Best of the Maldives: Repeater Occupancy – Mirihi

Reethi Beach repeater occupancy

How do you measure paradise?

Kurumba’s business facilities remind me of my time at Microsoft in such rooms where we spent countless hours pouring over the numbers and scorecards. From the business perspective of a resort, a key metric has to be ‘Repeater Guests’. Not only are these the lowest cost customers to market to (you know them) and sell to (they know you), but anyone coming back for more is likely a fan enough to be recommending your product to others.

I saw this impressive high water mark for Reethi Beach on their Facebook page with ‘110’. Out of an occupancy of 200, that is 55%. That compares to another popular ‘repeater’ resort Kuredu who informs me that they have had about 160 repeater guest at a given time. Yes, a higher total, but out of their 570 guest capacity, a lower (though still boast-worthy) 28%.

But the tops I can find is Mirihi. Another popular favourite with a near cultish following. The ‘average’ 40-50% over the year and have hit 80% repeater occupancy.

Best of the Maldives: Business – Kurumba

Kurumba board room

 

 

Happy Labor Day!

Americans are celebrating the end of the summer and the end of wearing white with countless final BBQs and beach trips this weekend. The holiday commemorates “celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers”.

The last thing one wants to do is ‘labor’ when you are visiting the Maldives, but it you have to, the place to do it is Kurumba

  • Best Conference Facility
  • Closest to Male (for access to Maldive businesses and HQ as well as other business facilities and support not available on a resort)
  • Most Restaurants (if by any chance you are doing some business entertaining)
  • Business centre
  • Wifi (pervasively supported across the resort free of charge)

With the rise of remote working, people often protest at work’s intrusion into one’s private life. In actuality, the technology works both ways and can also be a windfall to extending one’s leisure time. One example is people being able to extend their time off and holidays with the investment of a small amount of work during them in order to keep things ticking over back at the office. Checking in for a short period might not be everyone’s idea of a vacation, but if a day of work allows one to extend their time in paradise by several days, then it seems like a good payback. And if you are going to adopt that strategy, choosing a resort set up for a bit of business is a wise move to make the work you do have to do as painless and easy as possible.

Best of the Maldives: Higher Education – Sun Island

Sun Island tourism college

 

 

One of the best ‘semester away’ ever I think. Villa College is a higher education institution with a number of campuses in the Maldives including one on the island resort of Sun Island. Which is pretty apropos given the one of the most prominent courses is ‘Tourism’.

Other offerings include…

“The college offer a number of diversified programmes and courses in the areas of Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Information and Technology, Educational Studies, and Human Resource Management. Educational Studies, Information Technology and Business Administration programmes are available up to a Masters’ Degree.”

While Maldivians are the largest part of the student body, the school does attract people from all over the world including Europe and Asia. They have posted the YoutTube virtual tour below to provide a closer look…

 

Sun Island Villa College virtual tour

Snorkelling Certification

PADI Snorkeling Certification

If the Maldives has the best snorkelling in the world, then why not the best snorkelers in the world. Perhaps the most unsung PADI course of all is its “PADI Skin Diver” certification which teaches basic skills of snorkelling. Most guests heading to the diver centres are mostly the hard core divers, though many dive centres do coordinate snorkel safaris and manage the snorkelling gear.

The PADI web page describes the course…

“The PADI Skin Diver certification helps you get – and keep – your fins wet. While snorkelling is limited to peering down from the surface, skin divers generally venture further than snorkelers, making frequent surface dives to interact with aquatic life, up close and personal. The course provides basic information on skin diving equipment, dive science, the environment, problem management and safe skin diving practices. Inwater training includes various techniques for donning and adjusting equipment, entering the water, checking buoyancy, surface swimming, clearing water from your snorkel and performing effortless surface dives.To enroll in the PADI Skin Diver course, you must be at least eight years old [and] comfortable in the water…And, when you’ve finished the course, you’ll get a PADI Skin Diver certification card for your efforts and be ready for your next adventure. The PADI Skin Diver course teaches you to use basic snorkelling equipment including a mask, snorkel, fins, buoyancy control device (BCD), exposure protection like a wet suit and dive weights as needed.”

I think that this would be a great activity for family with young children (over 8) to all do together and help acquaint them with some of the finer points of this signature Maldives activity. It would help them to get even more out of their entire stay.

