Tour 17 – Crossroads

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Crossroads - aerial

“A destination within a destination” – Patrick de Staerke, GM

And what a “destination” it is! The Crossroads complex is an exciting manifestation of a colourful and inviting 21st century Maldives. Infusing itself with the palettes and ingredients of the Maldives while building a vibrant, modern incarnation of this sunny paradise.

“The Crossroads” refers to the overall archipelago within an archipelago of a 9-island complex being fashioned by ambitious terraforming (ie. making islands from sand dredged from the bottom of the ocean) as well as the circular maritime hub at its heart. The latter forms a circular harbour with the waters’ edge lined with colourful seaside bistros and boutiques (see photo below). So much has been written about the ‘sinking’ of the Maldives with rising ocean levels, and yet this is a story of the Maldives rising out of the ocean. It is not just a new property, and not just a new concept, but it is an entirely new class of resorts for the Maldives. The biggest change to Maldivian tourism since the introduction of guesthouses.

Crossroads Maldives evokes the most vibrant seaside community destinations of the world: Key West, Florida; Murano, Italy; Cape May, New Jersey; Positano, Italy; Charleston, South Carolina; Barefoot Landing, North Carolina; Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; Willemstad, Curacao; Paradise Island, Bahamas. The Crossroads is a revelation..of what the Maldives can be as a sparkling maritime cosmopolitan centre moving beyond the charming “thatch-covered fishing island turned resort” concept that has prevailed to date.

Scale not only gives you variety, but it also enables scale economies. One of the reasons why Maldives is renowned as an expensive destination is because the “one island, one resort” format greatly restricts scale. Each tiny resort island has to build and sustain a mini-city of power generation, water distillation, waste treatment and all the services required to host dozens of guests expecting catering and amenities of things not found in the Maldives. The Crossroad complex means that its properties (ie. SAii Lagoon, Hard Rock and soon to be several more) can deliver some of the best value-for-money rates in the Maldives.

A number of Maldives aficionados (and residents themselves) are not fans of this radical transformation of their sea-into-landscape. My investigation indicates that upon completion, the complex has grown immensely in popularity with the Maldivians. Some “Maldives purists” continue to protest seeming to think that anything more elaborate than a thatched villa on an island is “spoiling” the destination. They love the natural simplicity of the Maldives and its isolation from civilisation as do I. But those who accept only this quaint, longstanding model seem to want the Maldivians to live in some Williamsburg-esque nostalgia.

Some detractors express concerns about environmental impact, and surely there is some. But I am impressed with the degree of impact assessment the developers and the government did prior to construction (EIA for Enboodhoo reclamation project-Borrow area.pdf). One of the interesting stats was that live coral cover for the area was under 5%. The Crossroads also showcases their mascot “Emma” extensively around the island. Emma is a sea turtle who was found to be resident in the area when they performed their impact statement and the blueprints for the resort were modified to avoid disrupting her habitat. She still lives in the area and the dive centre even offers snorkel excursions to go see her in the places she frequents.

Crossroads - main street

   

Crossroad - mural

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Tour 17 – KIHAA Maldives

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KIHAA Tour

KIHAA is simply one of the best resort *islands* in the Maldives. No wonder people have been flocking to it for decades. I have coveted a visit for years for this classic property. It started as a simple divers’ haven, grew into an Italian “Club Vacances” and some refurb a few years ago. But it still retains a classic Maldives resort feel.

KIHAA achieves the rare island trifecta (the closest comparison is Anantara Kihavah):

  • House Reef – One of the best house reefs we have seen in recent years. CORAL! More than half of the reef was live coral (the “lumpy” coral varieties, eg. massives like favia or prorates, seem to be thriving better than the “branchy” varieties, eg. staghorn, fan, table). Dramatic topology. Easy access. Colourful schools of yellow striped convict tangs, sergeant major fish, Moorish idols. So good, that one of our Amilla dives came over to dive the Kihaa house reef.
  • Beaches – Big, white, wrap around beach not seen since Kihavah. Flour soft sand especially by the water’s edge. An active beach duo is cleaning it constantly. Great for sunset circumambulations. Beach dining every night (partly due to low occupancy).
  • Lagoon – Millpond calm lagoon with turquoise vistas and easy swimming (which was useful as the property’s pools were just being brought back on line after lockdown).

