Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru adds another creature to the school of flying fish is the Maldives skies introducing its boxfish styled seaplane (to join the whale shark, yellowfin tuna, shark, and parrot fish).
Best of the Maldives: Kids Zip Line – Soneva Jani
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!
Best of the Maldives: Rope Climbing – Ritz-Carlton Maldives
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.
Best of the Maldives: Obstacle Course – Emerald
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.
Best of the Maldives: SAii Lagoon / Hard Rock – Map Table
Best of the Maldives: Underwater Dry Treasure Hunt – OBLU Ailafushi / Lobigili
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.
- “The Educational Marine Tour sensitises school children between the ages of 5 to 12 years about marine life. They identify fish and corals, connecting with the country’s fragile ecosystem. This initiative attempts to educate future generations who may decide to have a career in hospitality. Every month the resort will invite students from different schools in Malé for the program.”
Two of my favourite things to enjoy in the Maldives – underwater and treasure hunts!
Best of the Maldives: Guitar Lessons – Cora Cora
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.
Best of the Maldives: Bird Island – Patina
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:
- “Not exactly a facility but an interesting place to visit nonetheless. Bird Island it is the only part of the entire Fari Islands development that was originally above water and isn’t made from dredged sand. As the name implies, Bird Island is still used as a breeding ground by local birds and is a great place to come and observe them (whilst carefully maintaining your distance).”
Best of the Maldives: Spa Island – Kuda Villingili
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.
Best of the Maldives: Yoga Pavilion – Soneva Jani
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.
