J Resort Handhufushi

Got back on April 10th,and apart from the ridiculous check out time(3 a.m.),we can't really complain. Yes,there are a few problems with the resort.Most of the bad reports seem to be concerning the jacuzzi beach villas and surrounding areas.We stayed in a standard beach villa (101 - 135 ),and this area is fine. Problem areas are:- The landscaping isn't yet completed. Snorkling off the beach is a waste of time due to eel grass.This also gives off a sulphurous smell when the tide goes out. Neither of these points should detract from having a great time. The staff are brilliant,as is the food.Despite a few flies around the uncovered food,this is the first hoilday we've had where nobody got 'delli belly'. The hotel organise 2 free boat trips for snorkling each day where you go to nearby reefs.Dolphins are a virtual guarentee.If this is too strenuous,at the south end of the island is another small island(you wade across a short stretch of water & you will need reef shoes for this).30m offshore you're onto coral in approx 1.5m of water.The island itself isn't tidied at all,but a couple of us spent an hour or so collecting up disgarded bottles etc and had a beach barbi.It doesn't hurt to help out instead of whinging. In short,despite minor short comings the whole holiday,as an experience,was great.We would happily return.

The purpose of our trip to the Maldives was to celebrate my 50th birthday. We chose the Herathera Island Resort because of the 4km of white sand and beautiful blue lagoon described in the brochure. We arrived at Male at approximately 11.00am, and had to wait until 13.10pm for our onward internal flight to Gan. The flight takes about 75 minutes as it’s 480km (300 miles) south of Male. On the trip we flew over many beautiful islands and this made us look forward to our holiday even more. You fly over the equator just before landing at Gan, and we each received a certificate with our name on as a souvenir. Nice touch! On arrival at Gan we were taken by mini bus down to the harbour, this is when I was becoming a little worried. Before we came every one who had been to the Maldives told us about the clarity of the water and this looked anything but clear. The fast speedboat takes about 20 minutes to cross the stretch of water between Gan and Herathera. We arrived at Herathera jetty and again the water was very murky and we could hardly see the seabed because of the quality of water. In reception we were welcomed with a glass of fruit juice whilst we filled in some paperwork, which had a number of legal clauses on. I wish I had read it properly but after nearly 24 hours of travelling I just signed. I still do not know what was on there so anyone who is going do read it properly! We were then taken on a small buggy to our Jacuzzi Beach Villa (JBV). Near reception is a large lagoon, which has green stagnant smelling water in. The road through to our JBV was made of sand / coral mix and either side were piles of untidy rubble. People were hammering away at building JBV numbers 501-520. I was becoming increasingly worried by now. There is a long straight bit of “road” which runs from JBV 317-390 and the back of the JBV’s look like small barracks along it. When we were shown our JBV I thought I was the victim of some sort of prank. Although the villa was lovely its location left a lot to be desired. It was by no means a JBV as there was no beach! There was a tiny gap of about 6 feet between 2 very scruffy looking bushes with a bit of very dodgy sand covered in sea weed and there were plastic bags and bottles in the bushes. The bit of compacted ground between the bushes and the villa verandah had more bushes and trees making it not possible to actually sunbathe as you would have been permanently in the shade. Ours was not the only one. Ok for the wife but I like to lay in the sunshine and soak up the rays. Also the Jacuzzi did not work (there were other problems yet to be discovered), by now I was livid. We went to reception and telephoned our holiday rep . It was explained to her that the holiday was for a special occasion and we were disgusted about what we have been sent to. This was a little uncomfortable as the reception staff were sitting opposite to us as we told her what we had seen so far, telling her what we thought. We asked if we could move to another island and pay the difference in the cost. The rep said she would see what she could do and phone us later. This she did but informed us due to being Easter there was nothing available, however she had secured a villa for us in a better location available in a few days time. We decided to accept so we lived out of our suitcase for the next 3 days! Let me now tell you the positives on Herathera. The staff are fantastic and give you great service. The bar and pool areas are also very good. The food in the restaurant is great especially the desserts! (the flies are a bit off putting though). If I wanted a souvenir from Herathera I would bring the Chef home with us! The all inclusive option is also very good. Now for the bad. All other areas on the island are untidy. I know it is new but there are no