Happy World Oceans Day!
The entire country of the Maldives is celebrating this event including several special activities in various resorts. But the resort that has pulled out the stops is Kuramathi. They are featuring a special complementary dive, an underwater photography competition, and reef clean up. The event is being sponsored by the resort’s recently inaugurated Eco Center as a part of its overall green strategy.
This award could also be called the ‘Driest of the Wettest’. That is, the driest place to be (south) during the wettest period of the year (June).
June is the wettest month of the year with an average of 12 inches of rain. Not to fret too much. I’ve travelled to Maldives in June on several occasions and never once saw a cloud. Same old dazzling sunshine. I kept dreading to pull back the curtain in the morning and see the climate of Macclesfield in January only to be blinded by the sunlight. The other counterbalancing statistic is that the ‘Hours of Sunshine’ is pretty much uniform across most months.
But if you are playing the odds, then June will indeed bring greater likelihood of a dampening to your day. And if you really want to try to outsmart the weather gods, then the south is drier in June. However, the south is wetter in May (so if you were going on 30 May / 1 June, then I don’t know how you would make the call).
‘Goffy’ highlighted this thinking in his Trip Advisor Forum post of targeting regions of the Maldives to try to get the slight edge on even more sunshine. But the big resource is ‘Mariaeugene’s post to TA where she analysed the differences quite thoroughly (see above).
Still, if you want to be as south as possible for whatever reason, then Shangri-La Villingili is your place at 0.041 degrees below the Equator (one of the few Maldives resorts in the Southern Hemisphere).
In honour of Italy’s National ‘Republic Day’ holiday today, I pay tribute to the finest execution of one of my favourite Italian treats – Gazpacho.
Probably because it is a refreshing cold soup, it is served at every resort that I have been to. I happen to be a soup lover and gazpacho is right up their at the top of my list of favourite styles. I shy away from awarding ‘Best Of’ distinctions on food because (a) there is so much fine cuisine in the Maldives now that it seems unfair to do so without sampling everything, and (b) a supremely well done dish is hard to distinguish from another supremely well done dish.
I break the protocol through for Sheraton Full Moon’s ‘Trio of Gazpacho’ at its Sand Coast restaurant. Most of all, it is not just one gazpacho, but three gazpacho treats. The first is a delightful traditional recipe. The second is made from green tomatoes (after years of visiting the American South it is encouraging to learn that there is something you can do with green tomatoes besides fry them…the South’s answer to everything culinary). The third was an almond base with grapes and apples.
It wasn’t just the stand out execution that struck me. The whole ‘gazpacho experience’ was excellent. Sand Coast is set in a grove of coconut trees on the sand by the water. This set up is certainly not unique in the Maldives (we ate almost everyone of our Coco Palm Dhuni Kolu meals in a restaurant they had like this), but we are always surprised how hard it is to get toes-in-the-sand-water’s-edge eating in the Maldives. The restaurant played soothing ambient music with a local twist. And the price was very reasonable and less than what you would pay for a similar dish in a London establishment (it also spoils the appetite a bit looking at stupid prices in menus especially at the higher end resorts).
Kudos to Chef Garth Welsh (see below) who has really set up an operation of lots of gustatory delights at Sheraton Full Moon.
Chef Garth Welsh
Happy International Children’s Day!
An increasingly number of resorts are seeing the appeal to Maldives for families and catering to the younger clientele with some of the distinctive facilities and service that have spoiled the adults for years. One of the first orders of business is a ‘Kids Club’. These clubs not only provide great fun for the children, but also some extra freedom for the parents. But most of these clubs really cater for the ‘tot’ group with lots of colouring books, toys and crafts. But what about that often neglected (or at least feeling neglected) group…Teenagers.
Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru is the first resort to open a club specifically designed for ‘young adults. It’s called ‘Majaa Maizaan’. It includes more big kid pastimes like pool, ping-pong and Playstation.
Whatever.
‘Luxury’ and ‘All Inclusive’ don’t typically go hand in hand.
All Inclusive resorts have tended towards the budget end of the market where people wanted to have a very defined price for their holiday without risk of overspend. Also, budget conscious travellers value the ‘quantity’ (all you can eat) versus ‘quality’. The problem with having ‘All In’ for premium travellers is that when they want extra wine, it could be £100 per bottle wine. An evenings drinking session could consume more than the cost of the holiday. If you start excluding all the treatments, yacht trips, Blue Label scotches and lobster dinners, then the high end traveller wonders what the point is.
But if you want your cake and eat it too in wanting a 5 star resort with an All In plan, then the Lily Beach is the place to go. Trip Advisor Forum reports and reviews consistently rate it as the highest quality all inclusive resort.
They offer a special ‘Platinum Plan’ which they describe as…
“Keeping the overall concept of ‘Affordable Luxury’ in mind, ‘Platinum Plan’ is a Premium All-Inclusive Plan, offering the discerning traveler absolute value-for-money and a hassle-free holiday with uninhibited enjoyment and peace of mind. Our ‘Platinum Plan’ will delight you with a fantastic array of quality services including premium wines & spirits, sumptuous dining experiences, hand-crafted excursions, sport activities, and much, much more!”
Lily Beach is the place were high rollers can go ‘all in’.
This is my 200th blog post on Maldives Complete.
