The word "Resort" can not describe the true experience of the Glovers Atoll Resort.
Please do not go if you are looking for pampering, service, or cleanliness.
Go, because you want a "Robinson Crusoe" experience, you enjoy the feeling of insignificance and isolation, you marvel at the incredible beauty of a World Heritage Site and want to soak it in from a "traveler's" perspective, you want world class diving without the price tag, or you are a seasoned and independent traveler who has no concept of time.
A week on the atoll is actually a long time, believe me.
The Glovers Atoll Resort is a mystery on the Internet. So many people stumble upon their website and search for reviews, but there aren't any that ranks particularly high on the search engine results. You need to dig deep to find genuine reviews. I guess that's why I am doing this.
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Some Do's and Don'ts...
1) Don't stay at the Glovers Atoll Guest House at Sittee River before departure. It's cheap, but not cheap enough for the condition it is in, especially considering that Sittee Toucan is right next door. It's a little more expensive, but you don't have to fight off the mosquitoes at night or swallow the horrible yet over priced breakfast.
I stayed at Tipple Tree Beya at Hopkins Village. It's a 10 minute bicycle ride to Sittee River. It was perfect! The Watering Hole is right across the street. You can sit outside and chat with the locals on fishing, diving, village life while you wait for delicious yet inexpensive food.
2) Do bring your own food, especially in the off-season. If you don't remember a thing from this review, do remember this one. Whether you choose to stay in the cabanas, dorm rooms or campsites, bring your own food. I bought mine from a market in Hopkins village; it had everything you will ever need on the atoll. Buy canned, pickled, or packaged foods, avoid anything fresh. It will go bad in hours. Buy water. You will thank me.
As far as cooking goes, this is what Glover's Atoll provides you to cook. They don't clean it, so it's up to you. Clean it with Clorox (provided) before you use it, you will thank me for that too.
3) Don't be ambitious like me! I wanted to camp. This is a bad idea during the pre-rainy or rainy season. The campsite is tucked in the treed portion of the atoll. Mosquitoes are rampant, and you won't survive. For your own sanity, pay for the cabana. It will make your stay much more pleasant.
4) Do bring Benedryl. Your worst enemy is the sand flies. They hide in your towels, clothes, shorts, t-shifts, and end up on your bed. You will be covered in tiny red bumps. Benedryl takes away the itch. Nothing I brought in my backpack worked, and the local "marijuana" remedy did not deter the buggers either. There is no need to worry about prevention, just bring Benedryl to deal with the aftermath.
5) Do bring a travel size board game or some type of entertainment. I swam, dived, snorkeled, star-gazed, played with hermit crabs, tortured cockroaches and kayaked all day, yet there were always a few hours a day when I was bored.
6) Don't go if you can't share your cabana, dorm, campsite or your bed with cockroaches. Every night around 8 pm, a few hours after sunset, they come out and play. I tried flicking them into the sea, but they just swam back and jump into my bed again.
7) Don't count on anything on the Glover's Atoll website. We were three hours behind the departure time. The owners ran out of water on the second day; hence, bring water. The bread never came until the fourth day, and it was given to us by the real resort on the adjacent atoll. The fresh fish was unreliable, as Warren, the owner's son , seems like the sole provider of fish for the travelers.
8) Don't rent the kayak for the week. Rent it on a daily basis. I rented mine for the week, and sometimes for days, it was sitting ashore. The best snorkeling point is a quick swim away, so there is actually no need for the kayak. If you want to venture into vast lagoon to check out the sandbars and reef points, just rent the kayak as you need it.
9) Do bring toilet paper. They ran out, and luckily, I brought my own :)
10) Do close the cabana doors and windows at night. Thunderstorms can roll in unexpectedly.
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Some Unpleasant Memories....
1) Starving for a couple of days after I ran out of food. The Lomonts had food in the club house, but it honestly didn't look good. I can stomach a lot of things, but this was bad.
2) Running out of water and drinking what the Lomonts said was collected rain water. I've lived off rain water before in my other travels, but whatever this was, it was not rain water. I was charged for this too!
3) Becky, one of the owners, finally arrived on day four with the catamaran. The guests waited anxiously for some bread. Then it hit us....Becky was drunk, partying on the catamaran with her friends, and she forgot both the water and bread.
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Some Unforgettable Memories...
1) Feeling the much needed tropical breeze while eating fresh barracuda and tuna caught in the morning...
2) Snorkeling for hours and hours and hours in total peacefulness...
3) Chasing after sting rays on my second dive, feeling their rubbery texture on my figure tips, and watching their shadows as they disappear into the distance...
4) Sitting in the cabana by the doors, and just staring into the nothingness, while the absorbing the sweet scent of the tropical breeze...
5) The sulfuric smell of the rustic shower in the jungle...
6) Being afraid of tiny jelly fish...more so than of nurse sharks...
7) The glow worms that flash blue in the lagoon at night...gosh...that was amazing...
8) Shivering in my bed when the thunder shook the cabana. It came with such force that I thought it was going to fall...
9) Talking to the teacher from Ohio who was on her fourth week at the atoll. She was going a little mad from the isolation, but still remained charming.
10) Watching the Lomonts. For a week, you are allowed into their lives. Don't judge them too harshly.
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Go to Glover's Atoll Resort. It's an experience. While you are there, the sheer isolation will drive you to think of creative ways to get off the atoll. After you leave, you will die to go back again.