Furthermore, the island scale is pretty much as Goldilocks size – big enough to support good amount of infrastructure but small enough to walk around in under 20 minutes.

A resort like KIHAA demonstrates how difficult it is to pin a star-rating on a property. The island itself is a 5-star deluxe with its exceptional “trifecta” of beach, reef and lagoon. The resort also boasts exceptional sports facilities including two smart tennis courts and two first-rate squash courts as well as finely kitted out gym. The lodging is more the 4-star category with handsome styling (recently spruced up).

The operations are difficult to assess at this time given the COVID situation. After 10 months of mothballing, it is like re-opening a resort with lots of cleaning, maintenance, supplying, etc to get up and running. Like all Maldives resorts, the staff are scrambling to provide the best experience possible for the intrepid and anxious early post-lockdown guests, but they face intractable constraints on availability of personnel (who have to quarantine) and even supplies.

With the resurgent coral and the vintage villas, our visit very much felt like going back in time to our first magical visits to the Maldives years ago.

COVID PROTOCOLS – Take your temperature on arrival, all staff wear masks and sanitising stations are found throughout the island.

KIHAA Tour 2

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Tour 17: Flying the COVID-Free Skies to Paradise

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Perhaps the biggest hurdle to escaping to paradise is getting there. With the “Tier 4” lockdown announced in the UK, that will scupper possibilities for many. But for those living in areas still able to do international travel, the flying is the first, and perhaps most stressful aspect of getting there is the flying. And our trip was no exception as we grappled with impediments from 3 major carriers:

  • QATAR AIRWAYS – I purchased my ticket through British Airways where I had a bunch of “vouchers” accrued from COVID cancelled trips. BA did not have any flights available, but they did present “One World Partner” options for me to use including some flights from Qatar Airways which worked well enough. What they don’t tell you (and it took hours for me to figure out) is that you cannot purchase extra legroom seats on partner flights. A big concern for me because I am so tall. BA said contact Qatar because Qatar controls seat allocation, and Qatar told me to call BA because BA issued and controls the ticket. As I have experienced in the past, these “partnerships” like “One World” are more gimmicks and be aware that if you get drawn into them, you are likely to face huge complexities in your travel. As if COVID isn’t introducing enough complications at the moment. Also, their “Privilege Club” has probably the worst customer service of any airline I have ever dealt with. I spent 6 weeks and countless communications to get a typo fixed in my profile (which is critical because if your booking name doesn’t match your passport name exactly, they can prevent you from boarding).
  • EMIRATES – I give Emirates credit for a great booking experience including and easy refund when the UK Lockdown II required us to cancel our first trip booked. The biggest problem is that when we tried to re-booked we learned that the required stop-over in Dubai violated the “travel corridor” requirements and meant we would have to quarantine in the UK on return. That provision has since been modified to allow certain stop-overs, but at the time we didn’t want to face the possibility of paying for two weeks of freedom in paradise with a fortnight of sequestration (little did we know).
  • BRITISH AIRWAYS – BA turned out to be really the only option not wanting to quarantine over Christmas And yet, shortly after booking our flights, Sir Lankan offered direct flights and Qatar/Emirates got an exemption from the stopover constraint. The prices were better than usual for this time of year, but not the super discounts of November. The booking was smooth as well as a steady stream of travel advice from BA to help preparations.

Off we go. Yes, the trip there was more complicated, but in fairness matters were no worse than travelling to the Maldives a decade ago. Back before online check-in, airport kiosks, efficient boarding, rich shopping options and in-flight amenities. I know all of us living through 2020 dream of turning back the clock, but this might have gone too far back. In fairness, aside from a few temperature checks and squirts of hand sanitizer, the primary COVID imposition was the PCR test required for the Maldives (and many other destinations)

No online check-in as they had to check PCR certificates and the Maldives QR code (you get when you complete your Maldivian arrival Travel Health Authorisation). So for the first time in years, we arrived at Terminal 5 confronted by snaking queues as agents did check-in the “old fashioned way” (boarding passes, baggage check and passport port check all done by the far-too-few overworked agents at the desks). The agents were especially exasperated by so many people trying to travel and not really having a clue as to the requirements (One family of about 8 took 45 minutes to check-in, if they succeeded. We know because we were in the queue for 90 minutes and watching this one hapless family occupy one of the precious few gate agents was one of our bits of entertainment to pass the time).