I was introduced to the course by Vakarafalhi, but many other resorts offer the programme such as Kandooma, W Retreat, Hyatt, Conrad Rangali, Sheraton Maldives, Dusit Thani to name a few.

Best of the Maldives: SNUBA – Angsana Ihuru

Angsana Ihuru SNUBA

 

Another option for kids immersing themselves in another world, is the new SNUBA offering a Angsana Ihuru. Atoll Paradise reports

“Angsana Ihuru is the first resort in the Maldives to introduce the revolutionary SNUBA snorkel-dive cross-over. SNUBA allows you to dive down to up to 6 meters while breathing through a hose attached to a floating raft. Even small children can participate in this fun activity and SNUBA Doo on the surface with the help of a special floatation device, while their older siblings SNUBA dive down below…With an access to 30 diving sites less than an hour away from the resort, you can expect to see stingrays, scorpion fish, giant moray eels and myriads more of colorful marine life.”


SNUBA uba-doo!

Best of the Maldives: Fantasy Kids Club – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi kids club 1

If your kids want to immerse themselves in an imaginary world of a less virtual type, then Soneva Fushi’s kids club is as out of this world as any level of Tron. Sort of like what Tim Burton would design for kids if he was stranded on a tropical island. Other creative offerings include yoga for kids (kids sitting quietly and contemplately…that is a magical fantasy world!).

Fantastic!

Soneva Fushi kids club 2

Best of the Maldives: Beach Web Surfing – Paradise Island

Paradise Island - beach web surfing

Another surfer’s Paradise in the Maldives. This time for ‘web surfers’. And offered up by the eponymous Paradise Island. The resort not only offers wifi that extends to the beach in front of their reception, but also they have run power outlets to the tables. As a result, you can surf for hours without running out of juice (well, you might need a top up for your pina colada).

Paradise Island - beach web surfing 2

Best of the Maldives: Surfer Island – Coke’s Island

Cokes Island 2

Okay, maybe not a ‘resort’, but to many surfers, still absolute luxury in paradise.

‘Coke Island’ is one of the first local island guest properties and has a special focus on surfing.

I read about it in the Maldivian Air Taxi in-flight magazine piece by Donna Richardson. I tend to keep the focus of Maldives Complete, especially the ‘Best of the Maldives’ section focused on the official resort islands. I have added a few of the Male hotels that do have a fair amount tourists (eg. Traders, Hulhule, Nasandhura). Recently, the government opened up the option for non-resort islands to host visitors in guest house as way to offer more possibilities to guests, generate direct income to local islands, and to provide more low-cost budget options. The Maldives heritage was actually in low cost diving lodges. Also, I see the Maldives becoming a more and more prominent surfing destination and I am trying to document many of the surf features. Richardson describes it…

“Just two hours dhoni ride from Male or 45 minutes by speedboat, this charming island offers a different experience to laid-back resort life. It gives backpackers the chance to live as the locals do. To boot you can get to grips with one of the best surf breaks in the country – ‘Cokes’ which too is named after the [nearby] fizzy drink factory. The first port of call for weary travellers is a new guest house specifically aimed at European backpackers called Surfers World. The camp itself features a five bedroom hostel with comfortable and clean beds with sleeps between two and four people per room.”

 

Cokes Island 1

Equalization Tips

Bruce Lynn diving Maldives
Something else that bothers me personally when I am in the Maldives, is equalising (the process of adjusting pressure in your sinuses whn scuba diving). With such world class snorkelling in the Maldives, it was some years after my wife started diving that I joined her in getting certified and one of the disincentives for me was general sinus issues which made for equalisation difficulties. For the 6 years I have been diving, these issues persist in irritating my dives, but over that time I have collected a range of tips from various divers and dive masters on how to alleviate the problem.

There are the classic tips that you learn when you get certified like…

  • Wiggle ear and jaw.
  • Hold nose and blow gently (I did find that a problem I had was trying to blow too firmly which both hurt my ears and wasted air).
  • Descend slowly.
  • Rise 2/10th metre when you start to feel discomfort.

Since taking the Scuba course, picked up the following added tips.

