Best of the Maldives: Sauna/Steam View – Velaa

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Velaa - spa steam view

If you are into steamy views, then Velaa’s spa is the just the vista (though the guy in the official picture below seems to be enjoying more of yesterday’s kind of view than the outside beauty of the Maldives)…

Most spa amenities like the steam rooms and saunas are tucked away in the back recesses of the facility. I guess the conventional thinking goes that people want privacy and the focus of the room is enclosing heat. As a result, the more closed off, then the easier to pull off. I have to admit, that a sauna and steam can get a bit tedious. Yes, I realise that I could just enjoy the sensually soothing heat, but I still find staring at four walls a bit tiresome.

Velaa’s spa is one of the most inspired that I have been to in the world never mind just the Maldives (which is, admittedly, turning into a bit of a global spa smorgasbord). I’ve already featured its beachside blizzard “Snow Room” and “Spa Pod”, and my recent visit turned up several more distinctions like this post.  You don’t have to sacrifice enjoying views of the Maldive water as you can sit with in the steam room gazing out at the sun drenched, azure-dappled sea.

Today is just the day to highlight Velaa’s spa. Because today IS the “future”. Well, “Back to the Future Day”. The long anticipated “Back to the Future” day that Marty McFly travels to in his DeLorean. And, Velaa is the DeLorean of Maldives resorts with its sleek, edgy, innovative design. Furthermore, it is arguably the most futuristic of the Maldives resorts with its space-age “Spa Pod” and its alien-spaceship-like Tower (another inspired vista). And, like Velaa’s stylish guests to its steam room, the car arrives and departs in a cloud.

 

Velaa - steam room

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Best of the Maldives: Albino Moray – JA Manafaru

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JA Manafaru - albino moray

Today’s creature feature was brought to our attention during our visit to JA Manafaru and stopping by the Sun Diving centre there. They were exceptionally helpful orienting me to the dive sites in the surrounding Haa Alifu atoll and helping to fill out the dive site database with info and material.

The dive centre manage alerted us to many wonderful sites (as well as the scourge of Crown of Thorn Starfish hitting many Haa Alifu reefs), but none so colourful as the colourless Albino Moray at Kurolhi Thila. You will have to be a bit of a mini-Ahab to spot this white wonder as it moves around a bit, but it is regularly spotted (that is, seen not complexion). But it never moves from the thila and has been seen there for years.

Today’s feature was inspired by the second consecutive “Bad Pun Monday” (and, in fact, prompting me to add a new Category tag “Bad Puns”).

Wait for it…

Smile

Bad Pun - Moray

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Best of the Maldives: COTS Removal – Anantara Dhigu/Veli

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Anantara - COTS

Be a star to the reefs! Just don’t be a star-fish. Specifically, a Crown of Thorns Starfish. This is one reef species that has had a bit too much reproductive success of late. This scourge was highlighted to us during our recent tour when the marine biologist at Zitahli Kudafunafaru noted a number of Noonu reefs that had been decimated by these coral-carnivores.

The main cause of the outbreak appears to be a decline in their natural predators, especially the trumpet triton and helmet snail, which have attractive shells that are collected and sold.

So a number of resorts a moving into action to reduce their numbers. Lily Beach’s ProDivers held a COTS collection which gathered 92! Their spiny “thorns” a venomous so people can’t and should not touch these creatures if they happen on them. But Anantara Dhigu and Veli are giving guests a chance to get involved with this eco-battle….

“Anantara Dhigu and Anantara Veli Resorts…will be hosting a team of marine biologists from The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) 26 October to 1 November 2015. Led by Chief Scientist Dr Andrew Bruckner, the team of four researchers will be conducting a Starfish Control and Removal program, known as SCAR. The program consists of three main components, the removal of coral reef predator Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS), quantitative reef surveys, and data analysis…Offering a chance for a diving holiday with a difference, guest divers will gain an understanding of some of the different species on the reef, the relationships between corals, fish and other organisms, how these maintain healthy reef systems and what happens when something goes out of balance. Removal of COTS directly saves and protects the reefs and with each dive, guests can learn about one of the very few predators of coral, and one of the most interesting reef inhabitants. Through engagement with the researchers, divers will witness firsthand one of the most severe threats affecting our reefs today.”

The vicious and life-threatening battle with armies of armoured creatures comes to the Maldives in their very own epic “Game of Thorns”.

 

Anantara - COTS removal

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QI – Part Sex

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Ribbon eel

“On the reef, there is not only competition for living space, but a continual contest…it’s the arms race between them that…has produced today’s extraordinary diversity of form.” – David Attenborough, Blue Planet

Q: What small creature lives in a colony, has a “queen” who is the only one to lay eggs and others are specialized to perform particular tasks?
A: Bees?
Q: Buzzzzzz – Wrong. Sponge Shrimp. The piece below from BBC’s extraordinary “Blue Planet” provides a glimpse into the hive of activity for these underwater eusocialites.

