Reethi Beach Resort

NEWS FLASH: We have a special dive offer! Get 2 free dives, when booking a diving course (boat transfer not included). This offer is valid for all arrivals from the 1st till 30th of June 2015 and for all arrivals from the 1st till 15th of September 2015. Photo by Emma & Adam from the UK.

A Peek in our Guestbook

We spent a week at Reethi Beach Resort early March 2015 and I just want to say that it was absolutely amazing! It was our first time in the Maldives and definitely not the last one at Reethi Beach. The food (full board) was delicious, the room (water villa) was spacious and very comfortable - with a stunning view of every sunrise and the site and activities are simply great! We saw turtles, reef sharks (not dangerous and very cute) and rays! Exactly what we hoped for! Everyone working for/with the company is very respectful of the marine life and natural environment and I think this is also why RBR is so great. I recommend the place to everyone and I can’t wait to go back! Thank you RBR team! 

OUR LONG BEACH ICE TEA RECIPE Available at our bars! INGREDIENTS (1 measure = 25 ml)

½ measure tequila

½ measure gin

½ measure vodka

½ measure triple sec

½ measure white rum

1 dash lime juice

150 ml cranberry juice

lime slice or wedge and cocktail cherry as garnish

PREPARATION

News from Barbara our resident marine biologist. Reethi Beach is moving forward to establish a role model for environmental friendly tourism in Maldives. What has happened so far on the island? Every Wednesday Liko (Marine Biologist, Sea Explorer) and I (IUCN, Resident Marine Biologist) arouse enthusiasm for the marine life in the main bar. Guests can intoxicate themselves on how baby turtles communicate with each other in their eggs or how manta rays make love. But not only guests are learning more: the dive school staff receives specific training on the marine environment and the entire resort staff has participated in an extensive environmental awareness training, thereby learning about the importance of taking care about the environment. With the help of our Engineering Team we managed to substantially improve our sewage system, assuring further protection of our close-by reefs. Our Resident Marine Biologist in cooperation with the maintenance team are currently installing new snorkel channels on the East side of Reethi Beach, which allow our guests to safely swim through the reef, thereby assuring that corals are not being damaged by careless reef walkers. Our island shop is slowly removing all marine souvenirs such as shells or pearl. In case you were planning to take some marine “memories” back home it is important to understand why we are against this practice on Reethi Beach. Collecting shells and coral pieces are harmful for the environment because certain changes in the ocean’s chemistry are related to the removal of thousands of tons of shells from the ocean’s chemical cycle every year; further hermit crabs have to live in plastic nowadays because they hardly find suitable shells anymore. And we have more recommendations for your next vacation on Reethi Beach: Soon we'll offer reef-safe sun cream on the island. Annually roughly 6000 tons of sun cream end up in the ocean; and sun cream kills corals!  And before your holiday ends  “fly your trash back home”! We recommend our guests to take every rubbish back to your country of origin to leave nothing but footsteps and memories behind on our beautiful island Reethi Beach.

News from Barbara our Resident Marine Biologist.

Oceans are the true heart of our planet Earth. They regulate our climate, they reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, the phytoplankton in them produces between fifty to seventy per cent of the oxygen we breathe (!!!) – and most likely life itself derives from the deep blue waters. 

Everything in the ocean is linked to everything else and the resulting complex ecosystems even scientists will sometimes find difficult to understand. And just like with the “butterfly effect”, even slight changes  within an ecosystem may negatively affect many functions within this network and may even impact larger ecosystems throughout the entire ocean. 

One example for such an ecosystem are the coral reefs, the so-called rain forests of the sea. Although coral reefs cover less than one per cent of the ocean floor, they are home to about a quarter of all marine species. This makes them highly valuable for the marine life, but also for us humans – for food and medicine as well as for recreation. 

In cooperation with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Reethi Beach is currently developing and implementing a Marine Managed Area around the island – a concept to be replicated throughout the country in order to increase the overall expanse of protected areas. For this we need to monitor the entire reef and identify zones which require special protection. Certain areas will then be marked as off-limits to allow baby corals to settle down undisturbed and broken corals to recover. 

To gain an insight into the development of the health of the reef, our Resident Marine Biologist Barbara has already installed sedimentation traps to measure and monitor changes among the coral colonies.Additional signage and information by the snorkel entries as well as an environmental information booklet currently in production are aimed at increasing awareness among guests and colleagues. 

Unfortunately much of the coral cover around the island is still severely damaged by ill-informed snorkelers and swimmers.

This Sunday, June 8th, it's World Oceans Day! People around our blue planet celebrate and honor the ocean, which links us all. Be a part of this growing global celebration!  SeaExplorer Dive Centre Reethi Beach Resort organises the turtle experience: An evening presentation by the resident marine biologist, followed by an excursion to the local turtle reef (Fonimagoodhoo Island). The latter will raise funds for the resort’s own environmental and social fund for the support of local islands in order to reduce their environmental impact.