excuses for many of the things I saw. It states in the brochure that there are 4km of white sand. This is somewhat exaggerated. You cannot say it has a sandy beach when most of it disappears when the tide comes in. Where there is sand it is only a few feet wide before the tide turns. The majority of sand is in small tiny pieces here and there interspersed by ugly untidy bushes making it impossible to walk the length of the island along the “beach”. So much for our night time strolls along the beach. Even the sand itself has weed and rough untidy pieces of coral or pebbles on it. To be fair an army of people rake the beach every morning but they are fighting a losing battle. The coral shingle is put into wheelbarrows and dumped in the bushes behind the JBV’s. The Sea. When you step in the water goes cloudy as the type of sand at the waters edge is “clay” like, and some areas have algae growing on the sand giving it a green tinge. After you have battled this you come to a band of Sea Grass. (a type of Seaweed). Under the Sea Grass are pieces of all sizes of coral, which make it unstable to walk on. Even worse are the Sea Cucumbers There are thousands of them. There is not a nice way to describe them so here goes, they look like “turds”! Walking to get to the clearer water is like getting through a minefield. When you get there it is not inspiring as there are hardly any fish to see. You will see far more on Sainsbury’s fish counter at closing time! Nobody ever went into the sea between the jetty and JBV 401 (a distance of about 1 mile) while I was there which just about sums it up. There is some snorkelling on the southern area of the island past JBV 410 which leads me to another problem. About 100 metres past JBV 410 is a stretch of sea shore (they probably count it as a beach), which must have a mini skip full of rubbish on it, plastic bottles, bags, cans and general floxam. No attempt was made to clear or tidy it up, and as it was the only way to get to the snorkelling area people saw it every time. It is a shameful site, and is a disgrace not just to Herathera but the whole of the Maldives. Outside of the restaurants again is strewn with rubbish. There were 2 pieces of plastic bags laying on the ground for our 2 week stay and were still there when we left. The view from our dining table when the tide went out was pure rocks edged by bushes with carrier bags hanging from them! By now I was beginning to think they were carrier bag bushes, unique to Herathera. To sum up, I have always wanted to go to the Maldives and now I am home I am thinking I still haven’t. If you are prepared to travel almost 24 hours door to door and just lay around the pool because the sea and so called beaches are rubbish, then good luck to you. Just take full advantage of the all-inclusive as I think some of the other people who have written clearly have .It’s a bit like a kid wanting to go to Disneyland all their life and when they get there the theme park is shut down. You may as well pay half of what we did and go to the Canaries this time of year. It is not worth the effort to get to Herathera. On the journey back to Male you again fly over the other beautiful islands and this made my wife break down in tears, I could have as well - I certainly felt like it. Even on the plane back to the UK we sat next to people telling us how lovely their islands were, little things like having a beach, clear sea, fish and not wanting to get out of the sea as it was all so nice. I felt like hanging myself. I am not the only one to complain. The holiday rep was handing forms out like confetti, and not just the UK rep. All of the other tour reps were having problems. Some were offering refunds others have stopped sending people or certainly giving them the chance to cancel. We were told that one honeymoon couple moved island after 3 days and other European holidaymakers who spoke English also said they were very unhappy with things. Lots of us have exchanged email addresses so we can keep in touch with our claims as we all feel the victims of some sort of “con”. The description in the brochure is fabrication and it’s a wonder they do not say you can see the Eygptian Pyramids on a clear day. The photographs on the Herathera Website near the pools areas looking out to sea are true, it looks like that but the sun on the water does not tell you what is under there or the plastic bag trees either side. There are about 120 JBV’s, of this only about 20 of them have any sand in front of them, and look like the brochures. If you have the chance then I urge you to cancel, if it costs you some more then so be it as it will be worth it. If you are going, buy some rubber water shoes. My wife purchased a pair from our local Sports Soccer store and which cost only £2.99. They are about £40.00 in the gift shop! I paid a lot of money for a holiday of a lifetime. It’s the sort of place only worthy of a “last minute low cost” type holiday. It will never be a top class resort unless they can do something about the environment to make it as good as tourists going to the Maldives expect. I will post some photos to show you how it looks.

