For that jellyfish-stung, fish-like pucke for your Instagram kissesr, Soneva Fushi’s spa offers lip enhancement treatment:
In a destination where the salutary effects of warm sunshine and remote tranquillity are complemented by gentle waters, wellness spas and programmes are standard fare in the luxury segment. Joali Being is the first Maldives resort to base its entire proposition around the wellness concept. And, the wellness is not just for its human guests, but also for its aquatic ones as well. Specifically, sea turtles who are treated at its Raa Atoll Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Centre (thanks Paola):
And like the increasingly high spec spas of the luxury set, the turtles are treated to their own stylish surroundings with an artistic likeness (the hallmark of its sister property, Joali).
The Maldives is famous for its underwater menagerie of marine critters, but no resort has as many land critters as Oaga. A range of cute and curious animals can be found across the Maldives islands from local flying foxes and push-up-manic litt’l lizards. Some properties have some domesticate imports like cats and bunnies. But Oaga has an entire petting zoo which includes:
One of the lattermost, named “Kiwi” is especially social with the guests flitting about from villa to villa to see if anyone happens to be munching on minibar nuts (which by coincidence we had, so she became Lori’s best friend enjoyed a prolonged and intimate visit for an extended period).
While some resorts have shared a bit of local history and culture with the reproduction of an authentic Maldivian hut or two Heritance Aarah has recreated virtually an entire mini-village. The outdoor exhibition sits on over a half an acre of Walking Pine forest. It includes traditional house (obviously), a school (above), a water well and a structure for food prep that includes a number of ancient culinary tools.
The Maldives is famous for its underwater wonderland, but a few resorts have found a way to expand the limited real estate available to them by digging down for cellars to house wines, cheese and sweets Nika has the most Maldivian underground lair in the Maldives with its underground museum of history and artifcts:
for a short tour, see the video at the bottom.
This post has inspired the addition of a new tag for the blog, “Underground”.
Many resorts feature Maldivian curries, fish dishes and of course the classic breakfast dish, mas huni. But The Standard’s Gudaguda restaurant takes Maldivian ingredients and recipes to a truly distinctive gourmet level. We enjoyed a meal including (pictured)
With the holidays behind us, many of us are plotting our January resolutions or at least recovery from the excesses of the festivities. Joali Being offers and complete “Gut Reset” which is a 5, 7 or 10 night programme with comprehensive catalogue of consultations, meals and treatments – Massage, Detox, Microbiome Therapy | Gut Reset, Wellbeing | JOALI Being:
My gut feel is that this will make your gut feel great.
Oaga has its own colourfully artistic treats right in the villa with its steel drum upcycled minibars and table.
Tonight children around the world will have visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, but the at Centara Mirage Lagoon, they can have these all year round at its “Candy Spa”…
You would think that after 16 years, maintaining Maldives Complete would get easier, but it seems every year it just gets harder. Not because it is growing (actually, the traffic has been pretty constant…another frustration), but rather because I am working harder just to stand still. In recent years, I wonder whether my latest research trip will really be my last. The balance of the considerable financial cost of hosting and researching not to mention the hours of work against the benefit of engaging with the Maldives travel industry as a participant rather than a spectator is getting less and less favourable.
The increasing challenges include:
In many ways, the Maldives has grown up as a travel destination and doesn’t need my help anymore. It is gratifying to receive the piles of fan (e)mail raving about how helpful Maldives Complete was for their travel planning, but crowd-based support hasn’t extended much beyond the kindly worded thank-yous. For the vast majority of people, the Maldives is a once-in-a-lifetime trip. So while they appreciate my help, once they have visited, they have no further use for me. And those who can afford to come repeatedly either (a) like to repeat their favourite resort (saves doing research and taking chances on somewhere new), or (b) have admins and agents to do their research for them.
The net result is that the website is a lot of work and expense for diminishing benefit to me.
I’m not looking for VIP treatment nor blagging complimentary stays (like the hordes of irritating “influencer” wannabes), but it also doesn’t seem right to pay extra (because I end up paying full rack racks and can’t shop for deals) along with added expensive transfers (which run around $500 and I am changing resort every day or every other day) for an experience is not a relaxing holiday in paradise, but instead running around taking photos for the database, researching pieces, getting resort information and material al for the purpose of helping the property and destination.
Patrick Staerke, Jason and Victoria Kruse, Sonu Shivdasani, and Scott Le Roi are old school industry leaders who fell in love with the Maldives long before it was the darling of Instagram. They have been the stalwarts of support who have been vital in keeping the site alive for one and a half decades. Also, the avid fans of the site like Francisco Negrin and Paola Lamperti not only buoyed me up with their enthusiasm for the site, but also helped extensively with the research.
I remain hopeful that the main benefits of Maldives Complete are a valuable resource for the destination and its prospective guests:
So, should I keep it going? Any ideas about how to get more support?