THE STAFF – 4 stars

The Maldivians were wonderful people – quiet, reserved, bashful, always trying to be helpful. You get allocated a waiter for your stay, with the hope that at the end of the stay you can tip him accordingly. We ended up with two waiters for our stay (partly as I moved tables before Drew got there), so we had Nias and Saimon – both smiling, helpful and exceedingly polite nice young men. 

Everyone's English was adequate, although sometimes (due to being a bit reserved/shy?) they could be hard to understand from speaking too fast but too quietly. We tipped our 'room elf' too – the man who came to tidy the room and make the beds every day.

In keeping with their culture / customs, the overwhelming majority of visible staff were male, with one strong-minded out-there female manager (short hair, western clothes), and the daily 'rakers' – the women who raked the sandy paths every day (full garb including gloves, head scarves). Many of these women would not make eye contact and I felt a bit odd wearing shorts, even though most of the other female tourist wore much skimpier clothing!

Before Drew arrived, there was a little bit of hesitation from the staff when talking to me – I'm sure I was extremely odd on this surfers / honeymooners resort, being there alone! Overall, the staff were lovely.