The flight itself was very well managed with lots of safety protocols. Chief among them were mandatory mask wearing at all time (except for when you were “actively eating”, ie. take a bite and put the mask back on to chew). Frankly, in the spectrum of possible airplane discomforts, this added one was pretty trivial.

We arrived to Male airport facing arrival queues also not seen for a decade since the agents were coping with the other side of PCR tests, health declaration paperwork and a generous helping of tourist confusion. Our flight had been delayed a few hours and the long lines meant that our PCR test was literally about to “expire” (ie. be beyond the 96 hour requirement). We made it through with 10 minutes to spare, but in fairness, the authorities I approached about the issue seemed pretty understanding about the delays and I don’t think they would have turned us away because we got to the desk a bit after the official expiry.

One final moan on my soapbox. My wife Lori works in an NHS-supported care facility and as such get COVID tested every week as a matter of SOP. But the results that she gets back are not PCR certificates and simple electronic messages saying “test negative”. It would seem to me that in addition to rounds of applause, a simple and pretty cost-free gesture that would save NHS staff some money would be to adapt the weekly COVID test results to be PCR “Fit to Fly” ready. Then, NHS staff wouldn’t have to pay considerable amounts for extra tests (on top of the many they already take) if they want a well-earned break.

   

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Maldives Tour 2019: Maldives Weather in July

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July Maldives weather

Per ritual, we checked the weather.com forecast for the Maldives the week before we departed. We tend to visit in July and pretty much the standard forecast is “Thunderstorms” EVERY day. But this time, several of the days showed the graphic above – pretty much a perfect depiction of Maldives weather in July. It combines in a single JPEG rain, cloud, thunder, sun. It’s basically the meteorological equivalent of saying “hell if we have a clue?!?”

One would think this profusion of thunderstorm forecasts would spark trepidation for our keenly anticipated trip to the tropical sun. It certainly does for a number of TripAdvisor Maldives Forum posters who fear their trip of a lifetime is going to be spoiled when they see these predictions. But, as I have described numerous times, you have to know how to interpret these forecasts.

When it says “Thunderstorms”, it doesn’t mean that thunder and lightning will be raining down on you from dawn till dusk. In fact, in many cases, the predicted storms hit at night when you are tucked comfily in your cozy villa and when you wake the sun is breaking through the clouds to dry up the puddles littering the sand-scape. The thing is that most of these storms come in quite isolated “little black rain clouds” (as Winnie the Pooh would say). Sometimes we entertain ourselves sipping cocktails and watching these storms approach our island and placing bets as to if it will hit us. It gets closer and closer with the sheets of rain becoming more and more visible. Sometimes it just bypasses us completely. Other times, it hits us full on and we scamper for cover while it passes over for a few minutes.

The video below is a classic example of one of these isolated “showers” we filmed at Faarufushi. We had just emerged from snorkelling (so a bit damp already) and the heavens just opened up on us. Strangely, the day was quite sunny and when you looked all around you saw plenty of blue sky. It’s just that one particularly sodden cloud decided to dump its precipitation on us then and there.

As I was flying amidst these mid-summer clouds themselves, I perused the Trans Maldivian Airways Magazine “Island Skies” piece from Eleonora Fiorini titled “It’s Always the Right Time to Visit the Maldives”. He starts off noting himself “Bruno’s father used to visit the Maldives islands every year for a month in July, and every time, he never had more than just a handful of consecutive days of rain.” The article goes on to look at Bruno’s meteorological study of the area explaining why Maldives weather is “basically nice all year round”. ]

First of all he noted that the Maldivian weather is, by definition, unstable saying “The climate at the Equator is like a boiling pot, and you have to guess where the next bubble will come up” (and micro”storms” like the shower in the video below is a perfect example of a little bubble of weather).

