Haven’t Seen Yet #22

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Havent Seen - bucket shower

Lori and I have started packing for Tour #22 on which we embark tomorrow and I have my latest semiannual wish list of things to see which is also coincidentally in its 22nd edition:

Bucket Shower – An al fresco alternative with that Swiss Family Robinson aesthetic that I was charmed by during my stay at Caves Branch, Belize. [PHOTO AT TOP]

Coral Song– Love the idea of the Little Mermaid’s voice rejuvenating polyp undersea audiences.

Ulti-Shower – The Maldives has seen an odyssey of shower revolution from standard showers, to outdoor showers, to pulsating massage shower units, to rain showers. Now the super luxury properties seek out the most decadent amenities and this seem like peak shower technology.

Lighted Whale Shark – I always love me a bit of shark aesthetic an whale shark all the more so.

Havent Seen - Lighted Whale Shark

Whale Shark Fidget Toy – If the kids are getting fidgety while the parents are relaxing, then this might pass a few hours of idle time.

Havent Seen - whale shark fidget toy

Whale Shark Hair Clips – According to Lori, and vital item on a Maldives packing list to pull back hair from the neck to be much cooler.

Havent Seen - whale shark hair clips

Shark Clock – Sharks all the time! (thanks Paola).

Haven't Seen - Shark Clock

Playground Shark – A fun version of “Land Shark” for the kids club.

Havent Seen - playground shark

Remote Control Sand Trucks – One of the biggest myths of the Maldives (and deterrent for stir-crazy blokes, mostly) is that there is nothing to do. Well, this activity for land-lubbers might just keep them occupied for hours.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Health Flow (@health.flow78)

Ocean-Themed Wine Glasses – I’ve seen some amazing wines being offered by the luxury properties, but not wine glasses as appropriately elegant as these…
Havent Seen - ocean themed wine glasses

Face-Printing on Cappuccino – There was a time when we struggled to get a posh cappuccino in the Maldives, but now they are pretty prevalent so this photo-printing machine (printed with powdered cocoa) is a way to produce some particularly caffeinated images for your IG.

Havent Seen - cappucino image printing

Pool Buffet – Floating breakfasts at your villa have become a fairly common (and highly Instagrammed) occasion, but I have not seen floating treats in the main. A great way to serve some treats to the pool loungers.

Havent Seen - pool buffet

Knit Shell Purses – You aren’t supposed to bring home seashells as mementos (hermit crabs use them as homes), but you could bring home one of these even more styling Mali Bags by Rita.

Havent Seen - shell purses

Pirate ship Floats – I always love (a) good float, and (b) anything pirate themed, so naturally I couldn’t resist this…

Havent Seen - pirate ship pool float

Posted in: Lists \ Tagged:

Best of the Maldives: International Personal Chef – Soneva Secret

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Soneva Secret - personal chef

Soneva Secret is Soneva’s completely private island which not only provides its own personal chef for your party, but actually offers 14 (!):

  • “Guests can expect bespoke menus courtesy of their own private chef (there are 14—one for each villa).. We have 14 Chefs de Partie assigned to each of the 14 villas. They each are of a different nationality and come from a different type of cuisine. We will swap the Chefs de Cuisine to offer our guests variety. This level of personalization and destination dining is unique.”

Like having 14 different restaurants on your own islands.

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , ,

Best of the Maldives: Pull Down Hanging Rack – Oaga

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Oaga - pull down hanging rack

One of your questions in our “Interview Game” is “If you could take anything that you saw on the trip home (any size – a piece of art, a device, etc) for no cost, what would it be?” On our Oaga visit it was definitely this pull down hanging rack (that we used multiple times for our wet sim suite). In fact, just today we were Googling these racks as we plan for our utility toom renovation.

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: ,

Best of the Maldives: Escape Room – Kandima

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Kandima - escape room

Many people go to the Maldives to escape from it all. Well, at Kandima they can keep escaping during their stay in the first ever Maldives escape room (or “EsKape Room” as the “K” branded property dubs it).

  • “Featuring exciting themes like Pirates and Jungle where you can solve puzzles, unravel mysteries, and race against the clock for an unforgettable experience.”
Posted in: Uncategorized

Abandoned Resorts of the Maldives

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Recently, a video about an abandoned resort in the Maldives went viral and I was curious to find out which one it was as I have come across several. My further investigation has uncovered five specifically:

  • J ALIDHOO – We actually had the distinction of staying at J Alidhoo went it was in the final stages of decommissioning. Our tour report mentioned “operational issues” as we thought that the property was having a bump in the road as resorts sometimes do, but I guess it never recovered. Our visit was actually quite surreal. We arrived and the marketing manager who had invited us had left the company a couple of days ago and had not passed on our visit details to the staff. So we arrived at the jetty and they were all a bit surprised (but they saw the correspondence I shared with the invitation and they happily welcomed us especially and the island was 95% empty with only a handful of other customers there. The spa was closed and the F&B operation was severely constrained (as mentioned in our earlier report). We were happy to see the place being in the neighbourhood so far up north, but it was a bit of an eerie experience even before it fully shuttered a few months later.
  • ZITALHI DHOLHIYADHOO – The “Out Chasing Stars” blog posted a pretty comprehensive photo essay about this place, “Walking an Abandoned Resort in the Maldives – Out Chasing Stars”, in addition to the video (see bottom).
  • FARU – Faru was one of the earliest resorts in the Maldives and was a renowned budget property (pretty much one of the cheapest resorts in the 1990s), but they never invested in some of the basics (eg. air conditioning) that the new waves of Maldives visitors were looking for and got left behind it seems. I heard rumours of the island being revamped, but nothing specific seems to have emerged.
  • J RESORT RAALHUVELI – This is the one that is causing all the fuss recently with the Kale Brock video (see below).
  • VELIDHOO – I’ve long heard about Velidhoo, but couldn’t find much about it and the video directly below explains why.

   

  

   

Posted in: Destination

Best of the Maldives: Barn Doors – Oaga

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Oaga - barn doors

Another piece of Oaga aesthetic woodwork is something we would love to take home are their bathroom barn doors. In fact, one of the questions in “The Interview Game” is “If you could take anything that you saw on the trip home (any size – a piece of art, a device, etc) for no cost, what would it be?” We couldn’t get Oaga’s into our baggage, but we will be integrating these style doors into our bathroom renovation.

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , , ,

Best of the Maldives: Wooden Amenities – Oaga

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Oaga - wooden amenities

The move away from environmentally unfriendly plastics to more natural materials isn’t just good sustainability, but it is also great aesthetics. I love things made out of wood. Every year, I gave my godson a Christmas gift that was always wood. Oaga is giving away completely wooden sets of toiletry amenities for its guests which are as kind on the eye as they are on the environment.

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , , ,