A number of resorts feature treetop spas, but Soneva Jani’s was the first OVER treetops spa we ever visited. The location provides a breath-taking vista of the palm greenery and the tapestry of blues of the sea.
Best of the Maldives: Spa Oasis – OBLU Helengeli
The de rigeur location for luxury spas are over the ocean, but OBLU by Atmosphere at Helengeli shows how distinctive you can make your spa setting over a different kind of water. They have developed a little spa oasis with rich greenery and seating cabanas set around a tranquil lily pond. One of the best renditions of the Zen garden concept of Seijaku (静寂) – a tranquility or an energized calm, stillness, solitude.
Best of the Maldives: Caviar Facial – Vommuli
Forget cucumbers. Vommuli caviar facial combines the luxury of one of the most expensive ingredients per pound with the aquatic essence of fish to make a beauty treatment quintessentially fitting the Maldives luxury property.
Best of the Maldives: Ornate Mirrors – Emerald
One of the most striking aspects of Emerald’s luxurious villas are their sumptuously ornate and expansive bathroom mirrors. Great for that Instagram snap after you’ve just finished getting ready to enjoy the day in your fashionable resort wear.
Best of the Maldives: Vilebrequin Swimsuits – Ritz-Carlton Maldives
Black Friday is the starting pistol for the Christmas shopping season. A few Christmas’s ago, I asked Santa for a Vilebrequin swimsuit which were the smartest suits I had come across. Since the fashion line was among my Haven’t Seen collection, Santa’s little helper had to find one at their London boutique (see me modelling my turtle motif suit below). But now Ritz Carlton Maldives is featuring the Vilebrequin line at its resort boutique. So if you are puttin’ on the Ritz Maldives for Christmas and are behind in your shopping just put on some Vilebrequin.
Best of the Maldives: Super Spray Urinal – Soneva Jani
The polished silver finish and the multi-spray flush make Soneva Jani’s urinal at its main restaurant one of the poshest potties we’ve used.
Best of the Maldives: Outdoor Toilet – Cora Cora
World Toilet Day today. How far we have come with indoor pluming that the notion of have an outdoor toilet seems to be the quintessence of backwardness and impoverished living. And yet, Cora Cora’s outdoor toilet is distinctly luxury. For starters, it provides the most thoroughly vented toilet in all of the Maldives. Many luxury properties have moved their water closets to the villa rear exterior. And many do have toilets sitting in the overall bathroom area either in the open or partly enclosed by some glass blind. But Cora Cora’s does provide the al fresco morning constitutional experience with a bit more privacy with its own segregated area.
Best of the Maldives: Seabreacher – Siyam World
If you prefer your aquatic thrills above the water and fast, then I have now finally seen (after first noting it back in 2014) a Seabreacher introduced at Siyam World
- “Operating more like an aircraft than a watercraft, these extraordinary semisubmersible vessels can jump over, dive under and carve left and right through the waves – and are even capable of 360-degree barrel rolls on the water. The Seabreacher’s acrylic canopy and underwater view ports give pilot and passenger near-360-degree views, while its supercharged 260hp engine propels them across the water at speeds of up to 50mph.”
If snorkeling over a house reef drop-off feels like “flying” in water then riding one of these does seem to be like flying Jetson-style over the water.
Best of the Maldives: Mini Biologist – Amilla
For all those budding Cousteaus out there, Amilla Maldives offers Junior Marine Biologist Course. In the same way some people wonder why resorts have fitness centres (“who wants to do workouts on holiday?”), you might wonder, what kids want to do schoolwork on holiday. Well, me for one. When I was a tyke (about 9 years old), I used to go away to Camp Belknap in New Hampshire for a fortnight. While other kids signed up for archery, swimming and baseball, I signed up for the nature activities. They taught you flowers, trees, animals, star constellations (which has come in handy one many a star-filled Maldives night). I thoroughly enjoyed walking around exploring the outdoor beauty and learning all about it.
Amilla’s course features a daily 1-hour activity that include a Marine Walk, Mini Marine Bio Programme – comprehensive learning about the ocean. Over 6 days (each day a different topic). It builds. Ocean, plankton, coral reef, parrot fish, sea turtles and sharks. The sessions included showing selected TED talks and National Geographic clips, but the focus is on engaging with the children with puzzles, book creation and other activities to implement the material they have learned:
- Monday: 17:00 – 17:30 – Marine Walk (different topics, such as the sea turtle nest, the origin of maldivian islands, some curiosities about Maldives etc.)
- Thursday: 10:00 – 11.00 – Introduction to Snorkeling (a short presentation followed by a snorkeling session. Location: Spa Jetty or Dive Centre Jetty, depending on the weather and current conditions). VERY IMPORTANT: Please note that equipment (life jackets, fins, mask) will not be provided, so please make sure they come with equipment and they wear a rash vest. FYI: 10 slots available (for the moment). Only 5 years and above can participate. If younger than 5, they can come accompanied underwater with parents.
- Sunday: 10:00 – 11:00 – Marine Biology Presentation and Q&A
The Mini Marine Bio Program is tailored to those kids who are keen to receive a comprehensive learning about the underwater world and its creatures. The program is run 6/7 days, 1 hour a day. Each session is about a different topic:
- Sunday: Facts about seas and oceans @15:00 – 16:00
- Monday: The plankton and its importance for our lives @10:00 – 11:00
- Tuesday: All about coral reefs @11:00 – 12:00
- Wednesday: Parrotfish (How to keep a balanced and healthy ecosystem) @16:00 – 17:00
- Thursday: Lets discover the sea turtles @15:00 – 16:00
- Friday: Sharks and their amazing world @10:00 – 11:00
At the end of the program, participants receive a certificate plus Amilla’s marine badges (see photos at top and bottom)
Best of the Maldives: Cousteau Tradition – Ritz-Carlton Maldives
Jean-Michael Cousteau is the David Attenborough of the subaquatic world. A generation of sea lovers, like myself who watched it diligently as a child, were inspired by his prime time “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” (a sample episode of sharks is featured below). He never shot an episode from the Maldives, though in 1997 the ubiquitously marine Maldives honoured him with a postage stamp (see bottom). But Ritz Carlton Maldives has brought his enduring legacy to the Maldives with their “Ocean Futures Society” collaboration with Jean-Michael Cousteau (Jacques’ son) which is carrying on the family mission to inspire people around the world with not just appreciate the aquatic world, but to take care of it.
The centre has sponsored six projects at the Ritz Maldives. One is exploring the concept of coral reefs as “underwater cities”. The notion described in Richard Murphy’s “Coral Reefs: Cities Under the Sea” postulates that all coral reefs have species who do different “jobs” (such as janitor, policeman, builder, farmer, etc. Curiously. which species do which roles varies from coral reef to coral reef.