We are currently at Herathera, staying in a beach villa (their lowest grade of room). We booked flights with Thomson and booked the room directly with the resort. We've been to the Madlives 4 times before, so we can make honest comparison with other resorts, and the overall message is that Herathera is right up there with the best of them. First let me say the thing that makes this island special: its built by the people of the maldives, staffed by people of the maldives and 55% owned by the people of the maldives (who had the option to but small packages of shares, and now 10% of maldivans have a stake in the company that built Herathera and is building 14 other resorts). The workers are recruited from Gan, and can go home to visit their families more than once or twice a year. The location was decided upon to try to reverse the trend of all working age people leaving the populated areas for resorts or Male to work. The materials wherever possible are local, and they haven't done wholescale landscaping, pumping of the sand, or other environmental damage. They also have environmental policies that minimise damage in other ways: aircon that turns off if doors are left open, linen laundered on alternate days, only used towels washed, and toiletries topped up into ceramic containers rather than given out in daily plastic containers. So, if you want to be a bit more ethical in your trip to the Maldives, then this is the place to come, but in other ways you don't have to compromise at all. The island is south of the equator, near to Gan (if you search on google earth Gan is marked but the island itself isn't) and you have to take a domestic flight after you land at Male. We had a wait of about 90 minutes, but in a pleasant air-conditioned lounge with free internet point, before the flight, which took 90 minutes. This is longer than transfers to other resorts, but you do get spectacular views of the atolls and the 16 seater plane was very comfortable. There is then a short speedboat trip to the island, of about 20 minutes, in a brand new smooth boat. On arrival they knew exactly who we were, the room was ready, and the customary cold drink and flannel was provided. The room was very modern and pleasant, just as pictured on the hotel website (we are in the low 100s, near the reception and spa). There were tiny details where the polish was missing, but the overall impression was great. The room is spacious, the aircon really works and is nice and quiet, there is a small dressing area with a fridge, free bottled water every day and a giant open bathroom with a walled outdoor sitting area. The front of the bungalow opens out with full height windows onto a decked area with seats and sunloungers (all hardwood, with fabric cushions, no sticky ugly plastic) and onto the beach and a view of the lagoon. The beach is soft white sand, and the sea warm as bathwater and clean, though there is seagrass floating and drifting up onto the beach. We've seen small fish, white tipped reef sharks (the tiny ones, they are harmless) and a pink moray eel from the beach in the last 24 hours. There is a free boat trip twice a day to local snorkelling sites, with guides and the boat stays alongside so you can return if you are tired at any point. There are also flotation aids if you want them. The coral here was spectacular, better than any of the other 4 islands we have been to, due to the lack of damage and the presence of a greater variety of soft corals. We also saw dolphins from the boat when returning to the island, and they say 80% of evening trips see them here. The water was very clear, and the overall snorkelling experience was one of the best we've had. The spa was lovely, really luxurious and professional, with home made lemon drink beforehand and ginger and lemongrass and honey tea afterwards. An hour of Balinese massage cost me $55 (under 30 pounds at current exchange rate) which I thought was very good. Food at the restaurant is very good, with a wide range of choice and it changes every night. There is a range of salads, soup, breads, fresh fish, several meat dishes, curry, rice, pasta, and a fantastic range of desserts. As a vegetarian my choice is somewhat limited, but there has always been enough to satisfy. My only grumble is that its quite westernised, as I'd like more coconut, spices and local recipes. The dive school is new, well-equipped and friendly. I'm getting one to one tuition for a very reasonable price compared to other resorts (full PADI open water for $600). There are several restaurants, bars and other facilities, and all look smart and have great service. The pool at the Dhoni bar is massive (bigger than a standard 25 metre pool back home) and pristine, with extensive decking on which to dry out. I can honestly say that so far I've seen less building work than on any other island I've visited! I've not heard any either, and everything around our area looks complete. They tell me that they are finishing work on the last few rooms, but they clearly aren't running at full capacity yet. I haven't walked the full 4km of the resort yet, but I'll do so in the next few days and keep an eye out as to whether our section is typical, but I haven't heard people complaining. The island isn't the Maldivan standard of a little circle in the sea, its a long thin projection with one rocky side with breaking waves and the other a shallow lagoon, and on the island there are some large pretty lakes, so there are some mosquitos (I'm allergic, so I brought repellant and antihistamine and they haven't been a problem at all). Other guests appear to be German, Russian, Japanese, British and French (in that order). I think that is due to low/adverse publicity, which is actually outdated now, so take advantage of the low rates while you can!

