Atoll Explorer, Maldives

The Atoll Explorer is actually a type of Dive Boat. It has 2 different itineries, each a week at a time. Both are quite similar in activities, they just visit different places.

It has 20 cabins, a small bar area, restaurant area, very small shop, and 2 upper decks, one of which has 2 small jacuzzis.
There is also a dive school, run by EuroDivers, on board.

A Brief run down of each!
Cabins
These are ...
...it doesn't matter. They are basic but kept spotlessly clean. You have a bed, desk thing, wardobe, little side cabinet thing, plus an even smaller shower room with toilet, sink and of course a shower, with a very friendly shower curtain!
There is a crackly radio which seemed to play whatever cd they had on in the bar, towels for the room and for the beach are provided, and hairdryers are available for hire from the reception, free of charge.
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The Atoll Explorer is actually a type of Dive Boat. It has 2 different itineries, each a week at a time. Both are quite similar in activities, they just visit different places.

It has 20 cabins, a small bar area, restaurant area, very small shop, and 2 upper decks, one of which has 2 small jacuzzis.
There is also a dive school, run by EuroDivers, on board.

A Brief run down of each!
Cabins
These are small be warned, but as you only sleep in them it doesn't matter. They are basic but kept spotlessly clean. You have a bed, desk thing, wardobe, little side cabinet thing, plus an even smaller shower room with toilet, sink and of course a shower, with a very friendly shower curtain!
There is a crackly radio which seemed to play whatever cd they had on in the bar, towels for the room and for the beach are provided, and hairdryers are available for hire from the reception, free of charge.
They are not very powerful though, I prefered to stand on the top deck for 15 mins and have a naturally blow dried look, rather than spend 15 hours drying my hair with the dryer!!
All cabins have windows, you can pay extra for one with a small balcony, which is handy if you are going to do alot of diving, as it gives you a place to dry things.

Bar
This is air conditioned to a minus temp I think, it was freezing sometimes, not that I was complaining as it was a relief from the heat outside.
They do pretty much every drink under the sun. It's an all inclusive boat, you only had to pay for bubbly, if you were posh enough to want any, me I stuck with the local brew and an occasional local cocktail, some of which were pretty lethal!

Our boat was mainly people in theie 50's plus, but boy did they put us youngsters to shame. They were up every night til gone 1am, and then up again at 6am to go diving, followed by egg and bacon!!!
I was worried when i first arrived, that we had accidently booked a Saga holiday, but was proved wrong. I would rather go on that again, than an 18-30 in Ibiza!!

They had a selection of board games, yes board games, which came in handy when we had a couple of wet days. It's surprising how competitive a game of scrabble can become!
Especially when you've all had a few and don't have a dictionary!!

Restaurant
This was lovely. You had open sides to both sides of the boat, though they had plastic blind things incase of rain.
The tables were mostly set up for 4-6 people. I wasn't sure about wether I would like to share tables every night, but being such a small boat, you get to know everyone so well, and it was a real laugh every day.
The meals are all buffet style, with drinks served at the table.
Breakfast - cereals, toast, eggs, bacon, beans and fruit.
Lunch - soup, couple of hot dishes,salads and 1-2 puds
Dinner - soup, 4-5 hot dishes, salads and 3-4 puds
Whilst the food is not varied to much, obviously due to the fact the Maldives have to import most of it, I was surprised at the choices on offer each day.

Sun Decks
There is a smoking and a non smoking one. Both have 20 beds on, plus the back one has the 2 jacuzzis. There is shade for those who want it. The back one is open at night so you can take your drink up there, which was nice.

Dive School
This run by 2 very experienced divers. They have all the equipment you need for hire and a whole range of dive packages, from 1 off dives to 4 dives a day to courses and certification. I'm not an expert, but the prices seemed very good to me. They also have snorkelling gear free of charge.

Each day the boat travels to another island, a couple are inhabited, where you get a chance to see local life and do shopping, but a majority are little more than sand banks with the odd tree, all with fantastic reefs around them, suitable for divers and snorkellers.
You get taken there for a couple of hours at a time. You transfer using a small boat that travels with the Atoll, as obviously the waters are very shallow around the islands.
A couple of trips lasted longer, for these they provide food and drink on the island!

One night we had a beach barbeque, it was unforgettable, quite surreal almost. When we got there, the staff had set up tables and chairs, with proper cultery and everything. Music was playing and we had table service.
Later on we danced the night away on the beach, which was absolutely knackering!!

Other nights were spent on the boat. We had a band one night, a quiz another. Some nights we fished off of the back of the boat, what we caught we had for lunch the following day!!!

The whole atmosphere of the holiday was so laid back and relaxed. No dressing up. Barefoot was the norm during the day, flip flops at most the rest of the time.
Ladies be warned, don't wear any skirts that are liable to blow up in the wind. On more than one occasion I showed my undies to the entire restaurant when going up or down the steps.
As it states in the brochure, it is not for people with limited mobility. Being a small boat the stairs are quite small and steep, hence the Marilyn Monroe impression from silly me!!!

The staff could not do enough for you. On the nights with music they even got up and joined in the dancing!

Out of the whole holiday, the only thing which i could find that might be annoying to some people was the early morning noise.
Being such a small boat you heard the engines when they were runnning. We were at the front of the boat, and most mornings were woken up by the bed shaking and occasionally things falling off the side, because the anchor was being pulled up!
We saw the funny side of it, and generally went and had breakfast and then sat up on the top deck and watched the world sail by.
They only sail for 2-3 hours a day, so by mid morning the noise had stopped. I think it is the best way to do the sailing anyway, because you then get whole uninterupted days and evenings at whatever island you are at.

If you want a big luxury boat, with a big luxury cabin, with big fancy dressing up meals, then go on one of the big unfriendly, impersonal cruise liners.

If however, you want a fun friendly holiday, friendly staff who learn all of your names in the first day, days where you only do as little or as much as YOU want, good filling food, excellent drink, fantastic scenery and a cabin, which whilst small has a vibrating bed!! Then this is the holiday for you.

 

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