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Dive Review of Albatros Divers/Gangehi Resort in
Maldives/North Ari Atoll

Albatros Divers/Gangehi Resort, Mar, 2013,

by Alice Ribbens, MN, US (Contributor Contributor 19 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 6935.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 3 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments We stayed at Gangehi Island Resort a few days after our week on the Maldives Aggressor (see my other review). You take a seaplane from Male to get to the resort--it is its own little island, as many of the resorts in the Maldives are. We stayed in a beach front bungalow, which we enjoyed immensely and thought was a better value than the over the water bungalows. Our bungalow was absolutely beautiful with a king size bed, little deck and steps leading down to the beach.

The resort is run by Italians and apparently used to be an exclusively Italian resort. Although it seemed that a majority of the guests were Italian, there were also other Americans, Brits, and other Europeans there when we were. All of the staff seems to speak both English and Italian as well. Food was buffet style and we thought it was great for the few days we were there, but my guess is that it might get a little monotonous and repetitive if you stayed for a week or longer.

We only did a couple of days of diving with the onsite dive shop, Albatros Divers. It seems like they do a lot of certifications and classes at the resort, conducting classes in both English and Italian as appropriate. When we went out diving, the divemasters divided the divers into groups of 3 or 4, with each divemaster. It seemed that they tried to divide us up according to experience level as well as according to who was on Nitrox and who wasn't. Diving was good, but talking to some of the people who had been there for a week or more, it sounds like they go to some of the same sites again and again. Also, it did not seem as if the DMs were checking the current before we got in the water. A couple of times, it seemed like we dove a couple of the sites backwards--swam against the current when we shouldn't have had to.

Nitrox is free (although it was rarely above 30% O2). The DMs were good at helping find little critters (we found 4 leaf scorpion fish on one dive). I wasn't thrilled with people smoking on the dhoni (right next to the Nitrox tanks), but I guess that's an Italian thing.

I wouldn't go to Gangehi exclusively for the diving, but it was a great place to spend a few days hanging out post-Aggressor. I think the snorkeling there would probably be good, too. We saw a couple of baby black tip reef sharks on a regular basis, swimming in the shallows right near our bungalows. We also saw lots of variety of fish (and reef sharks), just from the decks near the restaurant.

Although we did not go to the spa, a lot of other people spoke highly of it as well.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Fiji, Great Barrier Reef, Belize, Ultila/Honduras, Cozumel, Sea of Cortez, Galapagos, Palau, Hawaii, Key Largo, Monterey, Grand Cayman
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 78-82°F / 26-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions 100 feet deep, 60 minutes, come up for safety stop around 700 psi
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas 1 or
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics N/A

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments There was a rinse bucket just for cameras on the dhoni.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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