have just returned & can honestly say bar staff-herath, latik,ruwan & jude are superb,went out of their way to make us welcome. all inclusive, well! you are not made aware that you have to ask for sandwitches cakes etc, in the dhaorra bar, nor that you are entitled to cocktails of the day,-as many as you like. another little known fact-the bar boys share all tips ()they don't get that many where as the bar waiters get lots '&' shove this in the face of the bar boys, so if you are going soon please tip the bar boys seperately, they work extremely hard. the island-the roads are well worn & now pot holes are beginning to appear, there is rubble heaped up throughout the island, there is a constant stench round jbvillas 390-400 & 320-390. the steps to the rear of the dhaorra bar are insecure & on a slant, there are still no a la carte restaurants, the badmington court is on rock hard ground with a sleight covering of sand-the court lines are actually tape pegged to the ground. there is no football pitch, no jewellery shop, no designated entrance to the kheema restaurant-you have to weave past other diners to get to the food & your own table. the tide last week came over both sides of the island & only left a 8 metre strip of dry land, the poor buggers in 390-400 had to try & heap sand & coral up to stop the water going round the villas-with no luck. the house reef is crap but they do take you to other areas for snorkelling etc. Be advised this is not like other maldivian islands-there are not lots of shoals of coulourfull fish, although i did see a turtle. if you go to jbvilla 410 then directly behind it go through the trees there is a little bay section where there were approx 15 black tipped reef sharks robinson crusoe island can be walked across to _water knee deep_just go south past 410 for about 50 metres, its a tip. the resort shop is extortionate, £2 flip flops were 40 dollars, beach shoes $60. there are large red ants in the jacuzzi areas,they give a nasty bite so spray them dead!, entertainment-disco, local singing/dancing, crab races & movie night, its o.k the villas are large & accomodation is overall 'good', the island could have been so much better with just a little more effort-villas 500-520 are still being fitted out, there are large sections of the island with no beach,the sea grass is thickest adjacent to 320-390 & smells at low tide, sea sluggs are huge & plentiful, the buffet-food is nice but a downside is that the flies think so too-only the hot foos is covered lots of flies on everything else. the hays & jarvis rep was more concerned on finding out if a manager coming to view the island was 'important' than caring for our needs, Baqnyan tree resorts have now bought the island as of ther 121/03/2008-they intend to close it demolish & start again.I wouldn't reccomend this as a luxury holiday it is a 2+ star resort with 4star staff. you do have nice accomodation food & bright sunshine-can be had much closer to home for half the price

we agree with the couple who was celebrating their 25th wedding aniversary and 50th birthday. we were there at the same time the staff,food and accomodation were brilliant. we had trouble with the dvd and hairdryer and they came in the morning and sorted both. the building work is far away from the accomodation and no noise was ever heard. it definatly was not a dump. there were 2 beautiful pools and because the island is big and not over populated it is very peaceful and relaxing. this was our 2nd time in the maldives at the first resort we could see fish and other sea life from the waters edge but at this resort you had to go further out before you saw anything. i would not cancel if you have booked to go. steve and lesley from east yorkshire

If you have booked to go to this resort - cancel immediately. If you are expecting white sands and clear blue sea or a resort that looks anything like what you might expect from a resort in the Maldives you will be sadly disappointed. I am devastated. I arrived yesterday and the places can only be described as a dump. There is no landscaping as such and masses of building work still going on. The "4km of white sands" in the holiday brochure looks like complete fiction - we have a jacuzzi beach villa and we don't have any beach at all! Neither do we have a working jacuzzi - that doesn't work, neither does the DVD player, neither do most of the plug sockets. Complained to our travel company within an hour of arriving but being Easter there is little chance of being moved. Will probably write a longer review and post some photos at a later date. In the meantime don't beleive the positive reviews on this site or Herathera's own forum - those people must have been taking too much advantage of the all inclusive bar!!!

