Black Sand Dive Retreat

The resort's main building where guests eat their meals

The resort is built on the hillside

The entrance has a bookshelf stocked with good marine life guides and dive magazines

The resort by night

Room

Walk-in wardrobe

... with plenty of hanging space

Floor-to-ceiling glass doors let in lots of natural light by day

Your own supply of drinking water

Verandah

Bathroom

Very spacious

The toilet is in a dry area

Fluffy towels

Morning glories greet you in the morning

So, if you're looking for a resort which is not big on mass marketing and is not focused on housing as many divers as possible and sending schools of divers on large boats to the same dive sites, plus a resort that offers more than airconditioning and hot running water, this is an excellent place to consider.

The resort is built on a hilly piece of land, with the dive centre on the beach, and the dining area and rooms higher up. Tall coconut trees and morning glory flower beds are everywhere, with expanses of grass and plenty of greenery.

We arrived by road, through a narrow winding one-lane bumpy road (makes you feel like going to the toilet), where speed strips are made of the trunk of a coconut tree sliced in half lengthwise, and if faced with an oncoming car, one car will have to go onto the grass. We drove through a modest gate and all this while we had no idea what to expect when suddenly we're driving up a stone-laid driveway to the lobby and we're looking into the spacious common hall. We got out of the car, walked past a sofa and a tempting book case of marine life books and dive magazines, and then we're invited to sit at the table where we were served a smoothie of banana, pineapple and other fruits.

We filled in the usual forms and then we were shown to our room, by which time I was sufficiently impressed.

The resort's landscaping

Rooms

Black Sand has twin and double rooms, and each room is housed in a cottage which is yours exclusively. All rooms are air-conditioned, and come with an outdoor (but sheltered) bathroom, and hot running water. I can't decide which attribute is the most important, because there are so many. The rooms are very spacious, there's plenty of room to walk around without stepping over bags and things. They're also high-ceilinged and airy, so that you never get that smell of damp air after so many days. And the interior design! I know a lot of divers don't give two hoots about interior design, because you're a very functional lot, but it DOES make a difference and good aesthetics will never go unnoticed by Divewithsus. Most of the wood you see is coconut wood, from the walls to the bed frame and furniture. A lot of that wood came from the resort land itself.

Beds come with white cotton sheets, a duvet (a duvet!!! in a dive resort!!! quite exceeding DWS standards) and firm pillows (one for each person, although on our last night, two more magically appeared)

A walk-in wardrobe (a walk-in wardrobe!!! in a dive resort!!! TOTALLY exceeding DWS standards) with plenty of hangers, two 'rods' of hanging space (sorry, don't know how else to describe it), and 6 small corner shelves. The walk-in wardrobe also comes with a bench which we used to place our suitcase on.

Air-conditioning (split unit) with remote and temperature control

One desk with chair, which we used to set up the camera

One ceiling fan

Small bedside table on either side of the bed and one box of tissue (in a nice tissue box)

Your own 19-gallon water dispenser for drinking water (hot and room temperature), 2 drinking glasses, 2 cups and saucers, sugar (in a container, not in paper sachets), instant coffee, tea and creamer (Tropicana Slim)

Cool tiled floor

Lighting: two wall lamps, two bedside lamps, one up-light above the door and one on the verandah outside (all yellow light). In the daytime, just draw the curtains open and the natural light will flood the room. The walk-in wardrobe has one ceiling lamp.

Outside, there is a verandah with two chairs, a little glass-top coffee table, an ashtray, and a mosquito coil. There is also a wall lamp so that you can see your way to your door after a night dive.

The view from our room

Bathrooms

Two clothes-hooks on the wall to hang your clothes, plus two railings to hang your bath towel and wet swimsuit

hot water (with adequate water supply and pressure so your shower will not be reduced to a trickle when everyone else in the resort is showering at the same time)

sink with wall mirror and two bars of soap (one was mango scented and the other was frangipani)

Sit-down toilet with proper flush

Outdoor (but sheltered) shower with shelves built into the tiled wall next to the shower to hold your toiletries

One nice, thick bath and hand towel per person

Best not to drink the tap water but it's fine for brushing teeth and washing hands

2 rolls of two-ply toilet paper

A mosquito coil

Service Quality

In addition to making your bed and tidying up in the morning, someone will come to your room every evening for turn-down service and to light the mosquito coil in your bathroom and on your verandah. If you're in your room in the afternoons, one of the staff will knock on your door to tell you that afternoon tea is being served. They're responsive too: some water from the water dispenser started dripping onto the floor when the water got over-heated, and once we reported it, this chap came over immediately, knew what to do, came back lugging a new 19-gallon bottle on his shoulder, changed it, and wiped up.