  • Constant Low Atmospheric Pressure – “first index of weather instability”
  • Surrounded by Hot Water and Humidity – “it is enough that the atmospheric pressure drops slightly for the air around to raise enormous quantities of moisture from the ocean, dragging them into the atmosphere where they quickly condense generating clouds and downpours in a short time.”

But what the equatorial conditions do to volatility, they also do to moderation:

  • No Coriolis Effect – “…Which allows huge amounts of energy to be stored in the atmosphere, no hurricane can occur in the Maldives, and bad weather doesn’t last long.”
  • Low Moisture Accumulation – “The atmosphere is not able to accumulate amounts of energy so the bad weather episodes cannot last weeks as in other parts of the world.”
  • Highly Localisation – “If it is raining on our island, chances are that the sun shines brightly on a island located two sand banks south

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Maldives Tour 2019: LUX North Male Atoll

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LUX North Male Atoll - tour 4

It’s always great to finish a trip on a high, and LUX* North Male Atoll (LNMA) wasn’t just a highlight of our 2019 Tour…it was one of the high points of twenty years of visiting the Maldives. Not just because it is an exceptional resort in its own right, and not because it represents so well the spirit of creative innovation that I celebrate in this blog with “Best of the Maldives” series that I research extensively on these trips, but also because it was in several ways a crowning culmination of the past ten years of Maldives complete – the 100th Maldives resort that I had visited (more on that milestone later in the week).

LNMA’s sister property, LUX South Ari Atoll is one of the top holders of “Best of” distinctions (48, 3rd highest). So I couldn’t wait to see what LNMA had in store. Of course, I spotted a number of familiar signature LUX* fun features right away like Phone Home, Message in a Bottle, and Café LUX. After over a decade of writing about the best and most distinctive in the Maldives (with over 1,400 written), it becomes all the more difficult to find things that haven’t been done before. And yet, I found more potential (I always do a bit of follow up research) “Best Of’s” at LNMA than the other seven resorts visited this tour (30 identified for them).

But LUX North Male Atoll goes beyond the collection of signature touches of flair and innovation. The entire concept and execution of the property is more striking in its ambition and execution than any of the other 100 I have seen. Its hyper-contemporary stylings are an Instagrammer’s dream looking like something straight off the pages of Architectural Digest. If Jonathan Ive (of Apple fame) designed resorts, I would expect him to come up with something like this with its brushed concrete with burr wood highlights and textured finishes. Or perhaps Jean Paul Gaultier as the edgy, ultra-modern aesthetic (and its location venue in middle of the otherworldly destination of the Maldives) is what I imagine the Fhloston Paradise to be heading towards.

LNMA is the latest property splashing out the brilliant white palate for the villas (and, well, all its buildings). White is a central colour to the Maldives palette (along with palm jungle green and the ubiquitous tapestry of blue from sea to sky). The luminous hue of the coral sands, wispy clouds and waves crashing on outer edge of atoll. The Santorini-esque amplifies the brightness of the sunshine and make the whole place dazzle.

Some traditionalists poo-poo such modern constructions. I think they would like all of the Maldives to be fitted out with old-fashioned thatched huts like some sort of tropical Williamsburg. But fusion of modern with tradition, fabricated with natural, can meld the best of both with innovative new approaches. Much like LNMA’s own Peruvian/Japanese fusion restaurant “INTI”, blending two different worlds for an entirely fresh and unique new experience.

Design isn’t just about scrumptious materials and artistic rendering. It’s also about achieving satisfying function through inspired form. LNMA gets so right what so many resorts get so wrong – the view. Every single villa has a roof deck that provides that extra vertical dimension (in a locale defined by its very horizontality) of taking in the Maldives’ stunning vistas. One of my biggest pet peeves with Maldives resorts is when they mess up a view, and one of the aspects I appreciate most is when they accentuate a good one.

