Best of the Maldives: Snorkel Spotting – Gili Lankanfushi / Baros

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Snorkel Spotter - Gili Lankanfushi

Snorkel Spotter turned 12 years old this week! It’s been a great resource for us to capture and share our extensive house reef explorations (over 100 different house reefs). And various resorts and guests have embraced it as well to do the same, but none more than Gili Lankanfushi and Baros with 22 spottings logged each.

Here is the top ten table:

Gili Lankanfushi

22

Baros Maldives

22

Gangehi

21

Kurumba

15

Dusit Thani

13

Thudu Fushi

12

Veligandu

12

Biyadhoo

12

Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu

12

Fihalhohi

11
Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , , ,

Best of the Maldives: Reef Friendly Sunscreens – Gili Lankanfushi

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Gili Lankanfushi - sun screen

Environment Day today to celebrate appreciating, respecting and care for the environment around us. Sometimes the smallest of things can have big impacts over enough people and time. On example is sunscreen which we slather on to protect us from the tropical sun. But when we take a dip in the ocean to cool off, the salty water washes a lot of its chemicals off our body and onto the coral reefs we swim amongst.

Gili Lankanfushi is now only selling reef-friendly sunscreen in its boutique for its guests to remove this extra burden on our coral friends:

  • “A key ingredient in more than 3,500 sun protection products is oxybenzone…Annually four to six thousand tonnes of these chemicals enter our ocean through wastewater effluent, and by swimmers slathered up with sunscreen. Acting like an oil slick, the chemicals settle on marine life and the reefs become suffocated.”

Also, Grand Park Koddhipparu have made a similar announcement, but I was unable to get additional details.

Gili Lankanfushi - sunscreen 2

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , , , ,

Best of the Maldives: Gourmet Popsicles – Gili Lankanfushi

\ 1 Comment \ by

Gili Lankanfushi - popsicle

Gili Lankanfushi is concocting its own magical wands of tasty wizardry with its custom recipe Pool Pops.

  • “This is a popsicle from Fini Foni – our popsicle and ice cream bar at the pool side. Popsicles are chargeable, but during the afternoons we do offer it as a poolside Gili Refreshment. We do have different Gili Refreshment at the poolside available for guests throughout the day.”

The menu includes the following lollygagging lollies…

  • Non-alcoholic
    • Paleta Passion (photo above)
    • Gili Spa
    • Power Bar
    • Sun & Sea
    • Bodu Beru
  • Alcoholic
    • Pina Colada
    • Sangria Al Espagina
    • Fini Bubbly
    • Ghiaccioli Mojito
  • Weekly Special
    • Fini Green

Their icy assortment makes a double “Finally Seen”:

  1. Frozen Juice Pops (#6 from post #5)
  2. Poptails (#7 from post #5)

I’ve even added the new Tag “Frozen” hoping more will come out of the freezers.

Gili Lankanfushi - popsicles

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , ,

Best of the Maldives: Biggest Water Villa – Gili Lankanfushi

\ 1 Comment \ by

Gili Lankanfushi’s Private Residence    St Regis Vommulis John Jacob Astor Estate
Gili Lankanfushi Private Reserve                                                St. Regis Vommuli John Jacob Astor Estate

Sometimes the “Best” (and “Biggest”) of the Maldives can become an ever escalating arms race of hyperbolic luxury. One of the more curious bragging rights tussle is over the “Largest Water Villa in the Maldives”

For years, the reigning champion was Gili Lankanfushi’s Private Residence.  I had it listed as 1400 sqm.  Then, a couple of years ago came along St. Regis Vommuli’s John Jacob Astor Estate listed as 1540 sqm, putting the voluminous into the Vommuli.  A YouTube video tour “Largest overwater villa in the Maldives” heralded it as the new crown holder in the outsize overwater villa league table. But then, I read this listicle piece by Lina Travel, “Largest Overwater Villas in the Maldives” which put Gili back on top listing the Private Residence at a larger 1700 sqm. I contacted the resort and they explained, “We had an extension of the Private Reserve in 2015, making the total area 1700 sqm.”

Gili Lankanfushi - private reserve

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , ,

Best of the Maldives: Coral Lines – Gili Lankanfushi

\ 1 Comment \ by

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!

Australia destination map

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , ,

Best of the Maldives: Map – Gili Lankanfushi

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Gili Lankanfushi - birdseye map

Not quite the Edwardian “bird’s eye perspective” realism that I still haven’t seen, but Gili Lankanfushi’s is my favourite of all the resort maps. It has that pirate-chic treasure map vibe to it.