  • Snort salt water. Before descending, suck some ocean water up through your nose. It actually works a treat to open up the sinuses. It’s not far off the traditional remedy for throat problems of gargling with salt water. However, Claudio at Sea Dragon Diving with Maafushivaru informs me that in most places that is a good trick, but in the Maldives there are many micro-organisms in the water the practice can cause infection. If you like this approach and are concerned about this, then you could bring some pharmaceutical saline solution with you.
  • Sudafed. Or any non-drowsy cold decongestant. The scuba course will tell you not to take drugs for a number of good reasons (eg. they could have adverse side effect which is why you need to be careful to get non-drowsy ones, they could wear off and then problems could occur when you are in process of diving, they could mask serious issues or symptoms). In short, in the interest of absolute safety, the advice is that if you need any drugs to make diving comfortable, then you shouldn’t be diving. But, that advice is really geared toward people not well. If you are well, I have met a number of divers who do practice taking some Sudafed to assist the biological processes of opening up the sinuses and making equalisation easier.  Note, my friend and veteran diver Eileen Brown informs me that pseudoephedrine can causing fainting if you descend to 30 metres (rare in the Maldives).
  • Beconase (beclometasone). Same concept as Sudafed, but a different (and possibly more effective and immediate delivery mechanism).  Beconase (the OTC name) is a nasal spray that opens up the nasal passages.  It was recommended to me by my doctor for general draining of fluid from my ears after a cold.  I had had blocked ears for weeks, but after one puff of the spray, my ears started that distinctive ‘crackling’ sound of clearing.
  • Swim parallel above rest of group. Many times it just takes longer for the equalization to happen. The problem is that you feel that you need to descend to keep up with your group and it is the rushed descent that causes the discomfort. The divemaster at Lily Beach Nicole encouraged me to simply swim above the group, but keeping the group in view, and descend at my own pace (also, in addition to my buddy, she kept an extra eye out for me).
  • Relief, Not Release. Sometimes when you equalise, you get an incredibly satisfying squeak in your ears as the pressure finally squeezes through your ear channel to balance.  I used to make the mistake of trying too hard to equalise and pushing to hard to try to achieve this effect.  But this was the wrong approach.  Not only did I fail to achieve the release, but the pushing too hard meant that I probably aggravated my sinuses and wasted extra air in the process.  What I learned to do was the more gentle holding nose and puffing.  The objective was not to get the ‘release’, but simply to ‘relieve’ the pressure on the sinuses.  I soon realised that I could do the entire descent without the magic release, but I would avoid all discomfort by just gently working on keeping the pressure strong in my sinuses.
  • Turn Down the AC. Air conditioning dries the tissues in the ears, and then when you emerge into the nearly 100% tropic humidity, it expands the tissues which will tighten up the ear canals.
  • Push 2 Fingers Behind the Jaw.  Find the soft tissue just behind the end of the jaw bone and carefully push into the soft tissue.  It will feel a bit uncomfortable, but done properly with relax the tissue located there which can contribute to the tightening of the ear canals (courtesy of Thomas at Werner Lau, Medhufushi).
  • Vented Earplugs. These special type of earplugs can alleviate pressure on the ear drum.  Here is an article on them (thanks Stu and Nicki).
  • Olbas Pastilles. Any eucalyptus lozenge should do to open up the sinuses before a dive, but many melt in the heat, while Olbas brand don’t (another Eileen tip).
  • Vented Earplugs. These special type of earplugs can alleviate pressure on the ear drum.  Here is an article on them (thanks Stu and Nicki).).
  • One Side Head Tilt. If one ear is working but the other is blocked, then turn your head with blocked one toward the surface because the air is always going up and the pressured air from inside your head will go up to your blocked side to help equalise (thanks Marco Bongiovanni, Makunudu).
  • Surgery. A rather dramatic solution, but one that might be a practical resort especially if the problems are confirmed to be due do abnormalities in the sinus tissue like a deviated septum.  Such procedures are typically reserved for people with conditions like sleep apnea or recurring sinusitis, but it can be a appropriate and very helpful for individuals involved with diving.  Not a very common solution, but Patrick Spitz, Sea Explorer Diving, Reethi Faru noted that one of his staff was getting the operation due to her persistent issues from this cause (thanks Patrick).
  • Oil Drops.  A traditional remedy for ear aches and infections (which do not have any medical evidence to support its efficacy) is using various oils (eg.  Vitamin E,m Vitamin A, even Olive Oil) can soften the ear tissues to make them more flexible and easy to equalise (especially if they have gotten dried out from repeated immersion in salt water washing away the natural oils). (thanks Danni)

Here are some more handy tips from Aquaview.