We have just returned from an amazing 2 weeks cruising on yasawa princess around the south ari atoll and the south male atoll, stopping off at sandbars and small islands for swimming and snorkelling (or diving if you wanted this). Although, for the price, we expected few frills actually we were pleasantly surprised: Captain Ahmed and his crew could not have done more to make our stay special and enjoyable; from the chef who cooked our eggs each morning, to the bar staff, the room boy, the dhoni crew who helped us on and off the boats (and sorted out the messy bits whilst night fishing) and especially Sophie the tour rep who paced up and down the beaches watching out for the snorkellers safety, making sure we drank enough water, and arranging quizzes, crab racing ( yes, we did return them to the beach we collected them from!) and other entertainment.
Although not guaranteed of course, we saw amazing (Im running out of superlatives!) coral gardens and all the fish on our list wed seen before and were favourites and some that were new to us (I found Nemo!). One evening night fishing we saw flying fish, a turtle, two manta rays, dolphins and a beautiful sunset; my husband caught 3 fish -some caught were eaten at the beach barbecue!
We also met some lovely, fun people, which meant we had a great time; about 30% were repeat bookings, some meeting up with friends made in previous years, which speaks volumes. Guests were mainly British, aged between 50 and 65 but for one of our weeks there were 2 swedish girls (what a great laugh they were) and an Australian couple.