For complete protection from trajectory altering breezes, the indoor badminton court is the convention answer. Indoor courts are relatively rare in the Maldives, but Reethi Beach’s extensive racquet facilities includes two (2!) shiny courts with arching ceilings to accommodate the highest lob shots.
While it’s called ‘Beach’ Darts, it’s actually set inside the island underneath of copse of shady palm trees. Admittedly, it’s a bit of semantic pedantry since in the Maldives, everything is ‘Beach’, inside and out. Not just the inside of the island, but even many of the buildings of the best resorts have talcum-soft sand floors.
Not only does the inner island setting keep the sun out of your eyes, but it also shields the match from ocean breezes. Another ‘inner beach’ sport is ‘Beach Badminton’. I’ve come across a few set ups on the proper beach, but Kanuhura has set up on inside for the same protections. The feather-light shuttle-cocks are even more susceptible to breezes which makes the setting superb.
Furthermore, Kanuhura offers other bonus features. First, the ground chosen is a good balance between firmness so you can move easily and soft layer of sand so you can play comfortably in bare feet. Second, the boundaries are marked off with fixed lines to regulation size so you can play a proper match. And finally, Kanuhura offers a badminton player on staff who can provide both a worthy opponent or some instruction.
Smash!
If you prefer your gaming activities more natural, then you can’t get much more so than Mirihi’s unique Beach Darts. Mirihi resort itself is distinguished by its ‘natural’ feel with so much of the island kept in a pristine state unencumbered by excessive infrastructure or artificial contrivances.
Darts are a relaxing game so suitable for the pubs and taverns in which they usually reside. Mirihi’s white sand, palm copse fits that mellow vibe just right. You can have some fun games without having to take yourself away from the gorgeous Maldives weather.
Bulls Eye!
Some of you figured out that Monday’s post had a little simulation in the graphics department. However, if you like your resort experience enhanced with a touch of electronic simulation, the NIYMA is the destination for you. It has a simulator room which a collection of games that include…
Prices range from $35 for 30 minutes to $200 for unlimited use (during opening hours 10:00 am – 11:00 pm) during guest’s stay.
Wii on steroids.
Underwater marvels are some of the signature features of the Maldives paradise. And with the flood of underwater restaurants, bedrooms, night clubs, function rooms, spas, cabinet meetings, golf courses, Christmas trees, art, and even scuba massage, innovative new offerings are demanding more and more creativity. So many are there that I have introduced an ‘underwater’ tag to the blog today (not the natural features and creatures, but the man-made stuff).
The lesser known resort of Maaprolfulshi has tossed its hat into this watery ring with its newly introduced underwater pool. No, not a ‘pool’ that is underwater. That would be just silly! But an underwater pool table. It also accommodates games of billiards and snooker (see above).
Break!
Maybe another title for this post is ‘Best for Easter’. Actually, Soneva Fushi isn’t the only resort with free roaming rabbits. Kuredu also has rabbits, but Soneva is really the most famous. Only for Soneva Fushi has several folks who have been there have talked to me about the rabbits. They even feature the bunnies on their website (see photo above)…
“Every visit makes you feel like a child again. Cycling round the island, never knowing when you might have to swerve to avoid bunny rabbits or lizard…Nesting turtles and bunny rabbits co-habiting happily on a jewel of emerald green in a vast ocean of turquoise.”
“In 1989, Soneva Fushi’s caretaker, Abdullah, gave his son a little pet bunny. The bunny happened to be pregnant, and cute fluffy little babies were soon born. their great-great-great-great-great-grand-bunnines have made the island their home ever since and are now little mascots for Soneva Fushi. Eva’s sister Amie even wrote a book about them.”
There are also lots of accounts in places like TripAdvisor (“rabbits that are everywhere”) and YouTube (see below).
Happy Easter!
[POST SCRIPT] – When we visited Soneva Jani and their bookseller, we got a copy of “Lost and Found in the Maldives” a children’s story about a couple of Soneva bunnies and their adventure on the island (available exclusively on the resort).
From a vibrant online ‘tribe’ to one of the most distinctive resort communities – Rihiveli Beach. Another gem from Francisco (from the same email as the sandbank) also highlights the spirit of openness. In this case, the Rihiveli staff quarters.
“Staff quarters are open to the guests and make a sort of real maldivian villages (only men though) that you can actually go to and interact with the maldivian staff. Like having a local island visit on your resort island.”
We do enjoy the abundant hospitality that flows effortlessly from the Maldivian staff who work tirelessly to make our visits memorable and flawless. We enjoy our chats with them to appreciate more about their lives and their community. Rihiveli’s approach of opening up their quarters would seem to make a subtle but significant difference to the resort ambience where everyone on the island is together.
Seth-urday today.
Probably one of the more bizarre Best Of’s I have come up with. The Best for Seth Godin.
Seth Godin is one of my favourite writers and one of the world’s top marketing maven’s. In many respects, his perspectives on marketing served to inspire much of Maldives Complete. He has written 11 books, a daily blog post and countless articles, presentations and ‘projects’. Most of his work revolves around the notion of finding and embracing your ‘raging fans’ (aka ‘tribes’). And while I have come upon passionate followings for a number of islands (Athuruga, Biyadhoo and Kuradu come to mind) none seem to be quite so fervid as Mirihi.
Furthermore, Mirihi operates and does a number of things straight from many a Godin books that reinforce and foster this fandom.
Today’s Spring Solstice is a traditional turning point to the seasons marking the shift to warmer days in the Northern Hemisphere. In the equatorial Maldives, seasonal shifts are marked more by the change of prevailing winds (especially since the angle of inclination doesn’t change much by definition at that latitude). These shifts typically happen in May and October. But, like this persistent UK winter which is bring us snow well into April it seems, ‘your mileage may vary’.
One of my earliest and most frequented posts is ‘Air and Water Temperature’ which provides a month by month guide of key weather indicators (eg. inches of rainfall, hours of sunshine, air temperature, water temperature). But with the weather such a central part of the Maldives draw (“The Sunny Side of Life” tagline), prospective visitors get even more meticulous in their climatic research. While island by island stats are not available (some people do ask how the weather differs on one island compared to another one a few miles away), there are some web resources which can provide a bit more detail.
The Maldives official government weather website also goes down to the detail of 5 atolls (Weather.com has 4 but omits Hanimaadhoo) –
Thanks to some diligent work by TripAdvisor contributor Maria Eugene, you can get precipitation stats by month for the North, Central and South regions of the Maldives. The biggest difference is looking at the ‘rainy’ seasons (the periods when the prevailing winds shift) which peak around June and November. The designation of ‘rainy’ season is purely relative as I have often explained. We have visited the Maldives in the peak of the ‘rainy’ season and still experienced more sunshine than we would see in an entire English summer (yes, faint praise I know). The key regional variations seem to be around these ‘spikes’ and the father north you get, the more statistical rainfall one seems to get (about 580mm in November at north compared to 400mm in south). Again, these are just averages and statistics and your mileage is likely to vary. Remember the gods of weather are mercurial croupiers with perverse and volatile senses of humour.
Red Nose Day today. No, not a rash of under-applied zinc-oxide, but the UK’s day for goofing around for charity. I love the XKCD cartoon and it’s ‘deeper’ message about how much richness is below the surface. An apt metaphor for the always adventuresome and somewhat mysterious paradise of the Maldivies.
In the spirit of the day, I will donate a £1 for every comment to today’s post that provides something missing from the cartoon above if it were a Maldivian island.