Best of the Maldives: Channel House Reef – Gangehi

Gangehi channel

For many Maldive aficionados, the holy grail of the ideal idyll is a spectacular house reef. Typically, the best house reefs are on the dot-shaped islands in the center of an atoll as the topology on the edges of the atoll lend themselves to long, broad shallow tables which make for great lagoons, but often hard to reach “drops off” (the defining feature of a great house reef).

The Gangehi resort has a very distinctive house reef because its drop off is in a “channel”. Channels exist all over the Maldives and are narrow water passages between the inside and the outside of the atoll. Gangehi’s is named “Gangehi Kandu” which is the Dhivehi word for these waterways.

Bigger fish tend to like the deeper channels, but being intra-atoll, they should be a bit calmer. Certain species tend to favour outside the atoll and other the inside. But this area would seem to have the best of both worlds (Gangehi also has a sheltered side (East) to its house reef to provide more conventional house reef snorkelling). The resort brochure describes…

“Gangehi Island lies on the north-western edge of Ari Atoll, on a oceanic pass, a natural channel crossing the atoll ring that keep in communication the atoll lagoon with the open ocean. The pass, named ‘Kandu’ in Divehi, has a very high ecological function for the Atoll marine life, as it makes possible the renewing lagoon waters. Kandu usually subject to strong currents, incoming or outgoing depending on the tide conditions, and creating a unique environment great for many pelagic species, and a few benthic species cling to the substrates. Gangehi Kandu is one of the longest channels in the Ari Atoll, with a drift of more than 2.5 km from the channel’s entrance to the end of the dive at the inside of the Atoll. The wall here is quite unremarkable really. There are interesting things to spot such as lionfish, moray eels and porcupine fish but the real action is out in the blue. With an incoming current the visibility can be excellent and the parade of pelagic and local residents, impressive. You might see vast schools of fish like fusiliers and blu trigger fish feed in colliding waters, a number of reef sharks as well as barracuda, jackfish and tuna. Large squadrons of eagle rays are frequently seen here seemingly flying in formation in an unforgettable display. The bottom of the entire channel at Gangehi Kandu is sandy, making it a perfect resting ground for Stingrays, White Tip Reef Sharks and the Leopard or Zebra Shark which is commonly spotted here when the conditions are right. At this impressive sites divers can find caves covered with excellent soft coral, a wide range of colourful invertebrates, gorgonians and sponges. The water inside the atoll is breeding ground for plankton and when the outgoing currents bring the plankton-rich water through the channel into the big blue large and beautiful species like manta come to feed.”

Lori and I had the immense pleasure of snorkelling the kandu during our stay there and Lori then went on a drift dive at the edge of the atoll where she saw black sting ray, octopus, eagle rays, a monstrous Napoleon fish (bigger than herself) and many, many sharks especially grey sharks.

That’s the Kandu Spirit!

 

Gangehi Kandu

Best of the Maldives: Deep Dive – Alimatha

Tim Godfrey Alimatha

April is the heart of cherry blossom season around the world from Japan to Washington DC. And in the Maldives, you can see “cherry blossoms” both all year round and underwater (like so many Maldivian marvels). Specifically, at the Fotteyo dive site near Alimatha resort. Maldives dive author Tim Godfrey reckons it is the best deep dive in the Maldives…

“For deepest dives in the book, I’d suggest Fotteyo for the steep walls and caves, Rakeedhoo for the deeper step terraces and Rasfari for the deeper outer reef and steep outside wall.”

In line with its snorkelling paradise fame, the Maldives is mostly distinguished by its shallow dives. This makes it a great place for beginners. In the Maldives, dives are typically 15-18 metres. By contrast, in North Carolina seaside (where we often vacation visiting Lori’s family), the wreck and megalodon dives go 30-40 metres. Fotteyo is more of a North Carolina scale dive as Tim describes in his book Dive Maldives…

“An excellent dive regarded by many divers as the best dive site in the Maldives. It is a photographers’ paradise and a mecca for marine biologists. This is a dive with many possibilities. The best diving is on the outside corner of Dhiggaru Falhu. Divers can start at a bend in the outside reef where there is a cave at about 30 meters with holes you can swim through. Around the bend near the entrance to the channel is a special place with many caves and overhangs. These caves have a thick covering of wavering soft coral in all colours. They look like blooming cherry blossoms in springtime. Most of the cherry caves are found between 25 and 40 metres.