Gili’s map also veers a bit more toward the primitive art styling. It reminds me a bit of the historic “Maokun” map which plotted the eastern trade route from China to the Red Sea. The excerpt below is tilted so that the north (India) is to the left, and the east (towards China) to the right. Smack in the middle, the sort of mitten-shaped mass before the map gets mostly white further right, is Sri Lanka. Obviously, the expanse of the Indian Ocean is collapsed completely! The little dots in the middle of the map represent the Maldives with the big “circle” being Male.

Chinese map

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged:

Best of the Maldives: Water Villa Wedding Pavilion – Gili Lankanfushi

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Gili Lankanfushi - lagoon wedding pavilio

Gili Lankanfushi’s wedding pavilion is its very own ‘best of the Maldives’ collection all rolled into one stunning Maldives medley – an over water traditionally styled villa with glass floors looking down to aquamarine lagoons to celebrate one’s nuptials in paradise.

Gili Lankanfushi - wedding pavillion

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , , , ,

Best of the Maldives: Qigong – Gili Lankanfushi

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Gili Lankanfushi - Qigong

Qigong Day Today. And before you ask…

  • Yes, that is a real day.
  • Yes, there is a day for almost everything.
  • And yes, a Maldives resort has a special Qigong offering

Gili Lankanfushi specifically…

“Sommai, the practitioner who visits Gili Lankanfushi a few times per year, learned Qigong while he studying in Institute of Physical Education in Thailand and gained more experience as the Qigong instructor while he was practicing it in Vietnam and Malaysia. All the Qigong sessions Sommai is conducting in our Yoga Champa upon the guests’ request and bookings. The free group sessions are conducted on Sundays. The private sessions are possible as well at the rate of USD 90 + taxes per hour.”

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: ,

Best of the Maldives: Wood Use – Gili Lankanfushi

\ 1 Comment \ by

Gili Lankanfushi - knotted wood seating

The eco-chic natural look is becoming more and more in vogue in the Maldives. Especially with the recent launches of resorts like AaaVee and Drift Thelu Veliga. Maldives resort styling has gone through a number of style periods from the initial Spartan simplicity, to the more colonial rococo, to the modernistic swank, and now the artisanal natural look. Long before it became trendy, “Soneva” had embraced the aboriginal rustic vibe in its original properties – Soneva Fushi and Soneva Gili (now re-launched as Gili Lankanfush).

Lori and I are big fans of natural wood. Our 18th century barn is packed with exposed ancient timbers and our furniture from our baby grand to our custom doll cabinet is made from burr wood. While Soneva Fushi is duly packed with natural design features, we were particularly captivated by Gili Lankanfushi’s. From artisan coat hangers to a bamboo bike and the drift wood furniture shown here (with Lori doing a bit of her own ex-tree hugging).

Gili Lankanfushi - seating 2

Gili Lankanfushi - seating

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: ,

Best of the Maldives: Aqua-Solar Power – Gili Lankanfushi

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Gili Lankanfushi - floating solar panels

Earth Hour today.

“As the world stands at a climate crossroads, it is powerful yet humbling to think that our actions today will decide what tomorrow will look like for generations to come. This Earth Hour, ​switch on your social power​ to shine a light on climate action. This is our time to #ChangeClimateChange…our future starts today.”

One of my favourite Earth-friendly initiatives in the Maldives is Gili Lankanfushi’s floating solar panels. One of the challenges to solar power is finding a place to put the surface-area driven collectors. Not a problem in the middle of a desert. But in a densely populated location a bit tricky. Some have tried putting them on roofs. What the Maldives do have is lots of water. And so Gili’s solution is so fitting. It’s sort of a floating solar lilo.

“Gili Lankanfushi is happy to announce its partnership with Swimsol, an Austrian company that specializes in groundbreaking floating solar power solutions. Their idea is to bring green power to parts of the World, like the Maldives, where land space is limited. We are lucky enough to have Swimsol’s largest product so far; a 15 x 15 metre floating solar power platform. The platform itself is an engineering marvel; an innovative floating structure that is designed to survive waves and water turbulence. It consists of glass fibre tubes, aluminum frames and 112 solar panels. Weighing over 5 tonnes, it took nearly one third of Gili Lankanfushi’s hosts to push it into the water. Today after more than two weeks of hard work in the blistering heat of the dry season, the Swimsol team have plugged the largest floating solar platform in the Maldives into Gili Lankanfushi’s power grid. Swimsol’s platform has a nominal capacity of 28 KW and on sunny days it will produce up to 200 kWh, which is enough to power the equivalent of all our pathway and jetty lights, as well as the Front Office lighting for 12 hours! The platform will reduce our carbon footprint by 35 tonnes of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to the emissions of 30 return flights from Europe to Maldives per person!””

(thanks Paola)

Posted in: Best of the Maldives \ Tagged: , ,