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?
Happy 16th Anniversary to Maldives Complete. The site motors along – resorts sending me material, fans sending me “Best Ofs” they’ve spotted, prospective guests sending kudos as well as queries for their trip planning. It’s still an expensive endeavour for the site maintenance, hosting, and research trips.
One of the costs of its longevity is legacy technology. When I developed it on ASP.net active server pages, it was the state of the art for the web. Now, I needed upgrade my machine which forced me into full 64-bit mode (no more 32-bit emulation), which meant completely new versions of various applications, which meant that lots of the tools I had come to rely on for site development and maintenance no longer worked. So I had to embark on a two-month technical project to upgrade all my tools and the code for the site.
Social media engagement has completely plateaued (and thinking of dropping Twitter, aka X, completely because it is so useless for small properties and just geared to big players (and people kibbitzing the big guys). After the surge of the late teens (2015-2018) where there was double-digit net new (ie. the new resorts minus the ones taken out of commission for refurb or just shut down) resorts online, the growth plummeted during the COVID years, but has now hit double-digits again for the first time in 6 years.
The blogging has tapered to a pretty steady “every 3 days” pace, when earlier in its history it has been mostly every other day and very early, nearly every day.
I appreciate all of the support from the destination fans and industry.
Some of the classiest treatment rooms in the Maldives are situated overwater and feature a glass portal under the treatment table so you can be lulled into more a relaxed state looking at the tranquil waters sloshing about below with its colourful tropical fish cruising by. Joali Being has given its entire treatment a glass floor so you are immersed in the aquatic tranquillity the moment you enter.
Oaga has taken its aquatic artistry below the surface adorning their extensive pool complex with colourful designs and images.
A dramatic art piece is becoming de rigeur for the 5-star luxury properties and I am big fan of creative works which evoke the aquatic surroundings. I really like this bait ball mobile at Heritance Aarah which absolutely evokes the magical shimmer of silvery pelagics.
The more challenges that climate change throws at the Maldives, the more create innovation it throws right back. The latest approach to coral regeneration is Nova’s depth-adjustable coral nursery. Developed by Nova Marine Biologist, Toby Corren with guidance from Dr. Inga Dehnert during the early stages, the depth of the line with the coral pieces are adjusted by shortening or lengthening the ropes attached to the horizontal propagation ropes which are anchored at the bottom with D-ring anchor points. The main objective of this depth flexibility is to help mitigate stress responses from increased sea surface temperatures in the upper water columns, especially during bleaching events. The project is currently focused on fast-growing scleractinian corals, but they plan to expand the nursery to include a broader range of species in the future.
I’ve already highlighted how Fuvahmulah and Pelagic Divers are specialists in the tiger diving experience, but also thanks to Pelagic Divers, you can be one too. They not only offer a “Tiger Shark” PADI Speciality Course, but they were the ones who actually developed it.
We were intrigued by Belize because the coral reef off its eastern coast features islands allegedly the most similar to the Maldives of anywhere in the world. I had featured it in my popular “Maldives Methadone” post. We thought that we could enjoy the tropical island (with diving) holiday while also having a few days to explore the rainforest jungle (a bit like the Maldives+Sri Lanka combo popular in the Indian Ocean). We also thought it would be fun to try a “Maldivian” experience somewhere else in the world.
To remind everyone, the criteria for “Maldives-like” includes:
Why bother with “Methadone” when the Maldives itself offers so many options?
We booked a stay a Ray Caye about 30-minute flight from the international airport in Belize City to Placencia and then 50 minute speedboat ride from there.
What was like the Maldives…
· Blind-Taste Test – If you were to blindfold me and drop me down on Ray Caye without telling me where I was and asked me if it was the Maldives, I would really struggle. It definitely has both the look and vibe of most Maldive resorts. Palm trees, coral sand, azure tapestry seascape.
The particular property of Ray Caye was really like the EARLY Maldives (ie. early 2000s) which might have particular appeal to those nostalgic for the simpler, less-luxurified times. Staying at several other on-land Belize resorts en route to Ray Caye, we started observing that the Belize tourism industry is considerably less mature than certainly the Maldives. Another case in point was that when I was at the World Travel Market last week, they were the only Central American country without a booth. Aspects that took us back a decade or more include:
The mainland non-resort areas of Belize reminded me a lot of Fuvamulah in general development, standard of housing and infrastructure (eg.limited mobile data and wifi, commercial establishments).
The one aspect which actually outshone the Maldives was the coral. Belize is also facing considerable coral bleaching with its hard corals, but its soft coral is the most extensive and varied we have ever seen.
There were telltale signs that this was not quite the Maldives…
As I mentioned, we combined our island stay with several nights in the Belize rainforest, specifically the resorts Caves Branch and Sleeping Giant, akin to the popular stays in Sri Lanka often combined with the Maldives. The former lodges were like screened-in porches in the middle of the jungle which made the connection with the outside surroundings very intimate. Sort of akin to what a water villa is to the ocean, the “treehouses” (more like “treetop houses”) are to the jungle. Instead of seeing marine life around you, the sensory experience hits most at night when the sounds of the jungle are around you. Especially the howler monkeys who sound like some sort of alien space saber tooth tigers when they get into their howling action.
Here is a summary of our week long itinerary (ours was stretched to 12 days for more diving and rainforest excursions) which is a good framework to start from for a first trip to the destination:
One would think that of all places, the relaxed chill of the indolent Maldives would be the last place where one would need help sleeping. But sleep is a bit more complicated than that. Global visitors will confront jet lag. High-powered go-getters can often have trouble shifting gears to decompress. People of a certain age (like us) often suffer from disrupted sleep patterns. And even the blessing of the poolside laying about can make it difficult to get a full night’s sleep because you have rested so much during the day. Joali Being now how has a treatment for anyone who not only wants a relaxing holiday, but also guidance on restful nights even after the vacation is over – sleep therapy: