Best of Maldives: Staff Profiles – Mirihi

Mirihi staff

May Day! May Day! Not a call for help (unless you need service from a helpful staffer), but a call to celebrate workers and the contributions they make to our lives and society. Most resorts often go to special measures to support and a highlight the distinctive quality of their staff who are essential to making a guest’s stay the most relaxing and trouble-free. Lori and I always enjoy meeting new folks from the resort and hearing their accounts of living in paradise. In many cases, this internationally renowned destination draws people from all over the world to work here.

I especially enjoyed the Mirihi email newsletter they send out to guests which features a staff profile. A recent edition included intros to Naaz (Front office Agent), Raoof (Front office Agent), Jalil (Front office Agent), Sara (Boutique Hostess), Aulam (Gardener), and Mahir (Gardener). They are all assembled in the group photo together.

On the occasion of labor day, I’ve added yet another category tag to the site – “Maldivian Staff”.

Best of the Maldives: First Growth Wine – One & Only Reethi Rah

One and Only Reethi Rah first growth wines

 

Wines have their own 5-star system to help buyers distinguish between the subtle quality differences. Although in the wine world the “5 star” system is the 5 “Crus” and the grading is flipped (“1” is best and “5” least distinguished). Actually, the full “Cinquieme Cru” is only for Medoc red wines, but other French wines have comparable classifications. The grading follows the property (not unlike resort ratings) and denotes the quality of the vineyard and a wine making operation.

At the top of the class (or “classee” so to speak) are the “1er Cru Classé” (sort of translated as “first class growth”). And at the top of the class in the Maldives for 1er Cru Classé selection is One & Only Reethi Rah. First growth wines on the Island include such legendary bottles as…

  • 2001 Château Latour, 1er Cru Classé
  • 1999 Château Latour, 1er Cru Classé
  • 1985 Château Lafite Rothschild, 1er Cru Classé
  • 1999 Château Lafite Rothschild, 1er Cru Classé
  • 2009 Château Mouton Rothschild, 1er Cru Classé
  • 2004 Château Mouton Rothschild, 1er Cru Classé
  • 1993 Château Mouton Rothschild, 1er Cru Classé
  • 1989 Château Margaux, 1er Cru Classé
  • 2003 Château Margaux, 1er Cru Classé
  • 2009 Château Haut Brion, 1er Cru Classé
  • 2006 Château Haut Brion, 1er Cru Classé
  • 2001Château Haut Brion, 1er Cru Classé
  • 1995 Château Haut Brion, 1er Cru Classé

They even have a very rare vintage of Château d’Yquem – 1904 1er Cru Classé Superieur.

Here at Maldives Complete, the “1er Cru” of all things Maldivian is of course “Best of the Maldives”. And so many vinous distrinctions have come to my attention recently that I have added the new “wine” tag to the categories.

Best of the Maldives: South African Wine – Constance Halaveli

Constance Halaveli sommelier

South Africa Freedom Day today. And no better way to toast the new, modern generation of South Africa than with one of its delectable wines. At each resort we visit, Lori and I always enquire about what’s a bit unconventional and we haven’t had before. And when Lori and I visited Constance Halaveli, the sommelier Cedric Jacob, served up some delightful South Africa varietals including A.H. Badenhorst (see below). We are no strangers to South Africa’s fermentations, but Halaveli’s extensive collection was the broadest we had seen in the Maldives. This vineyard in Swartland, North of Stellenbosch, produces this 9 grape young vintage blend, mostly Chenin Blanc (30%) which is “quite engaging, very complex” as Cedric describes. Constance Halaveli is a bit of a specialist in Southern Hemisphere wines with their distinctive Brazilian offerings as well.

 

Constance Halaveli south african wine

Best of Maldives: Ancient Tree – Kuramathi

Kuramathi ancient banyan tree

Arbor days vary around the world (even with States in the USA), but today is the most prevalent one. Maldives doesn’t have an official tree planting day, but more and more resorts are focused on the environment and engaging in a breadth of flora cultivation.

While most visitors look outward from the beaches at the legendary sea of the Maldives, the interiors of these tropical paradises have their own rich landscape. So much so, that today (on the occasion of Arbor Day), I have added the “tree” tag to the Maldives Complete blog.

One of the signature features as prevalent on the islands as branch coral is on the reefs are the multi-pod Banyan Trees. Their meandering style of growth produces a maze of smaller trunks comprising these curious tangles of growth. Allegedly, the oldest of these ancient landmarks is the Main Road tree on Kuramathi

“Located at the Main Road, this historical landmark is an estimated 300 years old and is a gigantic plant towering 30 metres high. One could wander through the sawdust trail at the entrance and be amazed by the maze of thick wooden barks of this ancient tree, enshrouded in rich greenery. The tree is a nesting place for herons, fruit bats and other animals and is a sight not to be missed. This tree at Kuramathi can be considered as one of the oldest banyan trees found in the Maldives.”

 

Best of the Maldives: Reflexology Walk – Sun Siyam Iru Fushi

Iru Fushi - reflexology path

For a chakra-friendly walkway, Sun Siyam Iru Fushi’s new refurb includes a reflexology path leaing up to its new spa…

A pebbled path winds amidst wild tropical blooms and endless shades of green. Splashes of light filter through the palms, dancing on the rippling water of a gentle stream. Luring you, a faint aroma of sandalwood and jasmine, heady with the scent of the earth. Rounding a curve, a sala appears – a haven of tranquillity, yours to revel in.”

Best of the Maldives: Eco-Pathways – Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo

Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo walkway liners

When the world gives you lemons…make lemonade.

When the world gives you lemonade bottles…make eco-friendly walkway.

One of the more creative solutions to the earth-friendly plastic bottle disposal issue in the Maldives is Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo’s walkways. They have coated their discarded plastic bottles with a layer of natural looking cement and used the result cylinders to make an extensive set of walkway liners.

 

Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo eco pathways

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: 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!