ncSam

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​​​​​​+1. Visited Sri Lanka for a week before going to the Maldives and definitely wouldn't trade a night at CMRI for another day in Sri Lanka, especially if it's a free 5th night.

​​​​Snorkeling equipment is included and can be picked up your first day and kept for the duration of your trip. I'm not sure about equipment for children, but multiple sizes of masks are available for adults. I know nothing about snorkeling equipment, but the masks are Saekodive brand (maybe M-2203 or M-2206KS) and feel considerably nicer than what you'd get to use on a Key West snorkelling trip.I

ETA: Stopped by the dive center and confirmed they do have snorkeling equipment for children.

MaldivesFreak

Add an extra night or 2 if you can. You most definitely won't regret it.
Contact them anytime about upgrades but the earlier the better. See my post about upgrades (linked in my sig below).
Resort time is 1hr ahead of Male time so yes, you will in all likelihood leave that morning. Try and get a night flight out. You'll have a good half day more at Rangali and, as I have said above, you won't regret it. ^


@mdg197777 Snorkel gear is excellent for a resort and is changed every couple of years. Everything is FOC.


We will be doing this on our 30-night stay. Should be awesome. Don't think there's any age restriction but I imagine infants will have to be babysitted.

konaflyer

Does anyone know a link to find out sunset time at the hotel? We will be staying there from 3/3 - 3/10/19 and would like to make some dinner reservations. And if anyone plans to be there then, we would love to connect with you!

konaflyer

I also wonder if anyone has done the whale shark excursion and could describe their experience. Does anyone know if they have been successful in spotting the whale sharks recently and what the cost is. Another poster mentioned that he was able to get $50 off pp for pre-paying for some excursion he was going to do. Is this usually the case?

mdg197777

MaldivesFreak

Check out the wiki's Weather section. If you install the app I mention that gives you sunset and sunrise times although I think only a max of 10 days out. If you want info on that now you can go here: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/maldives/male

As for Whale Shark excursions, you'd do well to search through the TripAdvisor reviews using whale shark as keywords as there are lots of mentions there, many more than here. Here's the link: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...li_Island.html

stormbandit

We are on our way there for the 2nd time. If you are a serious snorkeler and have your own equipment, bring it. I have no idea on the quality of the equipment that Rangali provides, but I DO have an idea of the quality of snorkeling available, and it is not to be missed. Don't let the chance for an equipment issue to interfere with the things you will see.

stormbandit

My wife and I looked into the whale shark excursion last time we were there. The trip is geared towards getting you in the water with a whale shark, if one can be found. The rest of the trip is information on the whale shark project itself, which you may or may not find interesting. We decided not to go on the WSE because the emphasis was less on snorkeling and more on a lecture about the program, at least that is how it seemed to us. Instead, we went on the snorkeling excursions (which at the time were much cheaper) because they also tried to find whale sharks and put more emphasis on the snorkeling part of it. We were lucky, we got to spend almost an hour with a WS on our snorkeling trip. The people I talked to that went on the WS excursion that week never saw one.
Not sure when you are going, but some times of the year are better than others, and I have heard that the moon phase can help due to plankton breeding cycles. If there is a pre-pay discount on any of the excursions, I am unaware of it.

mikewhyatt

This discount is the first I am hearing about this, let me know if you find out!

guy_listening

Would arriving at 3:15 PM from Doha give enough time to make the same day seaplane transfer? I know the wiki says guests with arriving flights until 4:00 PM, but it would be too close with bags, customs, etc.?

mdg197777

We do have a couple of Superior Water Villas available during your stay at the moment.Upgrade from Water Villa to Deluxe Beach Villa US$ 75 + 10% service charge + 12% T GST per night.

I wrote back countering at $60++ per night which was accepted within an hour. Perhaps, I should have pushed harder... In any case, I am happy with the cost of SWV upgrade.

Hope this information helps some people out.

CHSDOC

How timely! I just emailed for our April 8 arrival. 5 nights.

So if money is not an object, what room would be the ideal upgrade?

canesfan

texmanufan

JRV62

That was me, I had read another person had done it in advance so I figured I would try it since we were booking a couple of other excursions at the same time. No prepaying, here is what I received back...

Thank you for your email and apologies for the late response.

From the dive centre we run our Whale Shark Talk &Tour excursion three times per week (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays), starting at 0830 with an informative briefing about whale sharks, behaviour, and our code of conduct for swimming with them (please note that this is a snorkel activity!). We depart the island by speedboat at 0900 and reach the hotspot in approximately 20 minutes. Once we arrive there is a lot of searching involved to find them as the reef is over 30km in length and the whale sharks can be anywhere in the area. Once located we jump into the water with our experienced guides for a once in a lifetime experience. We return to the Conrad by around 1230. The cost per person is $200++ and the spaces are limited to 12 person per trip, however we are able to offer you a pre-booking rate of $150++ per person. Please note that we can only offer the excursion to guests over the age of 12 and that are good swimmers as this is paramount for in water safety on the excursion. The currents and ocean conditions can be a bit rougher sometimes and there can be high boat traffic with other snorkelers in the water around the whale sharks. These conditions are unfortunately out of our control. We do like to draw to everyone attention that whale sharks are wild animals so we cannot guarantee that we will for certain see them on the trip, there is also an element of luck involved. When conditions are good the chance to see them is approximately 80-90%; however lunar phases, wind and cloud conditions will reduce the odds. If conditions are such that we do not think there is a good chance to see whale sharks we will postpone the excursion at no charge.

I have reserved for you 2 spaces . Please do not hesitate to get back to us directly in case you have further questions.



We are looking forward to welcome you at the dive centre in April!



Kind regards,



Nicola