My enthrallment with LNMA wasn’t just because of its own dazzling aesthetic, but also because it exploded a few of pre-conceived notions I had…

  • Myth #1 – Male Atolls Are Not Remote: Being the eponymous home of the capital, the main airport, its busy port and a tight cluster of the some of the earliest properties, the image in my head was that the Male atolls are all a bit close to the action and to get truly remote you need to hop on a plane to a far-flung atoll. But cruising the 1 hour speedboat transfer to LNMA, I realized just how massive North Male atoll is. Halfway through the journey, there were hardly any islands in sight and I felt as removed from civilization as anywhere I had been in the Maldives.
  • Myth #2 – North Male Doesn’t Have Great Snorkeling/Coral: Again, I think this myth stems more from the 20 minutes radius around Male where tourism began and the growth of construction and activity have certainly stressed those reefs, but out at LNMA, the house reef was the most vibrant with coral growth on any we have seen for years.
  • Myth #3 – Islands on Reef Shelfs Have Weak Snorkeling – I’ve always associated the best house reefs with the inner atoll gum-drop islands. I thought that the islands at the atoll’s edge sat on broad plateaus where on one side the reef was inaccessible (with open ocean waves pounding on it) and on the other side far away and sloping without much drop-off. But LNMA’s house reef starts a few feet from east water villa jetty and goes directly to the overwater spa jetty (conveniently marked with a series of red buoys) making it extremely accessible with as lovely a drop-off as you’ll find.

These revelations of LNMA reminded me of my first visit to Singapore. My expectations were a bit apprehensive as reading about it, I feared that it might just be too contrived. I also thought that the slick aesthetic would probably be limited to a very contained and exclusive part of the city. But this urban metropolis wowed me. It wasn’t just modern, it was space-age. It wasn’t just glossy, but it was sensible and easy to take it. And it wasn’t just certain neighborhoods, but the modern quality pervaded the entire urban landscape.

Some people will be mesmerised by the many viral photos of LUX North Male Atoll which seems to just epitomise luxury and they won’t be disappointed. Others will be wary of its edgy aesthetic, but I they might just find that this spark of panache provides a bright new look at piece paradise tucked away on the remote edges of its namesake.

LUX North Male Atoll

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Maldives Tour 2019: Dhigali

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Tour 2019 - Dhigali

Someone who has put their customer-thinking cap on is Dhigali. Another Raa relative newcomer, it benefits hailing from the veteran Maldives stable of parent company Universal. Compared to our immediately preceding stop, the basic 5-star of Kudafushi, Dhigali has invested in a number of distinctive touches. And as such, its rack rates are also a bit higher. So are the touches worth the money? Well, that’s down to each individual guest (my mantra – “there’s no best resort…just the best resort for you”). But I will say, at least all of the special touches were clearly crafted with the guest in mind.

Dhigali have crafted an inspired sunset bar, Haali, with fun swings, comfy beach cushions. The other landscape feature they have optimised is the dense jungle of their island interior. They’ve created a little “Jungle Walk” through it which is a narrow path winding around with some guide signs posted providing fun factoids about the flora and fauna they pass. I love their main pool which sprawls and includes a number of enticing features. But my favourite optimisation is their Buggy Tracker app. Part of an overall handy app provided to all customers which is itself a superb innovation, the buggy tracker makes hitching a ride easy and convenient without the faff of calling for a buggy or waiting and wondering when one will be by.

Dhigali puts their touches of luxury into things that don’t just make the property look prettier, but more importantly directly enhance the pleasure and comfort of staying there.

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Maldives Tour: 2019: Kudafushi

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Kudafushi - Tour 2019

Don’t need all the fussy bells and whistles, but do want top notch quality throughout? Check out Kudafushi. It describes itself as an “entry level 5 star”. And it is positioned precisely where so many visitors want to be. They want to splash out for the luxury of seeing this paradise, they want to be assured of a solid standard of quality for the basic creature comforts, but on top of that they don’t really want to pay extra for lots of bonus amenities and luxuries that don’t exactly float their boat.