Alimatha Fotteyo

Best of the Maldives: Transfer Connections – One & Only Reethi Rah

One and Only Reethi Rah - transfer

Speaking of Internet transfers, one of my most productive surprises travelling around the Maldives was the One & Only Reethi Rah’s in-boat wifi service. Transferring between resorts on tour is one bit of interstitial time that I put to good use preparing notes and posts on the tour. Having access to the web en route was a huge windfall for me to make use of this downtime. It wasn’t that long ago that getting Internet in your room was a big deal. I still struggle to get reliable Internet connections (3g. 3G or Wifi) when I travel in Europe on a train or plane never mind a boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Alternative title – “Best High Speed Connection”.

Migration Migraines

website renovations

Resorts aren’t the only ones with refurb disruptions.

You might have noticed a few website difficulties in the past week. After half a decade with hoster Aquest Solutions, they have decided to close their doors. When the announcement came through to me the end of last month, my heart sunk. Aquest have been instrumental in building MaldiveComplete over the past decade. Their technical support has been excellent and they patiently helped when I too often got in over my head with some of my technical ambitions.

I started MaldivesComplete while at Microsoft and one of my motivations in the undertaking was to get my hands dirty with technology again. I started my career on the technical and development side, but in recent years moved more to sales and marketing. I missed working on the inards of computer systems to get them to do wacky and clever things and the new web technologies were too fascinating to not have a play with. I got a chance to work hands-on with a range of new things in the Microsoft stable such as Visual Studio, Silverlight, Community Server, ASP.net, DeepZoom, Bing maps, and Expression.

Unfortunately, Microsoft technology hasn’t risen to the same prominence on the Internet as it has on the desktop. And platform choices I made (eg. Silverlight, Community Server, DeepZoom) have not taken off making it a bit challenging to support at this point.

Fortunately, DotNetPark has comes to our rescue. They offer comprehensive applications hosting services with all of the technology platforms and expertise I needed. When I first found out about the impending migration, I did a fair amount of research first, and they were by far the most comprehensive and prompt in their assistance. Thanks to their professionalism and help, the whole site has more or less moved over just this week. You might have encountered a few error messages and even possible bounced email, but they should have been minimal.

Normal service is not yet fully resumed. We are still troubleshooting a bug which is keeping pictures from rendering in new posts (which I discovered on my first post on the new platform). Also, the Snorkel Spotter is not yet working properly). Hopefully, these will be sorted out very quickly.

As a result of all of the work invested in March on the migration, new posts and profile updates have been limited. Hopefully, once these final niggles will be sorted out this week normal service can resume.

Thank you for your patience.

Best of the Maldives: Artistic Bed – Baros

Baros bed in Lennon Ono

 

Bed piece today. 45 years ago today John Lennon and Yoko One turned their honeymoon into a piece of performance art. Embracing the paparazzi instead of shunning them, they exploited the celebration of love for a performance art piece with a message of love called a “Bed-In” (take off of the popular sixties protest of a “sit-in”).

With the Maldives as the world center for honeymooners and celebrities, I’m sure that a resort here would have been an appealing venue for them in the modern age. And the resort they might have chosen could have been Baros. Know for its romance, its villa beds are works of art in their own right.

Distinctive vienetta canopy, lighted glass décor behind the head board. And of course the hide-away TV.

Bed Peace!

 

Baros artistic bed

Best of the Maldives: Brazilian Wines – Constance Halaveli

Constance Halaveli Brazilian wines

If you prefer your seaside fun in the sun to be more loud, boisterous and frolicsome, then Brazil’s Carvinale starting today offers the energetic antonym to Maldivian idyll. Especially with World Cup Rio just weeks away and the Summer Games in Rio next on the Olympiad calendar, all things Brazilian will have a bit more cachet and buzz these days.