Have just returned from a wonderfull two week holiday on Herathera! Like the previous travelers review we decided to go despite the mostly negative reports and we are so glad we did! The resort is not perfect in some ways but the people and staff made up for this. The staff are excellent and can't do enough for you and the food is superb. We were on the south of the island in a jacuzzi beach villa in the mid 300's. These are the the start of the best situated villas on the island with the 390's and the 400's being the best situated for the beach settings and location to the bars and the restaurant. The villa itself was spacious and well equiped and kept very clean by our wonderfull room boy Rasheed. I experienced the Spa on my birthday which was wonderfull and also the lobster dinner which was made even more special by our superb waiter for the whole of our stay whose name was Ibrahim. He decorated our table with flowers which were stunning and gave us excellent service throughout our 2 week stay. The rest of the staff in the restaurant were great and a special mention must go also to "the little ray of sunshine" who chased us for our signatures every day for drinks and also to the cutie known as Hamy. The island is quite large for the Maldives and we hired bikes for the duration of our stay which were great fun and much needed for getting to and from the restaurant quickly at breakfast and lunch and also up to main reception when needed. The resort has a couple of small buses and golf carts which run the length of the island on a regular basis and you can flag them down. You can also ring reception and order transport if needed at a particular time of day. The snorkelling is not the best in the Maldives were were told but my husband enjoyed this and snorkelled on the daily organised trip and also from the beach. The reports of sea grass at the resort are true but this is a natural phenomena and staff clear the beach every morning of any that has been washed ashore. Sea cucumbers are present in large numbers and aqua shoes are recommended for the fine coral sand. These can be purchased in the resort shop along with a small selection of toiletries and suncreams in case you run out. I would definitely recommend that you check with your tour operator on the transfer waiting time for your small prop plane journey from Male as we had to wait another 5 hours for this which was not stated in our itinery and made a long journey even more tiring. If you want the Maldives experience but do not want to be bored and want a more active holiday then we recommend Herathera because of its size and facilities.

Have just returned afetr 2 weeks on Herathera Island Resort. After all the trouble we decided to give it a go and what a experiance. The accomodation was first class and the food was excellent. There was still some works being carried out but not as you would notice. There still is some problems with the sea grass and you do need reef shoes but there is a good house reef which you can go by boat every day if needs be, there is also a good diving school. On the whole an excellant holiday.