It’s an intriguing sub-segment, as I have seen a number of quite fine properties in the Maldives position themselves as “4+ stars”. So, what would be the difference between them and a starter for 5? I think the key thing is consistency. A 4+ might just have some quite exceptional features, but it also might have a number of aspects which really don’t make the 5-star grade. These resorts position themselves a “4+” so that guests are pleasantly surprised by the 5-star features without being slated on TripAdvisor for some of the aspects not quite at 5-star standard.

The property and its proposition reminded me of the UK High Street icon Marks and Spencers. “Marks and Sparks” are renowned for having simply the best quality, at a reasonable price, food and clothing. Smart looking basics like your first business suit, or your underwear. Curiously, while the clothing line is dependably mainstream, the food court section is a cut above most grocery competitors. Similarly, Kudafushi’s fare was quite distinctive. A destination leading pasta station, jumbo grilled prawns and homemade ice cream.

One area that was especially distinctive was the house reef. It had that relatively uncommon combination of both great lagoon snorkelling (lots of big coral blocks in shallows for easy snorkelling for beginners) and a rich, steep house-reef drop off. We encountered a lovely turtle in the shallows that we swam with for a while (he seemed totally nonplussed by our presence) and a manta had visited the house reef just a few days prior.

Kudafushi ticks every box for all the fundamentals of a great property. Lori (whose long and unruly hair is particularly challenged in the humid atmosphere and salty water of the Maldives) noted that even the shampoo in the villa was exceptionally good.  Kudafushi haven’t splashed out on lots of flashy design or opulent features, but every aspect is quite simply first rate. Smart and high standard throughout from the minute you arrive to the minute you leave.

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Maldives Tour 2019: Reethi Faru

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Tour 2019 - Reethi Faru

When you have a classic production, people just can’t get enough of it even with repeat after repeat. Like “Top Gun” whose long anticipated sequel has just had its trailer released last week, Reethi Beach is a long time Maldives resort classic with a cult following that goes back decades itself. So it is with eager anticipation that its fans (and others) awaited the launch of its successor property Reethi Faru a year ago.

Like all the best sequels, Faru stays true to the elements, formula and style which brought it success. Fine house reef (with even the occasional manta known to swim by). An all-natural aesthetic with pervasive sand floors and unkempt jungle interior. A laid-back and somewhat social vibe. And of course, affordable pricing.

And the sequels, building on the bankability of a proven formula, are always blessed with a bigger budget, bigger stage and more ambitious script. Reethi Faru is also taking the original concept to a new proportion. This expanded size does invariably alter the experience, making direct comparisons between the two more difficult. Faru is not quite as intimate as Reethi Beach, which is less than half its size. Faru still maintains the no-shoes, pervasive soft sand experience but with longer paths meandering through the tropical undergrowth. In fact, I think Faru is about the largest island we’ve been to without buggies or even bikes used to move people around. So bigger yes, but more bustling, no.

It’s hard for me to make a direct comparison to Reethi Beach as we visited it in one of our first tours back in 2010. Since that visit, Reethi Beach had a bit of refurb (a digital re-mastering if you will). Like Reethi Beach, Faru’s infrastructure and design is quite straightforward stuff. Not lots of fancy flourishes, but simple and smart looking. The rooms are quite handsome with inviting paintings of local scenes and a fresh, comfortable décor.

One cosmetic feature that does stand out is its flora. Like Reethi Beach, the island is jammed packed with trees and brush. And the resort has nurtured that lush landscape even further. They have nearly an acre large flower nursery growing all varieties of colourful blossoms to be spread around the island. And through the centre they have constructed a 100 metre long arbour. When the passionfruit plants enveloping it mature, it will be quite a romantic tunnel of love.

The avid fans of Reethi Beach who cherish its aboriginal terrain, an inviting house reef, a chilled island vibe and an affordable price tag, will applaud the release of Reeth Faru.

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Maldives Tour 2019: Joali

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Joali - Maldives Tour 2019

Joali is state of the art. Quite literally, as the first “art resort” in the Maldives. I will have to delve into this inspired concept and the expansive collection that manifests it in a later post(s). But the resort is not just about the finer things in life, but fine art itself. Different artists from around the world were commissioned to create a collection of works inspired by the islands themselves. The notion reminded me of the legendary Ice Hotel who annually invites a platoon of ice sculptors to carve ice blocks into stunning pieces of art.

