Best of the Maldives: Infiniti Pool – Dusit Thani

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Dusit Thani infiniti pool

Welcome to the neighbourhood, Dusit Thani.

This week, Dusit Thani opens its doors to its first guests…

Their announcement highlights one of their first distinctions out of the blocks, their infinity pool…

“The resort’s centrepiece is the expansive infinity swimming pool, the largest in the Maldives, a full 750 square metres designed around an ancient banyan tree.”

There is a magical dimension to infiniti pools. The way they seamlessly insinuate themselves into the surrounding landscape. Our most memorable was the Filitheyo pool whose pool edge faces the west making for the most soothing dip at sunset pina coladas in hand. Dusit Thani’s sheer scale amplifies that trompe de l’oeil and it’s island banyan tree adds just that extra touch of magic.

One a side note, my heart goes out to all Maldivians facing this current unsettled period and my hope is that sensible minds and caring hearts prevail quickly.

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Best of the Maldives: Ex Pats – Hulhule

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Hulhule bar

Oxymoron – a word that appears self contradictory. Like ‘losing Patriots’ or ‘local foreigners’. In a world championship every bit as ‘Super’ as the hype (which is a tall order in the USA), the ‘Pats’ (my hometown team) fell short of the mark in the final minutes on Sunday.

For anyone perplexed by why ‘American Football’ (aka ‘NFL’) is bigger than all other sports combined in America, I highly recommend (for those who have access) the BBC iPlayer’s recording of Super Bowl XLVI for an illustration of what makes American Football the sport with the most drama and athleticism in the world at minute 2:17.

For those players making this pinnacle game their career denouement and looking for a place to chill in the Maldives, Hulhule is the place to go for ‘Ex Pats’.

‘Expatriates’ that is. Hulhule Hotel is a popular watering hole for various Male and other island ex-pats and resort workers who converge on the big city. But as Male is dry, the foreigners seek a place to imbibe and the hotspot of choice is is Hulhule hotel which has a liquor license.

So if you want an insider’s view with an outsider’s perspective of life in paradise, then stop on into Hulhule for a chat with some of the semi-locals. 

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Best of the Maldives: Squash – Palm Beach

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Palm Beach - squash

 

Also a bit longer swim away are the world junior squash championships in Chennai, India. Reethi Beach, with its surperb racket sports centre, is a top contender for Maldives squash honours. But Palm Beach features not only a brand new court, but also their own squash pro, Romel Diaz (see photo above) who provide free instruction or playing partner.

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Best of the Maldives: Ocean Swim – W Retreat

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W Retreat ocean swim

Sometimes you want the local island to be just that bit further away…especially if you are an open water swimmer.

Swimming in a lagoon is like have your own, gigantic, tropical fish stocked super-Olympic sized pool. In the morning, it is common to see a guest or two having an early swim to work off the pina coladas from the night before. But of course, you have the entire ocean at your disposal and some ocean-faring swimmers quite savour a broad expanse of open water. A good friend of mine travels across the world for ocean swims with a London group, Swim Trek.

The place to go in the Maldives for an open water swim holiday would the W Retreat. They have already sponsored several ocean swim events including one to ring in the New Year most recently (see poster below). The distance from the resort island to the neighboring deserted island is a marked mile (see photo above). And the route has relatively little current being within the atoll. After the swim, a boat picks them up for a more leisurely return segment.

Peter Foreman of the W describes…

“The swim is about 1.3KM (one way).  I don’t know what that is in miles – sorry.  When we do the swim, it is always one way, we stop on the island and return by speed boat. We do not do this swim regularly for guests – we have always done it just for hotel staff.  On 30th December 2011, we did an event with guests – however, this was a pre-arranged fund raiser event [see flyer below].  So, we would not do this for a one on one swimmer – due to the number of our staff that would be required (doctor, support, etc).  If you had a group staying with us and they were keen on doing the swim, I am sure that we could put it together for them.”

 

W Retreat ocean swim flyer

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Best of the Maldives: Nearest Local Island – Kandooma

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Kandooma local island

 

 

As for intimately close rocks, many islands are just a wade away from each other. Other resorts, companion resorts, deserted islands. But the closest island where Maldivian locals live and work is adjacent to Kandooma. The picture above shows me a few metres into a 50 metre swim to the local island Guraidhoo. The resort will arrange visits a taste of Maldivian life…probably the most convenient ‘local island excursion’ in the country.

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Best of the Maldives: Floor Decoration – Anantara Veli

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Anantara Veli floor decoration

Bed decoration, with petals and blossoms from local gardens, is a longstanding tropical resort tradition practiced with great panache in the Maldives. Kuramathi has innovated on the concept with towel sculptures. And Anantara Veli provides another twist with coral floor decorations (see photo above). They create a variety of artistic greetings to guests using coral bits from the beach.

This distinction seemed appropriate to call out today with the passage of another romantic rock flirtingly brushing by the earth more closely than it has in over three decades – Asteroid 433 Eros (‘Eros’ of course the ‘God of Love’). Mind you, that intimate encounter is still 16 million miles away.

So today in Anantara Veli you can get romantic signs from above in the heavens or below at your feet from possibly the most romantic rocks in the Maldives.

Asteroid 433 Eros

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Best of the Maldives Online: Kids Site – Kuramathi

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Kuramathi kids site

Kaki is not alone in bringing the marine delights and insights home to young guests on the web. Kuramathi’s web site features its very own ‘Kids Corner’ online. Anyone on the Internet can join in the maritime fun and curiosity with material like their interactive ‘Marine Life Alphabet’…

  • “In here, you shall find all those familiar fish you often see swimming about in the ocean in Alphabetical Order, each described in a playful manner. From Angelfish to Zebra Moral Eel, learn the names of the fish and their unique characteristics in a snap! Little guests, have also the chance to experiment with colours, with the new Marine Life Colouring Book which comes as a downloadable PDF booklet. Learning was never made this easy! After absorbing the interesting bubbles of Marine Life, test your skills by going snorkelling and prove yourself the winner when you can name the fish you see!”