Just returned from two weeks on Herathera Island, staying in beach villa with two children. The geography of this island is such that the east side has strong currents and is very rocky so there's no real beach to walk on and the sea is too rough to swim in. The west of the island has a narrow strip of coral sand beach (not powder white sand) that can almost disappear at high tide. The lagoon seabed on this side of the island is currently covered in a significant amount of seagrass and so is difficult to walk through and not pleasant for children (or adults) to swim in. There is less fish life directly off the beach than we have seen off other Maldivian islands. Snorkelling is limited to a small area off the southern tip of island or via twice daily boat excursions to the edge of the house reef. The boat trips were good and suitable for children but took spontaneity out of the experience. Although they did gave another opportunity to see the many dolphins that frequent the waters around the island. Owing to the small lakes of water on the island there are mosquitoes, so take your repellent. This was particularly noticeable at the spa and put us off a return visit despite the excellent quality of the spa facilities. Our son got 40 bites before we managed to get our hands on some repellent. The Beach Villa accommodation was the best we have had on any island or in the Maldives before. Everything was well layed out and exactly as pictured on the Herathera website. Restaurant food was excellent quality and plentiful, although the experience became tedious owing to no alternative choice of venue. i.e. Couldn't get a lunchtime snack, so had to dress for the buffet restaurant at the designated times. Service was fantastic, particularly in the Dhoni bar at night but throughout the resort generally - nothing was too much trouble. The Dhoni bar pool is far superior in size to the two other pools on the island and perfect for children. Diving in this atoll, we are told, is superb although we only got to experience this once ourselves as there was no advertised child care facilities and we only found out that the reception girls can provide this service near the end of our holiday. Our children also participated in the diving bubblemaker and thoroughly enjoyed themselves - well worth the experience. This is a long thin island with a road that runs the length of it. Buses/buggies trip up and down fairly frequently, or on request, to ferry guests and staff from villa to bar/restaurant as required. You can hire bikes (if they are available) and because of the road it is easy to cycle up and down. It's early days for this resort and they are still finding their feet and developing certain aspects. More good quality sand needs laying down on the inner part of the island to make it suitable for you to walk barefoot. Bar snacks and Al la Carte restaurant are planned but not available yet. It's got great potential as a resort but the beach experience is different to most other inner atoll maldivian islands.

To anyone who wishes to visit this resort it is no where near complete, we have just returned on 16 Nov after being their first guests... WHAT A MISTAKE AND MESS Yes the welcome was nice, ta ra ta ra you are our first guests, then the smell of a disturbed mangrove swamp hit us, we had to walk around with incence under our noses to even be able to breath on this island... Take this post from a couple whose dream holiday was shattered... Words cannot even begin to explain our anger and disappointment. Every person who was there immediately left for other accommodation, screaming and shouting in disgust at the travel agents for even allowing people to go there yet... There are no facilities i.e. shop, dive center, games, bars even the swimming pools are still empty, construction crews and heavy machinery is operation 24/7, our room had no lights, no aircon, the toilet did not work and the Jacuzzi was not yet installed to completion, we did not event have steps to get into the room... Other things on the website that do not exist are the spa, bicycles, tennis courts, badminton courts, well basically nothing is there yet but an incomplete reception area and incomplete rooms. The island is a mess, there is building material everywhere and most rooms have not yet even been started. The resort does not yet even have its own boat to move you around let alone fishing boats, wind surfers and canoes. The entire website is fake, where they got these pictures I will never know, the pictures were not taken at the resort, perhaps only the pictures inside the rooms are real, yet they do not show that the power points are not finished, we had no TV or DVD in the room and neither did anyone else who stayed there and the outside of the rooms have cables and sewage pipes still exposed. We have a mind blowing video of the resort and will be setting up a website where this can be viewed or some other method for you all to see it, it is just that good you have to see the footage of the water shooting out of the non-working toilet... This island is perhaps 12-18 months from completion to a level where an expensive holiday would seem worth the experience and even then it will be uncomfortable to stay there because the island will take many years to recover from the construction... Please I am begging you do not even look at this resort until 2009, you will be devastated by the loss of your dream holiday. On doing some more research on returning the latest press release says the resort will be reopening on 5 December 2007, please just stay away it is just not worth the pain. We were lucky enough to be moved to the Taj Coral Reef Resort from day 3 of our holiday now there is something that works and is what their website says. One small joy in an otherwise holiday from "Hell a Terror"