I’ve covered a range of topics focusing, like the website, on useful tips and help for prospective visitors to the resorts. The Maldives’ rich diversity of the 100+ resorts provide an unceasing source of inspiration from the quirky to the spectacular for the most popular section – ‘Best of the Maldives’. As it happens, I have another 80+ ‘Best Of’ posts already researched, outlined or drafted just waiting for the most apropos point to post. I am also starting work on a project to assemble all of the ‘Best Ofs’ into a published book for those who prefer that medium. My next visit is already planned for July when I will visit 14 new resorts which will only add to the trove of material.
Not all prospective Best Ofs work out though. As it happens, my other major writing outlet covers the topic of ‘Embracing Failure’. And by coincidence this weekend’s post is also my 200th on that topic. In that spirit, I thought that I would celebrate #200 here with some of the blog posts that didn’t work out. But as you will see, they presented enticing possibilities…
Kandooma – Radio Station: Kandooma used to have a radio station on its resort that broadcast a combination of music and DJ commentary to guests. It sounded great but shut down before I could do a piece on it
Equator Village – Golf Course: One of the ‘big’ attractions that the Maldives lacks in the eyes of many high end travellers is a golf course. This omission is in itself enough to keep many high flyers away. Despite some valiant efforts like Kuredu and Meeru, the situation is still acute enough to inspire desperate ideas like the well publicised ‘floating golf course.’ The island of Gan is home to the Equator Village as well as the one full 18 hole golf course in the country. It was built to serve the RAF base there, but has since fallen into disuse and disrepair and no visitors are allowed on it.
Equator Village – Sky Diving: Gan is also home to the Hanimadoo Airport which had its own intriguing reports of sky-diving. Unfortunately the parachuting appears to have been a one-off event.
Six Senses Laamu – Slide: The most recent dead end story was the Six Senses Laamu ocean slide. It appeared on the design drawings when the resort was underdevelopment. Unfortunately, the resort decided not build the two story building in the end (and I guess ground floor slides just don’t have much thrill).
One objection to a Maldives trip is not enough ‘cultural’ stuff to do. Sitting in the sun on a tiny, dedicated resort island doesn’t really present any historical or cultural experiences beyond some chit-chat at the pool bar. Cultural exploration at most resorts is limited to an excursion to a local island or Male and some visiting traditional dancers.
But, if you do want to sample a broader range of the local custom, then The Beach House at Manafaru has just launched a complete range of Maldivian treats including…
Each of the activities can be booked individually, or Beach House offers a comprehensive package with every one included.
Aharemen dhanee kon irakun? (Dhivehi for “When do we go?”)
Who knew there were so many types of Bananas?
The One Show on BBC this week did a piece on bananas (minute 11:00 of the BBC iPlayer recording available for the next two weeks to UK residents) which highlighted their delicious diversity. And if you want personally explore their rich variety, then Adaaran Hudhuranfushi is the place to visit. In their own produce garden they grow 6 different varieties of bananas all which are served fresh in the restaurants.
We were able to enjoy them with lunch in treacle sauce during our visit (see below). But if you want to see some truly artistic banana creations, check out Laughing Squid.
Alternative title – ‘A Room With a View’ in the Venice of the tropics
New York is what the Maldives would be…in ‘Opposite Land.’
I am visiting New York City this week for business and I keep getting struck by the polar contrasts with my beloved Maldives…
| New York City | Maldives |
| Noise | Quiet |
| Bustle | Indolence |
| Tall | Flat |
| Concrete | Water |
| Artificial | Natural |
Obviously, one of the starkest contrasts is the elevation. Not of the land, but the structures. For the longest time, nearly all resort buildings were single story structures. As the resorts are getting bigger and fancier and wanting to exploit the most from their extremely limited real estate footprint, Maldives resorts are starting to move upwards. I don’t think we will see skyscrapers anytime soon (the Jumeirah’s two new resorts are staying close to the ground with no dhoni-inspired high rises on the drawing boards).
While the beach hut traditionalists might disagree, I quite enjoy the tastefully designed, slightly elevated structures on some of the islands. Much as I enjoy gazing out at the ocean’s horizon at beach level, being a bit higher provides more perspective especially on the dazzling colours and patterns created by the underwater topology.
For those urbanites who prefer living in elevated quarters, Shangri-La Villingili offers Tree House Villas…
“With marvellous views of the ocean, Tree House Villas are secluded, private island hideaways. Perched on stilts among the treetops, amidst dense vegetation, these luxury accommodations provide guests with a memorable stay in a tropical tree house. At this elevation, privacy is assured as the beautiful, panoramic views unfold like a living canvas of sparkling surf, languid lagoons and verdant vegetation that is home to colourful indigenous bird life.”
Enjoy the view!
A lot of Trip Advisor queries ask about the best villas and the best sides of a resort (watch this space). Does one want an eastward facing villa for glorious morning sunshine or a westward facing villa for sunset pina coladas?
You do have to choose because most Maldive resorts line up the water villas next to each other with a distinct outward facing aspects. Some stand alone, but the deck is only on one or maybe two sides of the villa. But Club Rannalhi has 360 degree decking all around its water villas. Sunrise AND Sunset views. Or if the sun is getting a bit strong at in the afternoon, just slide your deck chair around to the shaded side. You can choose between windward side for a cool breeze on a hot day or leeward side to shelter from a particularly strong breeze. Short of renting a palatial water villa suite at some of the super top end resorts, the 360 degree Club Rannalhi is relatively unique.