For a taste of effervescent Brazil in the tranquillity of the Maldives, Constance Halaveli’s sommelier Cedric Jacob (see above) offers a distinctive collection of Amazonian varietals which he shared with us during our trip…

“The wine makers that I mention is Lidio Carraro. A pretty new winery because they open in 1998 and a pure family business that we could say ‘Boutique’ winery. What I particularly enjoyed while tasting those wines was the fruit character and the purity of the wine. I love wine that express themselves naturally without adding any ‘make-up’, these kind of wines that you can literally bite in the fruit while drinking it. Among the one I tasted, here was my favorite:

  • Lidio Carraro Davidas Chardonnay;
  • Lidio Carraro Davidas Merlot / Cabernet Sauvignon;
  • Lidio Carraro Agnus Merlot;
  • Lidio Carraro Elos Touriga Nacional / Tannat

It is actually funny but since we were talking about all the things that are going to happen in Brazil, especially the World Cup, I just rode that Lidio Carraro became the official sponsor for this Event in 2014. “

Obrigado!

Best of the Maldives: Helipad – Anantara

Anantara helipad

A whole entourage of superlatives are emerging out of the headline royal visit of Saudi Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz to the Anantara this week. Most amount spent on a holiday. Most rooms booked at once. Tightest security (reportedly staff are not allowed to have their phones on them). But my favourite from all of the reports is the building of at least one helipad for the prince’s helicopter on his mega-yacht (see above). “Helipad” has long been on the “not seen yet” list ever since the surrender of the Maafushivaru Lonubo’s to the inexorable tides. I’ve seen them pencilled in on some of the extravagant resort plans like the one with the underwater golf course, but nothing “on the ground” so to speak until now.

7 Way to Recreate the Winter Olympics in the Maldives

 

Maldives Olympics rings

 

 

 

The Maldives attracts celebrities of all types including famous athletes. After London 2012, a few luminaries like Michael Phelps and Roger Federer popped down for a chill out, so maybe a number of the Sochi stars will now make their way down to escape the chill.

Sochi has shown that a seaside resort can host the Winter Olympics so to make them feel at home why not the Maldives Winter Olympics?…

 

1.  SKELETON – One & Only Reethi Rah

One and Only Reethi Rah water slide

 

2.  SKI JUMPING – Velassaru

Velassaru - jumping

 

3.  BOBSLED – Kurumba

Kurumba - banana boat

 

4.  SKIING – Jumeirah Vittaveli

Jumeirah Vittaveli water skiing

 

5.  LUGE – Gili Lankanfushi

Gili Lankanfushi - slide

 

6.  BOARDING – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru boarding

 

7.  HOCKEY – One & Only Reethi Rah

One and Only Reethi Rah air hockey

Best of the Maldives: Circus – Centara Grand

Centara Grand circus

 

Another performer who has sprung onto the Maldives resort scene with the greatest of ease is Khun Goy at Centara Grand

“Circus Under the Stars, staged regularly at Centara Grand Island Resort & Spa Maldives, has as its star someone who is very well known on the island, for she is also known to guests as Khun Goy, the resort’s leisure and entertainments manager. The show, which is held on the beach, includes breath-taking performances on aerial silks and the flying trapeze. Khun Goy (the word ‘Khun’ means ‘Miss’) first had the idea for putting on shows during the Christmas and New Year holidays, and they proved such a hit with guests that the shows are now regular features, provided free of charge under the resort’s cashless island program. Her real name is Thaiyara Suvan, and she is a super-fit 34-year-old from Bangkok who began her career in the performance and fitness coaching business twelve years ago. She developed an interest in working on the flying trapeze and from that began to work on her skills with various forms of the aerial arts…She joined Centara Grand Island Resort in October of last year, where she teaches adults and children alike in aerobics, gymnastics and yoga, as well as organizing entertainment events.”