Mirihi Island Resort

fantastic resort with fantastic people. The dive sites are a dream. The food is on an elite level (it is all you can eat and there is plenty of it) with a head chef, sous chefs, and staff who are passionate about cooking. We love to travel and always say we wouldn’t visit anywhere twice with so much in the world to see; however, we are already discussing plans to come back to Mirihi Island Resort again in the future.

Our 6th visit to the Maldives, 5th different island, 1st time to Mirihi, stayed April 2023. After extensive research, we picked Mirihi for its small size, good food and snorkelling and we weren’t disappointed. Arrival and Transfer It was made clear to us that, by choosing domestic transfer over seaplane transfer, that we were in the severe minority. We chose domestic over seaplane for a couple of reasons but mainly as we’d had better experiences in the past. However, in hindsight, this was the wrong option for this island. We were not aware beforehand that the seaplane lands in the Mirihi lagoon. The app meant that we had already logged in so no arrival paperwork to complete. This did mean, however, that we felt rushed to finish our coconut drink when all we wanted to do was relax and take in our surroundings. Villa I’d asked in advance via our travel agent and also direct with the resort for, preferably, an even numbered villa between 30 and 36. We were allocated villa 31. Whilst it wasn’t our perfect choice, it was ok. (If you want to read our reasonings behind choosing this range of villas, PM me or read the JBR I wrote entitled “Mirihi blog – with a difference”.) Whilst the villas may be smaller than other islands, we found it more than adequate for our needs. The villa was in good condition and well appointed. We particularly liked the direct shower access from the deck, much better than some resorts where you have to traipse soaking wet from snorkelling through the villa. Just beware of passing snorkelers….shut the door 😊 Food and Drink We were on the full board plan. We didn’t go to the Muraka restaurant or try the Ruhgandu rum bar. Whilst all the food in the main restaurant is of a buffet style, it is restaurant standard food. Felix and his team have a clear passion for food and customer service. Living for 2weeks with ‘negative calorie deserts’ was a dream – unfortunately our clothes had shrunk by the time it was time to come home again. The resort say that there is a 14 day menu. In reality, it is a 7 day adapted menu; there is a lot of similarity between the weeks. A couple of points that would make things a bit better; at the 2 live cooking stations, it wasn’t always clear what was on offer. Everything else was clearly labelled except what was being cooked here. Also, the mocktail list only contained a few offerings, this could easily be improved. Island The gardens and walkways are kept immaculate by the team of gardeners. Whilst it is possible to circumnavigate the island, the erosion at the time of our visit, meant it was only possible at low water and wasn’t wholly comfortable underfoot. Staff A number of the employees carry badges showing 10 and 20 years’ service. All the staff seemed happy in their work. It was nice to see a number of young, up and coming staff, being trained too. Dive Centre and Excursions We didn’t do any diving on this holiday but did do the night snorkel. This is one of our favourite activities and it did not disappoint. It was a whole hour in the water too, whereas a lot of resorts seem to only offer an hour including briefing and debrief. We also went on the manta excursion once and the house reef excursion twice. We saw 3 mantas on the excursion but the strength of the current and quantity of divers on the seabed made it a bit of a challenge overall. The house reef excursion was worthwhile but we thought they may have had more than just two spots to visit as it was an exact repeat on our second occasion. Snorkelling on the House Reef We snorkelled twice daily on the house reef. Although the coral is still very much in a slow recovery phase, what coral there is to see is in good condition and fairly colourful. It was fairly fishy on nearly every snorkel we did with more than enough to keep us occupied. Before arrival, we had been under the impression that both sides of the reef could be easily snorkelled but, in reality, this isn’t really the case. The channel on the northern side of the island has partially grown in so this side of the reef is only accessible at high water. It’s a long swim round to the other channel on the opposite side of the island if you miss the tide. This is a pity as the coral on this side of the island is very pretty indeed. There are some substantially sized sharks on the reef. Unfortunately, they (and a lot of the other fish) seem to be fed an unnatural diet from the leftover food which is pumped down a pipe onto the reef. Once the location of the pipe was observed, it was clear to see the steady stream of fish heading towards the pipe. Whilst we are sure that this is not the only island to deal with waste food in this way, it was the first time we’d observed it. It did make us wonder if an unnatural diet altered behaviour in any way. Would We Return? Yes, absolutely, but maybe not at the price we paid.

在最近四年時間裏，疲憊充滿我的身心。所以當我可以出去旅遊的時候，我回到了喜歡的這裏馬爾代夫。感謝Mirihi讓我重拾生活的美好！感謝Mirihi，感謝Miko，感謝Zero，感謝我親愛的！祝福旅途遇到的每一位！我相信我們可以很快再相遇！ In the past four years, I have been feeling exhausted both physically and mentally. So when I finally had the chance to travel, I returned to my favorite place, Maldives. Thanks to Mirihi, I was able to rediscover the beauty of life! Thank you Mirihi, thank you Miko, thank you Zero, thank you my dear ! I wish everyone I met on my journey all the best! I believe we will meet again soon.