If payment is overdue on the Huracan and you are having to make due with store brand Beluga, then maybe Angsana Velavaru’s version of “private island” will suit your budget best. Intimate seaside experience all to yourself.
Best of the Maldives: Budget Private Island – AaaVee
If the price of oil has got your sovereign fund in a slump or interest rates have hit your hedge fund, then maybe you want to consider the value priced private island hire available at AaaVeee. (thanks Paola) You can only bring up to 50 of your posse mates, but in the low season you can get away at a mere snip of a price of $50,000 per night…
- 01-Nov-16 through 27-Dec-16 (Full Board) – $50,000
- 28-Dec-16 through 06-Jan-17 (Full Board) – $100,000
- 07-Jan-17 through 20-Apr-17 (Full Board) – $75,000
- 21-Apr-17 through 31-Oct-17 (Full Board) – $50,000
And if this deal wasn’t inviting enough, AaaVeee has a Special Offer on its website – “7 nights on a Private island with All-inclusive Meals, accommodation & with your your invitees ONLY. (Max 50pax) Entire Island in nature’s paradise for your Private event JUST $100,000.”
Your very own plot of paradise that easy on the pocketbook (relatively).
Best of the Maldives: Biggest Private Island – W Retreat
Your own private island in paradise for just you…and 150 of your closest friends. A billionaire fantasy that might just be reachable to mere multimillionaires.
Coco Prive is notoriously *only* available for renting out in its entirety, but it is a mere 5600 square metres in size with only 7 rooms (there are some suites larger than that in the Maldives). Finolhu recently gave its entire island to the Delavingne girls for a week, but that was a one-off launch publicity stunt. I supposed any resort island would rent itself out entirely to a single customer (and their posse of friends). I have heard tell of a few Middle Eastern princes doing just this. It’s not easy to do as most resorts allocate out inventory to distributors and agents over a year in advance. But W Retreat has introduced a “island buyout” package with a standard advertised rack rate. The package includes:
- Island buyout of all 78 rooms
- All dining venues
- Free flow of food and house beverages
- Unlimited spa (inside operation hours)
- Unlimited water sports
- Shared seaplane transfers to and from the resort
Mind you this is not a budget punter’s paradise with rates at these levels…
- 7 nights – USD $6,250,000
- 6 nights – USD $5,500,000
- 5 nights – USD $4,750,000
- 4 nights – USD $4,000,000
Start saving your pennies…
Best of the Maldives: Double Island – NIYAMA
Best of the Maldives: Ocean Pool – Hulhumale
Hulhumale’s “lagoon pool” ticks off another “Finally Seen”. The authentically natural swimming experience, but a bit protected and groomed (ie. sand) for some people’s comfort. We still bump into folks visiting the Maldives spooked to go in the ocean for fear of the little puppy sand sharks swimming about. Come to find out, some people don’t want to swim in any water that has any fish in it. I can’t guarantee that some enterprising piscatorial bounder hasn’t literally made the leap to check this feature out, but you should be pretty safe.
Best of the Maldives: Ball Crawl – Hideaway Beach
For a bit more protection in scaling those heights, Hideaway Beach’s Tender Hearts Kids Club has a superb ball crawl with netting surround and, of course, a pool of colourful balls below.
Best of the Maldives: Kids Climbing Wall – Canareef
I love pint sized versions of things. One of my favourite websites is Minimus.biz (at one point I was going to open up a European branch of Minimus). The Maldives itself is pretty much made up of pint-sized versions of islands. And, since the outset, I’ve always felt that the appeal of the destination for families with children was always unsung.
I was especially enchanted by Canareef’s mini climbing wall for the smallest tykes t the kids club. Too often the “big” kids get all the cool, adventure toys, while the little ones are stuck with colouring books. This wall is just right for the tiniest alpinists. And at over a meter high (!), they can boast having scaled the highest point on the island.
Best of the Maldives: Kids Greeting Treat – Four Seasons Kuda Huraa
Every arrival at a resort typically includes some special welcome treat. Anything from a fruit basket to gourmet delicacies, a bottle of wine to useful gifts or a ready-to-go cocktail. At Four Seasons Kuda Huraa, the younger set get just as colourfully and creatively constructed welcomes as the parents complete with custom chocolate name plate. Mind you, it might take hours of swimming to burn off the sugar rush!
Best of the Maldives: Lego Room – Soneva Fushi
Double day today – Chinese New Year and international Lego Day! Time to head to Soneva Fushi’s special Lego Room at its “The Den” kids club (more like kids “country club”). Suitably equipped to build the Lego construction below to mark the occasion.
Best of the Maldives: Coral Lines – Gili Lankanfushi
Happy Australia Day, mate! While being only 12th in term of numbers of visitors to the Maldives, Australia is the 4th highest country in the fashionista database. Despite all its own sunshine and beach and even spectacular reefs (Great Barrier), the Maldives is still a distinctive beauty backdrop for the glitterati down under. Or maybe the depiction below of Australia’s own local offerings explains a bit of the exodus.
In honor of Australia Day today, I bring you something special from “down under”. In this case, under the sea with another reef regeneration initiative. Gili Lankanfushi’s coral lines project…
- “At Gili Lankanfushi resort in the Maldives, we are rehabilitating the coral reef by nursing coral on ropes (lines) (Levy et al., 2010) and later transplanting them onto degraded reef areas (Lindahl, 2003). Every rope is initially planted with 50 small, living coral fragments. We nurse the corals in the lagoon for 1 year and later transplant the ropes to the One Palm Island reef. Overtime we expect the corals get stronger, grow bigger and improve the health of the One Palm Island Reef. Our project is a research study on the subject of coral reef rehabilitation science, and 75% of the proceeds from every Coral Line donated will go to our Gili SEAS (Social & Environmental Awareness and Sustainability) fund, allowing our property to do more for the locals and more for the environment.”
Australia’s own reefs are suffering the stresses of the rise in ocean temperatures with extensive reports of bleaching. I expect Australia and the Maldives will eco-allies in preserving their distinctive ecological heritages with initiatives like Gili’s
Ripper!
