Photo credit – Haneen @haneensiddiq
Another “Finally Seen”, in fact one of my earliest. Coincidentally, Lori gave me a 60th birthday gift of a trip to Belize partly motivated by its similarity to the Maldives. One of the activities on the agenda was a zipline through the rain forest. Soneva Jani’s now offers that high flying thrill for kids at its “The Den” facility.
Zipitty doodah day!
Ropes courses are a classic team building activity in the corporate world, and for those budding executives, Ritz Carlton Maldives’ “Ritz Kids Club” offers and indoor and outdoor net-protected rope climbing (and clambering) frame. With the number of these “Climbing” features going higher and higher, I’ve added a tag for them with this post.
For all the budding young Gladiators looking to burn all the excess energy of from the excitement of arriving in paradise, Emerald’s Dolphin Kids Club offers a fun obstacle course to scamper through for hours on end so when Mom and Dad pick them up they are all spent and ready to sit calmly during cocktail hour.
The underwater, well, everything in the Maldives is so amazing that every visit should feature as much of it as possible. I love underwater facilities, but I especially like when the resorts expand their use to for other things so as many people can enjoy the underwater experience as possible. OBLU Ailafushi and OBLU Lobigili are using their underwater restaurants as a marine classroom. And part of their coral-life curriculum is a fun treasure hunt for different species of marine life. And the activity is not just for guests, but the properties also invite local Maldivian school children over to enjoy and benefit from this unique classroom experience.
Two of my favourite things to enjoy in the Maldives – underwater and treasure hunts!
If you want to make your own song or if the music of the ocean breeze in the palm trees and the gentle rhythm of seawater lapping the linen white sand inspires your compositional creativity, Cora Cora offers guitar lessons for their guests by resident Mani. In fact, even their staff have taken part including Sam featured here in this sample duet of some cord progressions.
Birds are the most prominent above-water creatures in the Maldives and Patina has segregated its own over-water sanctuary for these feathered friends. A review from Luxury Traveler describes:
Some spas are on the island and some spas are overwater, but at Kuda Villingili the spas have their own very own island complete with overwater treatment rooms.
Soneva Jani doesn’t do anything by halves and that includes its spa yoga pavilion which is not only the highest in the Maldives, but also the largest we have seen. You can escape from the escape perched high above resort life below while still immersed in the beauty of paradise surrounding you with a 360 degree panoramic view.
A strong spine is literally the backbone of healthy living. My interest is in sport and I am always struck by how (literally) central the importance of posture was for so many activities. I heard our ballroom dance teacher giving me the exact same tips about “shoulders down and back, pelvis forward, back straight”, that I gave my rowing students. Of course, back pain seems to be the most common affliction of aging which again all boils down to the spine. Ritz Carlton Maldives hosted Lorelei “Yoyi” Bulan who is a spine health expert during our stay. She walked me through a number of demonstrations and exercises (see videos) to gently activate, limber and strengthen my spine. Relieving stress discomfort at the literal “core”.
