We had a late night departure out of Male (on SQ) two weeks ago. The Conrad arranged for our sea transfer to leave around 5:30pm (there was 15-20min delay, so we left at 5:50pm). As all the resorts are 1hr ahead of Male time, you end up arriving in Male "before" you left the Conrad ;-) You get the option of a complimentary guide to take you around Male (water taxi cost is your responsibility: ~$1pp for dhoni taxi, ~$2pp for the spead boat). Our guide was knowledgable but when we asked for a place to have a quick dinner, he took us to the BayWatch restaurant (about 30min walk from the ferry station) where we paid about $110 for dinner (no drinks, just some basic seafood broth with tuna, rice, and veggies!). There was a 5% additional fee when paying with a credit card which the waiter mentioned at the end. We had invited our guide to join us for dinner and still could have ordered 2 meals instead of 3 as they get served to share and save us $35. Either way, the guide claimed that cheaper restaurants may cause upset stomach, which to us sounded like a lame excuse... Overall, Male in the evening is depressing and walking around in the polluted from motorbikes air is tiresome after spending a week in paradise... The guide was knowledgable and did try his best to answer all of our questions about local culture/history. There is a lounge (by invitation only) at the airport where one could have a decent free meal and just relax before the flight. Also, airport souvenir shopping is about 3-5x cheaper than at the Conrad!

Enjoy your stay,
-sp