Actually, seeing a baby Zebra Moray Eel, at Kuramathi’s sister resort Kurumba, was the underwater highlight for my wife Lori during our last visit to the Maldives. There were wonderful reef sharks swimming all around us, but all she wanted to look at was this shy little black and white stripped critter ensconced in a crevasse.

Kuramathi Kids Corner Zebra Moray Eel

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Best of the Maldives: Kids Marine Biology – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

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Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru kids discovery room

It’s not just the wee turtles and anemone fish that get special nurseries for their development at Four Seasons, but the littlest guest get their very own special area inthe Marine Discovery Centre.  Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru has put in its trademark attention to detail to a special young kids area of the Discovery Centre with colourful decoration and a hands-on ‘discovery’ tank.  It even has it’s own special mascot, ‘Kaku’ (short for ‘kauni’ which is ‘crab’ in Dhivehi).  Kaku has his own email address, postal address (“3rd Hole on Landaa’s Palm Tree Road”), and Facebook page where he posts his ‘Reef News’ articles.  So kids can keep engaged and keep learning even after their family stay.

“Hi, I’m Kaku – Landaa Giraavaru’s resident journalist hermit crab. Join me on Facebook and I’ll keep you informed of all the pioneering conservation projects underway at Landaa’s Marine Discovery Centre.”

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru Kaku

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Best of the Maldives: Baby Turtles – Four Seasons Kuda Huraa

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Four Seasons Kuda Huraa Nargis Fakhri turtle

A real ‘Born Free’ story in the Maldives are the turtle nurseries that a few resorts support. Our family delighted at the nursery tank that Filtheyo had and visiting it fostered our daughter Isley’s love of turtles and her adoption of them as her favourite creature to this day. But, Four Seasons Kuda Huraa have taken a page from their sister resort of Landaa Giraavaru to creative a comprehensive turtle conversation programme around their newly launched nursery and discovery center.

Kuredu may be the destination for big, monster turtles in the wild. But at the complete other end of the spectrum, Kuda Huraa is now the place to experience these charming critters up close and personal in their infancy. Taking a page from their sister resort’s (Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru) stunning Marine Discovery Centre which focuses on Mantas and Anenome Fish, Kuda Huraa has opened a comparable centre but with a focus on turtles…

“Five of the world’s seven species of sea turtles live in the Maldives, and two of these are regularly seen. The critically endangered hawksbill turtle lives on coral reefs, while the endangered green turtle feeds on seagrass, keeping the seabed healthy and productive. The Resort’s Kuda Velaa (‘Little Turtles’) Protection Programme works with island communities across the Maldives to increase awareness of turtle conservation and protect nests from poachers. The project also gives endangered green turtles a head start in life by rearing a select number of hatchlings from protected nests for up to 15 months to improve their chance of survival in the wild. For the first nine months they are kept in land-based pools before they are relocated to larger enclosures in the lagoon where they will start to forage for themselves on sea grasses, adapting them to the wild. Guests can attend daily turtle feeding sessions to learn more about Kuda Huraa’s most delicate little residents.”

Not just kids are enthralled by these terrapin tolders. In fact, this month’s Harper Bazaar features international model and actress Nargis Fakhri posing with them (see photo above) in her shoot there…

“’It’s awe-inspiring; I feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere,’ she says. Her favourite part of the Four Seasons Maldives at Kuda Huraa is the children’s activities section. She’s also thrilled about shooting with turtles, something that the Bazaar team has captured in this shoot.”

Four Seasons Kuda Huraa turtle

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Best of the Maldives: Dolphins – Rihiveli Beach

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Rihiveli Beach dolphins

The best free divers in the ocean are our aquatic cousins the cetaceans. As I said yesterday, that’s not ‘free diving’ as in ‘free beer’. Nor is it as in ‘born free’. But in Rihiveli Beach it is. Rihiveli have their own resident dolphin pod in their lagoon.

‘Swimming with dolphins’ is one of those magical experiences that are regularly found a top people’s bucket lists. So popular that an industry is growing quite lucratively to provide dolphin swimming experiences. Some of these are tracking dolphin pods down to jump in the water and snorkelling with them. We tried one of these excursions in Mauritius and the dolphins seemed quite bored with our presence and simply kept their distance. Because of the dolphins independent mindedness, another popular alternative is swimming with dolphins in captivity. Either in large swimming pools or enclosed ocean spaces. The Maldives has approved a Dolphin Lagoon, the website for which was launched yesterday.

Such a facility has stirred, and always does, much debate about the ‘zoo issue’. The arguments essentially boil down as follows. Opponents say it is inhumane and immoral to extract creatures from their natural habitat and stress them with confinement purely for our entertainment. Proponents say that such facilities allow people to connect with these creatures they normally would not get a chance to encounter which in turns build financial and political support for environmental causes which in turn enhances the lives of the entire animal kingdom. I personally line up on the proponent side. Of course, I am all in favour of regulation and oversight to ensure that the animals’ captivity is as healthy and comfortable as possible. But in our increasingly virtual, urbanized, manufactured world, the more voters (especially powerful ones who take posh holidays) and walking pocketbooks (especially affluent ones who do the same) who have the chance to be enchanted by these whimsical creatures, the better the prospects for their species overall.

But if you want see the ‘born free’ diving version, then Rihiveli is your resort.

(Thanks Francisco)

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