Embudu in March/April 24: for the 2nd time in 13 years ——————————————————————————————————---------------- As long-time, experienced Maldives lovers (27 times to the Maldives and seen over 50 different islands) and snorkelers, we prefer islands with house reefs! Well, twice is enough! Here too: Our previous island contacted Embudu the evening before and told us approximately when we would be in Male and from there we would continue with a boat transfer! We found the Embudu check-in counter ourselves, but NOBODY was there, the counter was NOT manned and to begin with no one from TUI either! I asked at the “Help Desk Point” and they knew NOTHING, had no clue; in other words, couldn’t and wouldn’t help!! After half an hour I wanted to call the island of Embudu myself (from my iPhone) but I had no reception, neither WiFi nor anything else... I then asked another local tour guide very close by at another counter with a mobile nearby if he could PLEASE call Embudu for us! This man kindly did that straight away! We then just had to wait at the counter, which took over an hour!?!? Then I saw a man wearing a TUI T-shirt coming 3 counters further on and I asked him if he could help us! The very slow local man was almost shocked because at first he didn't want to know anything about our island of Embudu and had to unpack and "install" his iPad first. Then he came to us with a list and he looked through our names, but found NOTHING, then he looked for our names using the reference number, but the guy was really overwhelmed. Normally they have a list and after a quick check you can find the names! Then, after well over an hour, the “responsible” man from Embudu suddenly arrived and had us on the list (but he was NOT a TUI tour guide). Then we finally checked in and we were finally able to move on. To the island of Embudu: 100 bungalows lined up in blocks of up to 6 - with little to no privacy - after 3 days we had to change bungalows because we didn't have a section of beach! And it was so dark around our area because of the dense trees, there was simply no light, even during the day when the weather was sunny! Afterwards, on the other side, it was OK! The rooms are simple but good and sufficiently equipped with the essentials! But we had to reserve deck chairs and towels every morning because they weren't numbered! And I “love that kind of thing”!! - it's not “my thing” at all! But there was no other way with this “island concept”! On practically all other islands it is different: there are 2 deck chairs for each bungalow - and that's it! Almost only Germans there, and a few Austrians and even fewer Swiss, who share the smallest proportion with English, French (or French-speaking Swiss
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