want to order everything. I settled on the catch of the day which was trevally grilled to perfection. I thoroughly enjoyed it all. Strangely if I had to pick a worst item, it would have been the dessert. Clearly the fish and cold avocado shrimp soup were out of this world.
The menu.
Cold avocado soup and shrimp.
Fresh mozzarella, avocado and tomato salad.
The fish of the day special.
Pineapple and spice dessert.
The interior bar of the Sunset Grill.
This was our last evening on Rangali so we decided to take a post dinner stroll where we captured a few more night shots of the island. I really don’t want to go home. But who would want to leave paradise? At least we have whale shark snorkeling in the morning.
The glowing bridge back from the restaurant.
The evening tree lighting at the Atoll Market Buffet.
The interior portion of the Rangali Bar.
The "Wine Cellar" Restaurant.
The lobby and reception area.
One of the many nice lighting touches found in the evening.
The main arrival pavilion.
The sandy roads at night.
Until tomorrow,
Katy
PS This night got even better upon returning to the room. One of the things I like about staying at Conrad Hotels is that they traditionally give you a stuffed bear with the name of the hotel on it. Upon arrival in our room the first day there were no bears. I asked Hersial if they had a bear and he said no because they don't have any species of bear in the Maldives. He said he might be able to come up with something for me. On the last night this is what I found on my bed! Needless to say Hersial earned himself a nice tip right there ;~)
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