Finolhu evangelises a different sort of inspirational message to its guests with a collections of quirky messages displayed on funky distressed wood signs across the island.
Best of the Maldives: Guest Contract – Medhufushi
The first principle to saving the planet is personal responsibility and no resort fosters more than Medhufushi with their inspired guest “contract” of “behaviour rules”. When I coached rowing at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School, the programme introduced a very similar contract for all the athletes to sign. It put down on paper important responsibilities and forced everyone to give it more than a fleeting consideration as they were putting their signatures on it.
One of the biggest obstacles to a more sustainable lifestyle is people simply not knowing the adverse impacts some seemingly innocuous activity can have. One of the most prominent examples is STANDING ON THE CORAL. To the uninformed, lots of coral can appear like simply underwater rocks. But despite their stony exoskeleton, they are indeed living animals (not even plants) and standing on them hurts them and can kill them.
Even if you aren’t checking into Medhufushi, their guest rules is a handy guide to do’s and don’ts anywhere in the Maldives:
Dear guest, please acknowledge the following rules. It is for your own safety and enjoyment, and they will help Medhufushi Resort to preserve its natural beauty. Any failure in following these guidelines will incur in a fine of 300 USD.
- Do not touch or chase the animals, including marine creatures such as sngrays, turtles and crabs.
- Do not feed the animals, including fish and sharks. (There is a fish feeding session organized by the hotel for all guests at 21:00hrs every evening)
- It is not permied to catch, kill and eat animals.
- Do not pick up coral or shells. Do not damage them.
- Do not cook any kind of food in the room ‐ kindly contact the Front Desk for any special requests.
- During snorkeling excursion, please, Do not stand or walk on the coral ‐ it is a delicate living creature that takes several hundreds of years to grow and it is the very foundaon of the beauty.
- There is no lifeguard on duty, snorkeling and swimming is at your own risk. Please make sure you are using the proper safety equipment.
- Each accompanying parent is deemed responsible for the safety and behavior of their children.
Best of the Maldives: Artificial Reefs – Summer Island
Earth Day today. Time to give back to the planet that gives us all so much. In the Maldives, probably the biggest initiative to strengthen the planet are the reef building initiatives to restore coral stressed by rising sea temperatures as well as outbreaks of COTS. Dozens of resorts invest in these reef regeneration projects, but I’ve never seen so many different approaches than Summer Island.
I’ve already written about their submerged Underwater Objects as well as their Coral Pops. They have also built a series of artificial reefs, the most recent being 15m x 2m x 4m constructed out of limestone rocks. Their latest innovation is a series of Coral Ropes. These serve as a coral nursery to incubate coral growth. Less than 2.5% die, and the ones that live are transplanted to the new artificial reefs:
- “Three pipes are completely winded in rope (needed over 500 meters) and 2 in fishing nets that were removed from the surrounding reefs. The plateau is hovering (we placed buoys inside the pipes) and it’s 6 meters long & 2 meters wide. The pipes are full of Durban dancing shrimps, Bruun’s cleaning partner shrimps and banded boxer shrimps. In between the ropes we already fixed a lot of coral fragments that are all alive AND growing ! Basically a home for a lot of life and we made it hovering so that if there were any crowns of thorns, the corals won’t be eaten by these damn creatures ! Underneath are limestone rocks where lion fish and octopii are hiding.”
Reef Madness!
Best of the Maldives: Curry Variety – Medhufushi
Planted in the middle of the Indian Ocean, there is never any shortage of subcontinent inspired dishes on the Maldives buffets especially the ubiquitous curry. Reef fish is the obviously the more local staple. But I have never seen such variety in curry variety than I did at Medhufushi. Each night they had no less than 3 different curries. Our first night was beetroot curry, cucumber curry and chicken curry.
Best of the Maldives: Crab Gazpacho – Finolhu
My other pet gourmet craving is gazpacho and Finolhu’s “Crab Shack” produced one of the best I have sampled (London, Maldives or anywhere in the world). It is contender for longest dish name “Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho with Herbed Poached Egg and Baby Cress with Alaskan King Crab”. $28
Best of the Maldives: Tok Sen – Amilla Fushi / Anantara
สวัสดีปีใหม่
Happy Thai New Year! And what a year it has been for Thai visitors to the Maldives. Thailand is the fastest growing country of origin for Maldives visitors with a 233% growth (!) making it the 5th highest Asian source (while being only the 10th largest Asian nation). Amari, Anantara, Centara and Dusit Thani are all Thai based properties with multiple properties in the Maldives.
For a truly Thai treat, Anantara and Amilla Fushi both offer the distinctively Thai Tok Sen Thai therapy…
- Tok Sen Ancient Thai Therapy, which originates from Buddhist Monks, creates healing vibrations through rhythmic pressure on Thai acu-points applied with a special wooden tapper to relax stiff bodies, providing pain relief and deep release for the body and mind.
Lori had some of this work on her feet years ago when we were visiting Prague. It about sent her to the ceiling. If there was a Mohs hardness scale for massage treatments, it would look something like this (going from softest to hardest)…
- Reiki
- Aromatherapy
- Relaxation
- Swedish
- Shiatsu
- Sports Massage
- Deep Tissue
- Hot Stone
- Tok Sen
So for those really tough knots from a particularly enthusiastic new years celebration, ask for some Tok Sen.
Best of the Maldives: Fruit Pops – One & Only Reethi Rah
You can take away a custom box of sweet concoction at One & Only Reethi Rah starting with your favourite fruit on a stick and then smothered with your choice of decadent toppings from its new Sweet Paradise eaterie:
- “Then satisfy that sweet craving with a visit to our newest venue, Sweet Paradise, where chefs are waiting to hear what flavour, which toppings, and how many scoops you’ll have today.”
Best of the Maldives: Custom Bento – Park Hyatt Hadahaa
You can enjoy gourmet delicacy anywhere on the island at Park Hyatt Hadahaa with their custom bento box:
- “Select from our special menu and design your own set lunch to be enjoyed under the glorious Maldivian sun while lounging by the main pool, on the main beach or at The Bar.”
Price: US$49 per person, Time: 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm.
Best of the Maldives: Within Pool Dining – Amilla Fushi
Amilla Fushi offer not by the pool refreshment, but also a distinctive within the pool table d’isle. If the diminutive islands of the Maldives aren’t tiny enough for you, then this island-in-island oasis might just offer the littoral intimacy you crave.
Best of the Maldives: Gourmet Popsicles – Gili Lankanfushi
Gili Lankanfushi is concocting its own magical wands of tasty wizardry with its custom recipe Pool Pops.
- “This is a popsicle from Fini Foni – our popsicle and ice cream bar at the pool side. Popsicles are chargeable, but during the afternoons we do offer it as a poolside Gili Refreshment. We do have different Gili Refreshment at the poolside available for guests throughout the day.”
The menu includes the following lollygagging lollies…
- Non-alcoholic
- Paleta Passion (photo above)
- Gili Spa
- Power Bar
- Sun & Sea
- Bodu Beru
- Alcoholic
- Pina Colada
- Sangria Al Espagina
- Fini Bubbly
- Ghiaccioli Mojito
- Weekly Special
- Fini Green
Their icy assortment makes a double “Finally Seen”:
- Frozen Juice Pops (#6 from post #5)
- Poptails (#7 from post #5)
I’ve even added the new Tag “Frozen” hoping more will come out of the freezers.