A major source of Joali inspiration is sitting down and enjoying paradise. Much of the art is meant to be “experiential art” that is engaged with, the most common engagement is just sitting and enjoying paradise. The name “Joali” is from “Joli” the name for Maldivian swing chairs with “a” inserted to represent their Turkish Parent (Alibey). “When people are sitting in their joli, they are enjoying life”. Hailing from the “Chairboys” town of High Wycombe ourselves, we were especially fond of this motif.

I’ve already posted on Joali’s exquisite Manta loungers. The arrival jetty is masterfully inspired by Mantas. Less mimicking their outline and more capturing the graceful, sinuous flow of their languid swimming. Appropriately enough, a group of dozens of mantas were spotted passing by the reef just a week ago.

But museum quality pieces aren’t the only state-of-the-art that Joali boasts. The villa environmental controls are something you would expect in Bill Gates’ house. Every electrical item from lights to curtains to home entertainment are all easily controlled from the handy bed-side iPad. Furthermore, all the lights are also controlled by a user-friendly pad of room settings like “Enter” (turn all lights on), and “Exit” (turn all light off) or “Ambient” (just turn on the low, indirect lighting). And the curtain controls don’t just open and shut them, but allow you to specific precisely how far you want them opened or closed.

The resort’s distinctions and touches of elegance made our visit a treasure trove as we discovered as many Best of the Maldives pieces as we had for virtually all the other resorts visited so far put together.

Joali is a new masterpiece in the azure gallery of beauty that is the Maldives.

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Maldives Tour 2019: You & Me

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You and Me - tour 2019

Super-deluxe for the rest of us. Have you ever yearned for the stylishly exotic Swiss Family Robinson chic of Soneva/Gili/Six Senses, but couldn’t swing the budget? Or fantasized about dining under the waves in an undersea restaurant like Conrad/Kihavah/Hurawalhi, but shrunk away due to the price? How about enjoying the personalized service of a la carte dining, but worried about bill shock at the end of the stay? Or having your own personal butler to help ensure every detail of your dream trip is attended to? You & Me resort provides so many features of the super-premium experience, but at a more conventional 5-star price (rooms starting under $1000/night).

The a la carte approach is good for the environment as food wastage is dramatically reduced, but it is actually good for the guest as well. We always find ourselves simply over-eating at the ubiquitous buffets. You just can’t help yourself making one last trip for “just a taste” of that inviting dish you saw, or “just a sliver” of the dessert you couldn’t fit on your plate. We found ourselves enjoying healthy meals without the post-prandial bloating and regret when we avail ourselves at the troughs of buffets.

Their H2O underwater restaurant was one of the most memorable activities of our two decades of visiting the Maldives. The facility is a sterling example of these special portals to the sub-aquatic wonderland of the Maldives with broad, open glass including an entirely glass semi-circle section at the far end. The meal is a luxurious gourmet meal featuring a range of seafood delights. Yes, apropos to the venue, but we did feel a little self-conscious eating in front of all these aquatic creatures. But the star of the night was the special appearance by the most charismatic visitor of all, a resident octopus (see below). He entertained us with chameleon colours and dazzling shape-shifting. He scooted from coral cropping to coral cropping enveloping it and transforming to match it. The surrounding fish seemed to take as much interest in his activity as we diners did. We thought that maybe he was trying to suck out fish babies hiding in the coral and the fish were trying to ward him off. It turns out that he was actually blowing into the coral to flush out stuff hiding and settled there, and the other fish were trying to steal some of the scattered pickings.

You & Me has been designed with the same emphasis on flair as their sister resort, Cocoon. For example, H20 was designed by the same Italian designer who crafted much of Cocoon’s distinctive look, Daniele Lago. For people looking for opulent luxury at an affordable price, You & Me offers the aesthetic brio and many amenities of the finest resorts at a more manageable price.

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