Best of the Maldives: Wheelchair – Baros

Baros beach wheelchair

Nighttime arrivals aren’t the only difficult and awkward movements in the Maldives. For many disabled or mobility challenged guests, the ubiquitous sand only makes footing and moving around problematic. Not at Baros though where the resort offers the latest in beach mobility. The Daily Mail covered it in its piece “Meals by moonlight, diving with sharks and rolling on Beach Wheels in the mazy Maldives

“My eyes also fell on another device that looked as if it had been lifted from a Nasa lunar project. Beach Wheels was an aquatic wheelchair, an Australian invention with huge tyres that allowed someone like me to glide smoothly over the sand or be dumped neatly into the sea.”

How people use the beach wheel chair? 

“Disabled guests who asks for the wheel chair are provided with our Beach wheel chair. It has big air filled wheels and therefore is easy to manoeuvre on sand, even on the most soft one. One person has always to be there to push the chair.”

What people have said about it?

“People are really happy about it, as it is incredible convenient for them. We offer it also sometimes to guest, who have problems to walk or are injured – they are really impressed by this service.”

Anything surprise you about its use when you got it?

“Not really surprising but interestingly – even if it was not built for that usage – guests tell us, that they feel like being able to float in the water. It is made of very strong material like fibre glass, and therefore does not rust at all.”

Best of the Maldives: Late Night Arrivals – Conrad Maldives Rangali

Conrad Maldives Rangali - flyme transfers

When you are coming in from all over the world, you can’t always hit the web of intra-atoll transfers just right. Sometimes people arrive in the evening (well, you can’t have every flight arrive in the middle of the day) and that can create problems for transfers with sometimes people having to spend the night near the airport until transferring the following day. Conrad Maldives Rangali has enhanced its transfer offerings, though, to avoid this problem…

“We’re pleased to announce that to make evening arrivals more convenient for international travellers, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island has partnered Maldivian domestic airline Flyme! to launch night-time transfers from Male International Airport to an airport on Maamigili Island, near the resort. The new domestic flights are priced at US$466 for each adult and US$232 for each child. Guests will travel in comfort throughout the 17-minute flight and 20-minute speedboat ride to the luxurious resort. ‘The new domestic flight transfers are designed to eliminate the need for guests arriving from international flights to spend a night in Male, allowing them to arrive at the resort on the same evening,’ said Carsten Schieck, general manager, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. Guests are welcomed upon arrival at Male International Airport and ushered to the domestic terminal where they await their transfer in comfort in a private lounge while the resort’s representatives assist with check in and luggage weighing. Guests can relax and board the aircraft at their convenience before takeoff, while still be assured of the best seats in the carrier and receive VIP in-flight service from the cabin crew. Arrival at Maamigili domestic airport is equally streamlined where guests will be greeted and have their luggage taken care of by the resort’s representatives while they are whisked away under a starry sky in the warm night air to the resort to find their villa and personal island host waiting to welcome them.”

Flyme! also has the coolest Maldives Flash animation on its homepage!

FlyMe animation

Best of Maldives Online: Most Languages – Velassaru

Velassaru website languages

Today is UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day which seemed an appropriate occasion for a shout out to Velassaru for their language rich and diverse web site. Their 8 supported languages far surpasses any others I have come across…

  1. English
  2. French
  3. German
  4. Russian
  5. Spanish
  6. Italian
  7. Korean
  8. Japanese

Oddly, no Chinese which is the very first language that I translated my website into. With Velassaru’s extensive shallow lagoon, one would think it would be an attractive option for swimming-challenged Chinese.

Best of the Maldives: Cheese – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi cheese

Some people opt for a cheese plate over pudding. In which case, Soneva Gili’s sister property, Soneva Fushi, features an extravagant cheese collection as part of its stunning wine cellar. Its 7000+ bottle collection ranks among the best in the Maldives in its own right, but the cheese is truly distinctive. I was alerted to it by a friend and Soneva Fushi regular, Mark Richardson, who raved about the cheese smorgasbourg. Contacting Soneva, their Sales and Marketing Executive Aishath Ali gave me the details…

“At any given time we have at least 30 to 40 different cheeses in house. We get our cheese from a very well respected Cheese Affineur in Belgium. The best Port we have though is a fantastic find – 1937 Colheita from Royal Oporto. We have weekly wine and cheese tastings in our underground wine cellar where we pair ‘Natural’ wines with some of Europe’s most unique artisanal cheeses.”

Selections include Soumaintrain fermier, Roqueforte Artisenale, Livarot, Perail Brebis, Lanres fermier, Maroille Ferme Blanche, Blue des Causses A.O.C., L’Ami du Chambertin, Manchego, Swiss Gruyer Haut Alpage, Reypenaar.

