With a dolphin cruise this luxurious, you don’t mind if it takes forever to find them. Soneva Fushi provides guests with a private motor launch with long padded settees for a comfy journey while the captain sets out in search of these playful creatures. In the meantime, you are served champagne, ceviche and Maldivian roshi. Nonetheless, it wasn’t but a few minutes before we spotted the spinners cavorting at the edge of the reef.
Mantas at Hanifaru Bay, Baa atoll
Most visitors to the Maldives was to just switch off and that includes all the stress inducing electronic devices, but at Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru you just might look forward to that phone ringing in your room. If it is their signature “Manta on Call” service.
Creatures in the wild sort of follow their own whims and there are never any guarantees of seeing the critters you want to see when you want to see them. Even in a place like Baa atoll renowned for its population of Mantas (and even the occasional whale shark. That said, even Baa Atoll or the even more confined Hanifaru Bay part of the Baa, is a big place and the mantas could be anywhere. You can spend (and we have spent) an entire day just trawling around in the dhoni looking for signs of mantas. That is why Landaa keeps in regular contact with dive boats through the day to keep updated on the latest manta sightings. If a large group has decided to collect at some point, the resort calls your room and can have you on a speedboat in minutes to take you to the gathering so you can enjoy a view of these majestic animals and even join them for a swim.
If you think resorts in the Maldives are expensive, try using your mobile phone while there. Most of the top properties offer butler and other “guest experience” staff to cater to the clients’ every whim. But if you are lounging on the beach, how do you let your host know that you fancy a pin colada? Well, One & Only Reethi Rah gives your own mobile phone for the duration of your stay with a speed-dial setting for your very own concierge. If you’ve forgotten something back at the room, have a question about some plans or just want another cocktail in some obscure part of the island, they are just one button push away.
Another old school form factor can be found on Holiday Island where you can find probably the most unexpected and incongruous amenity of any island.
Daylight savings time starts today. And you will have to save up for hours to afford the latest item in the Cheval Blanc gift shop (or if you are totally loaded, maybe you will just buy a new watch instead of all the kafuffle of adjusting your current one an hour. At $32,500 for its latest Classic Fusion Cheval Blanc Randheli Special Edition, that $9 per second.
Really, this post is more of an update to my previous Best of the Maldives piece for Cheval Blanc’s watch offering. I could have just made a note in the comments, but I love the concept so much of capturing the distinctive aesthetics of this corner of paradise that I thought that I would publish a full post.
That said, Chopard hasn’t rested on its design. In fact, it even has a Happy Fish Sport design with Anemone Fish for one-fifth the price.
A three-way rocker! Not a kinky guitarist with two groupies, but a trio of hammocks so there is plenty to go around with for couples and child. Or for people who are very particular about their orientation to the direction of the breeze of the ocean view at W Maldives.
I’ve seen some impressive beach badminton and beach volleyball set ups in the Maldives, but Dhigufaru is the first I’ve seen with equally top flight facilities (eg. fixed ribbon line markets, night lights, padded fixed poles, etc.).
Six Nations might have concluded this weekend, but you can carry on your place kicks in paradise at Cinnamon Hakuraa Hura. They not only have one of the only rugby pitches, complete with regulation goal posts and boundary line, but it is also set on the beach beside Hakuraa Hura’s expansive lagoon. The Sri Lankan run resort has a number of Sri Lankan staff you play regularly if you are looking to join in a seaside scrum.
It’s not just celebrities who face gruelling challenges, whether for reality TV or just their own Instagram feed (check out Sophie Turner battling her own thorny game below). If you want to steel up your fitness for any challenge life throws at you, Finolhu offers not only a complete training course facility, but also their own star trainer to help you out:
Do you even jungle gym tho #CocoPrive @cocopriveprivateisland
A really big show with really big names requires more than a really big villa. In fact, it might require an entire resort like Tropika Island Of Treasure Maldives has done with Vadoo. Not the first reality TV show in the Maldives (actually this is the third prompting me to add the “Reality TV” tag), but maybe the biggest now featuring celebrities battling it out in paradise. Many of the episodes are being posted on YouTube so if you just want to follow the frolicking fun wherever you are (even if you don’t recognise the South African stars), you can tune in.