Maldives advice?

[motherofeve]

Hi - looking to go to the Maldives for the first time with husband, kids of 11 and 13 at Easter. We would love a great house reef (fish and ideally turtles?) and a choice of restaurants. Ideally a larger island so there is more for the kids. I did read you need the south Atol for rays? Would really appreciate any advice from the experts out there! Thank you!

Hi, have a look at vilamendhoo. It has an amazing reef, although it has suffered the same bleaching recently as everywhere else. It's in the south ari atoll so you can swim with manta and whale sharks all year round. It's big enough to keep teens busy, but small enough to still feel pretty special. The buffet restaurant is really good, and you pay extra for the Asian wok. The accommodation is really comfortable and quite modern. Plus it's on potentially the best value you'll find in the (generally expensive) Maldives!

Oops, forgot, fish soup and turtles!

Reethi Beach would probably suit you. The main restaurant is excellent, but there are also various a la cartes, though if you are 'all inclusive' you have to pay extra. We swam with mantas there, lovely memory of 7 year old DGD immediately in front of a mants, looking as if it was about to swallow her (luckily they eat plankton not little girls).
Honestly, the best advice is to go to the Trip Advisor Maldives forum, where you will get plenty of helpful and friendly advice, once you have clarified your budget, time of year of your trip and the sort of things you have mentioned here that you want.
There are so many islands that it is very hard to choose and all have pros and cons. We have recently returned from our eleventh visit there on a variety of islands, be prepared to make this your first trip of many.

Also don't leap into booking through Hayes & Jarvis, Kuoni etc - you'll pay more and have less choice/advice. Have a look at purely Maldives, magic of the Maldives and Travellab. Even then make sure you contact at least two of them as some get better prices on different islands (eg one of those agents is unable to sell one of the islands mentioned here at a competitive price). I echo the trip advisor Maldives forum advice...it's generally incredibly helpful and friendly, but does suffer from its own version of mumsnet royalty and sometimes people do get chewed up and spat out (which IMO is out of order).

Check out Kuredu- much bigger than most and a range of restaurants. Went for honeymoon and house reef was amazing.

Hilton Irufushi could work well for you given the ages of your children - it's a slightly bigger resort with more to do.

Yes, definitely get several quotes, add Travelbag and Simply Maldives to your list. I have only seen people getting chewed up on the TA forum if they are the equivalent of Goady Fuckers or ask mad questions such as where to hire cars, having no clue that the Maldives consists of lots of very small islands, one resort apiece.
Kuredu has a complicated system of certain restaurants and facilities only being available to specific types of accommodation. Some people find it an unpleasant form of class distinction, others like Furbys, love it there, especially if it is their first Maldives trip.

Just noticed that you want to go at Easter, in which case you need to get your skates on before availibility dries up.

lol I would never dare to post on the Maldives TripAdvisor forum (maybe I am more sensitive than TrickyD!) but I have researched, planned and booked numerous Maldives holidays using the wealth of information there.