This week, the crackerjack of the counterintuitive, Steve Fry, has announced his plans to step down from his iconic BBC series, QI. He will be replaced by a new queen bee/shrimp, Sandi Toksvig. This post here is the 6th instalment of the Maldives Complete’s special tribute “Maldives QI”. And the Latin word for “six” has provided this inspiration for today’s reef reproductive repartee.

Q: What gender is a black Ribbon Eel?
A: Male?
Q: Buzzzzz – Wrong.
A: Female?
Q: Buzzzz – Wrong.
A: ???
Q: Actually, black Ribbon Eels are juvenile and at that stage of their development, they have no gender. They are believed to be “protandric hermaphrodites” which is a creature which both male and female organs. But the juvenile has neither. It is only when it matures that it first becomes a male of the species. One could say that it literally “grows a pair”. You can distinguish male Ribbon Eels by their blue colouring (see above). But not for too long because as it matures even further, then it becomes a female of the species and changes colour once again to yellow. So at least in the Ribbon Eel world, the females are definitively the most mature beings of the species.

“Part Sex” is particularly fitting for the lead photo above where the tinges of yellow on the head indicate that this ribbon eel has started his/her/its transgender operation.

Blue Planet - Social Shrimps

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Best of the Maldives: Kids Water Pavilion – Velaa

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Velaa - kids water pavillion

If the parents want even more time than just dinner to themselves, Velaa has created an inspired kids play area. Protected enough from sun (and even the rare rain shower), but open-air so that the little ones are not stuck in side. Not just a kiddie pool, but a water fountain play area. And this is one pool area where running is allowed. Because Velaa has laid down soft padding across the ground (as well as a sand box area adjacent – see left above) so any uh-ohs don’t become boo-boos.

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Best of the Maldives: Child Friendly Dining – Sun Siyam Irufushi

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Sun Siyam Irufushi - childrens dining play area

Today is International Failure Day! A day to celebrate turning adversity to advantage. There might not seem to be anything flawed about the Maldives paradise, but it just so happens that this subject is my “other” pastime that I research and write extensively about.

Today’s embracing failure award goes to Sun Siyam Irufushi for their inspired kids play area in the main dining restaurant. Under 6’s are welcome to join this colourful and well equipped area right near a group of the tables. That way, Mom and Dad can enjoy their dinner and linger over an extra serving from the buffet while the little ones can frolic in sight. Irufushi also features delightful (and sturdy) kids’ placeware to put a smile on their faces when they do eat (see below).

For those worried about the sounds of happy children disturbing their own meal, Irufushi also provides a few separate dining areas so peace-and-quiet seeking adults can eat there.

I always feel bad for kids in fancy restaurants or holiday spots being under pressure to be extra well-behaved especially at the table. Doesn’t sound like much of a holiday for them to me. I love that Irufushi has decided embrace the failure to bottle up kids natural energy and exuberance and catered for it instead.

 

Sun Siyam Irufushi - childrens plates and cups

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Best of the Maldives: Boat Swing – Centara Ras Fushi

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Centara Ras Fushi - boat swing

 

 

Another land-lubbing dhoni is featured at Centara Ras Fushi for those looking for the gentle tropical breezes to rock their boat.

I couldn’t resist a long overdue post for Bad Pun Monday – A final chant to England’s knocked out rugby team…”Swing boat, sweet chair, (it’s hot!)” Smile

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The Maldive Shark

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Maldives Shark - Sun Siyam Irufushi

[Our own ‘Maldives Shark’ filmed this summer at Sun Siyam Iru Fushi]

National Poetry Day today. The big “Maldives” poem is of course Herman Melville’s “The Maldive Shark”. Coincidentally, the poet of the family, our daughter Isley (herself a veteran of many a Maldives visit and Maldive shark encounters) just participated in a Melville marathon as a part of last week’s London Literature Festival which read Meville’s classic “Moby ” over 4 days.

Melville hailed from my home state of Massachusetts, USA and also shared my fascination with both the ocean and world travel. He hopped a merchant ship when he was 20 (the same age I ventured to Togo, West Africa). But it was his time on the whaling ship “Acushnet” (two years later) that inspired much of the masterpiece “Moby ” The travels definitely have taken him to the other side of the world, but it doesn’t appear that he ever made it as far as the Maldives themselves. So his now famous account was likely based on the tales of fellow sailors. The poem reinforces the dated mythology of sharks as a mindless menace, but it is so sumptuously composed, it is still worth of admiration.

The Maldive Shark

About the Shark, phlegmatical one,
Pale sot of the Maldive sea,
The sleek little pilot-fish, azure and slim,
How alert in attendance be.
From his saw-pit of mouth, from his charnel of maw
They have nothing of harm to dread,
But liquidly glide on his ghastly flank
Or before his Gorgonian head;
Or lurk in the port of serrated teeth
In white triple tiers of glittering gates,
And there find a haven when peril’s abroad,
An asylum in jaws of the Fates!
They are friends; and friendly they guide him to prey,
Yet never partake of the treat—
Eyes and brains to the dotard lethargic and dull,
Pale ravener of horrible meat.

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