Say ‘cheese’! At Soneva Fushi, that will definitely put a smile on your face.

Best of the Maldives: Dessert Menu – W Retreat

W Retreat desserts

Shocking as it may seem, not everyone wants chocolate for dessert. If you want as much variety in your flavours (and then even more variety in how those flavours are presented), then the restaurant Fish (which has a clever double pier design so twice as many tables are water side) at the W Retreat is the place to go. The pastry chef Sanjit Gupta (see above) has concocted a broad array of taste collections…

  • Strawberry – marinated strawberries, lavender ice cream, vanilla crumble
  • Mango – Swedish toast, grilled mango, mango sabayon, mango sorbet
  • Passion Fruit – passion fruit parfait, passion fruit toast, passion fruit syrup
  • Chocolate – bitter chocolate sorbet, white chocolate coulis, bitter chocolate mud cake
  • Coconut – coconut cheese cake, candied coconut, coconut sorbet, coconut milk jelly
  • Rum – classic rum baba, rum raisin ice cream, lime rum syrup
  • Caramel – walnut nougat, banana parfait, molasses ice cream, toasted brioche
  • Carrot – orange carrot soup, carrot spaghetti, apple dumpling, orange zested yogurt sorbet

Even with the portfolio option to hedge your bets, still choosing is a challenge. They are priced at $18. Sanjit is adding new items regularly and was experimenting with White and Black sesame when we were there.  My personal favourite flavours are cherry and cinnamon so I would love to see what he would do with those.

Best of the Maldives: Chocolate – Soneva Gili

Soneva Fushi Chocolate Cave 1

Happy Valentines Day!

A meal out in a romantic venue. A box of chocolates. How about a meal of chocolate?? In paradise.

Soneva Gili has an Underground Chocolate Cave.  A chocolate lair!

“Our unique underground wine cellar, showcasing more than six hundred varieties of wine from more than thirty regions around the world, has recently had a truly unique experience added. In addition to our artisanal cheese and deli room, you may now also experience our handmade, gourmet chocolate cave. Our Executive pastry chef has created a chocolate menu using only the finest chocolate, with some very interesting and unusual flavours… Have you ever tried liquid milk chocolate with earl grey tea and mango, or dark chocolate with chilli? What about chocolate truffles flavoured with coconut and coriander, passion fruit and caramel, orange and cardamom, to name but a few…?

A fuller list is provided below, but to extend taste sensations, Soneva Gili also couples bottled treats with the boxed ones…

“To further the experience even more, our Sommelier would be delighted to create a fantastic chocolate and wine pairing which may be enjoyed before or after dinner. Wine and chocolate are natural companions; they both have very complex flavours and matching these flavours is half the fun! ‘Sip the wine, let it fill your mouth, note the wines complexity and which flavours come to mind. Now take a small bite of the chocolate, let it sit on your tongue, when it just begins to melt sip the wine again and swirl together with the chocolate.’”

  • For dark and bitter chocolate – Full bodied reds (eg. 2006 Shiraz Coriole, McLaran Vale, Australia, 2006 The Chocolate Block, Franschoek, South Africa0
  • For dark and bitter sweet chocolate – Sweet fortified (eg. Starboard Batch 88, Quady’s, Madera, California USA, Pedro Ximénez, San Emilio, Lustau, Andalusia, Spain)
  • For milk chocolate – Lighter, fresher (eg. 2007 Viognier, Kumkani, Stellenbosch, South Africa)

A sample of the confections includes…

  • Sambuca chocolate
  • Lemongrass chocolate
  • Passion fruit caramel
  • Coconut coriander
  • Fennel seed chocolate
  • Mango ginger
  • Malibu chocolate
  • Cardamom chocolate
  • Cinnamon apple
  • Irish coffee
  • Orange chocolate
  • Green tea chocolate
  • Whisky caramel
  • Star anise
  • Yoghurt lassi
  • Chilli chocolate
  • Mint chocolate
  • Hazelnut chocolate
  • Roasted almond
  • Rum & raisin
  • Calvados chocolate
  • Olive oil chocolate
  • Goats cheese
  • Salted caramel

Travelscore Magazine’s blog has a great comprehensive review of the place (where the pictures are from).

Soneva Fushi Chocolate Cave 2

Best of the Maldives: Infiniti Pool – Dusit Thani

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.

Best of the Maldives: Ex Pats – Hulhule

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. 

Best of the Maldives: Squash – Palm Beach

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.

Best of the Maldives: Ocean Swim – W Retreat

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