Best of the Maldives: Maldivian Floating Lunch – Kandima

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Kandima - maldivian floating lunch

Floating breakfasts are becoming a staple of the food-photo-ing Instagrammers at resorts. Kandima was one of the early pioneers of the buoyant buffet and now they have gone a step further in distinction with a special Maldivian fare option:

  • “We not only offer the bucket list Floating Breakfast, but we also offer an oh-so-authentic Maldivian Floating Lunch! Savour a truly private floating lunch in your villa pool bursting with exotic Maldivian flavours for an ultimate exclusive experience”

Just right for Lori who Maldivian favourite mashuni. Also, this post has prompted me to add the new tag “Floating Dining” as well as “Maldivian Cuisine” (which I was surprised that I hadn’t done yet).

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Best of the Maldives: Hydrofoil E-Bikes – Siyam World

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Siyam World - hydrofoil ebikes

The absolute highest tech bike just made for the Maldives are the hydrofoil e-bikes. On our September family holiday to my sister’s lake house in NH, one of the locals was zipping around on one of these al day land it looked like great fun. Siyam World is the first to introduce it to the Maldives:

  • · “The Manta5 Hydrofoiler XE-1 – the world’s first hydrofoil e-bikes – is capable to speed up to 11 knots. These emission-free, wake-free, near-silent wave-riding phenomena harness the same technology as America’s Cup yachts to create a completely new cycling experience on water.”
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Best of the Maldives: Chainless Bikes – Amilla

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Amilla - chainless bikes

Bicycles have become a familiar amenity on the medium to larger size island to allow guest to explore the more extensive grounds in a leisurely manner. Amilla recently upgraded the bike fleet with chainless models. Chainless bikes have a number of advantages:

  • ·Easier to Ride – 22% less force needed to make your holiday riding all the more relaxing.
  • More Eco-Friendly – no chain lubricant needed
  • More durable
  • Safer

Happy riding!

Amilla - chainless bikes 2

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Best of the Maldives: Culinary Zip Line – Soneva Fushi

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Soneva Fushi takes a great concept, takes it just that little bit further, and makes it their own. (thanks Paola) I’ve long been waiting for a zip line in the Maldives. So guests could fly across the canopy. But instead of “Flying Foxes”, they present “Flying Sauces”:

  • “We’re delighted to introduce Flying Sauces, our exhilarating new culinary concept at Soneva Fushi. This first-of-its-kind dining destination is set to become a true bucketlist experience for gastronomes and thrill-seekers alike, combining the adrenaline-fuelled excitement of a zipline with an exquisite gourmet menu. The 200-metre zipline route glides through the leafy jungle from The Den to our treetop dining platform, which towers 12 metres above the ground and commands spectacular views across the ocean. Serving breakfast, high tea and dinner with optional wine pairing, Chef Rasal’s seasonal menu is inspired by our idyllic island setting, with dishes crafted from organic ingredients freshly picked from our gardens or caught by local fisherman in our nearby waters.”
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Best of the Maldives: Largest Arbor – Soneva Jani

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Soneva Jani - bat arbor

Holy Foliage Batman!

A number of resorts create arbors for a sheltered tunnel of greenery (or sometimes flowers) to promenade through. At 200 metres, Soneva Jani’s is twice as long as Reethi Faru’s which was the longest we’ve seen to date. But Soneva Jani’s offers not just a flora display, but a popular fauna perch as well for the flying foxes. The fruit bats are one of Lori’s favourite Maldives creatures and she loves watching them fly past of crawl along the tree branches. Unfortunately, most of the food they are foraging for are high up so you can’t get to see their cute little faces that easily. At Soneva Jani, the extended arbor provides the same appealing canopy for these critters so they can be seen closely scampering along it. And when they want to fly away, they just fly through tunnel just past you. It’s like giant bat cave of greenery.

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Best of the Maldives: Ornate Eagle Ray – OZEN Maadhoo

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The best of the “Best of the Maldives” posts are about discoveries that a rare, exciting and “wow”. And you don’t come any more so than the Ornate Eagle Ray we watched swimming in the water villa lagoon of OZEN Maadhoo. It was a fitting crescendo to a superb 2022 Tour. As Lori went out to the deck of our water villa she spotted this fellow cruising by. She grabbed her phone and followed him to the end of the jetty until she could get a good angle to shoot this footage. This was the first time we had ever seen this spectacularly mottled ray in over two decades of snorkeling, diving and jetty strolling in the Maldives. The Maadhoo Dive Manager Udo Goergen said in his many years there, he had only seen them a few times.

  

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Best of the Maldives: 2 Channel Reef – OBLU Helengeli

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OBLU Helengeli - 2 channels

I’ve already elaborated on the benefits of a channel house reef with its flow from the open ocean to the inner atoll often providing a highway for big creatures. OBLU by Atmosphere (Helengeli) features TWO channel house reefs as its extended shapes extends from the atoll edge into the inside. It’s rare find due to plateaus taking reefs far from island and making them less accessible.

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Best of the Maldives: Baked Alaska – Fihalhohi

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Baked Alaska is quite simply my favourite dessert. It sits in the pantheon of luxurious sweets. Despite its ice cream so suited for the hot climate and being one of the titans of luxurious sweets, I was surprised to not come across it in the Maldives before. And yet, the humble, value-priced Fihalhohi was the resort to feature it in my visits. I did do a bit of due diligence research and a Google search found a TripAdvisor review in 2017 reporting baked Alaska at Halaveli (it wasn’t there when we visited in 2013) as well as a picture of one at Outrigger Konotta in 2019.

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