Best of the Maldives: Surf Shack – Four Seasons Kuda Huraa

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Four Seasons Kuda Huraa surf shack 1

Plenty of great surf spots in the Maldives (even more if you do kite surfing), and a number of resorts offer surfing equipment and instruction, but there is only one ‘Surf Shack’ around – Four Seasons Kuda Huraa’s TropicSurf.

The Surf Shack sells a whole range of surf gear. It also provides video analysis as part of its instruction offerings. But it really just has a whole surfing vibe to it.

A great example of its surfing vibe and great offerings is its recently announced its ‘Champion Trophy Package’. Maldives.Net reports…

“The Maldives is set to host the world’s most exclusive surfing event this August. The event organized by Four Seasons Resorts Maldives, will feature six world champions, a leading five-star surfing resort, a luxurious 39-metre three-deck catamaran, and the perfect reef break waves. Conceived in conjunction with luxury surf pioneers Tropicsurf, the Four Seasons Resorts Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy will see the sport’s biggest legends such as four-time world champion Mark Richards compete across three disciplines that showcase the evolution of modern surfing.”

So if you are a hang-ten pro or a even bit clueless on the surfing front (like this lot), then head over to the Surf Shack.

Four Seasons Kuda Huraa surf shack 2

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Best of the Maldives: Cricket – Kuramathi

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Kuramathi cricket 2

Maldives may not be a ‘Test Status’ cricket nation, but they love their wickets as much as their Subcontinent neighbours. Their closest Indian Ocean neighbour Sri Lanka is right in the middle of a Test Match with England at this very moment.

If you fancy a few overs, either watching or playing, then Kuramthi is the pitch you want. Their staff have an active team that competes across the country and they welcome resort guests to join in or simply sip their G&T’s from the side.

Asma Rasheed of the resort describes…

  • “At Kuramathi we have a football pitch with doubles up as a cricket pitch as well. 4 days the team plays futsal and 2 days they play cricket. Guests are welcome to join if they wish (and often we will have a couple of guys joining, but mostly for the futsal than cricket I have to say).  We also hold tournaments, at least once a year. This is exclusively for our team. In March we had our futsal tournament and most recently we had the cricket tournament.  We also have occasional friendly matches between other islands. Over the last 3 weeks we have held a friendly match against Dhiraagu (Telecom Company of the Maldives), islanders of Rasdhoo (our neighbouring local island) and today, we had a match against Veligandu team (another resort in Rasdhoo atoll).”

The pictures here are just a few taken from Kuramathi’s Facebook album of one of their recent tournaments.

Kuramathi cricket

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Best of the Maldives: Protected Marine Areas – Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu

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Baa Atoll Marine Protected Areas

In the spirit of World Oceans Day, the Maldives established a record number of protected marine areas last week in what many consider to be the most spectacular atoll in the Maldives, Baa. The map above links through to the UNESCO map of the areas.

The first 5 areas are in a string right across the centre of the atoll, and at the eastern edge is Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu. In fact, Dhuni Kolhu is right next to Hanifaru Reef, the closest any resort is to a protected area.

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Best of the Maldives: World Oceans Day – Kuramathi

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Kuramathi World Oceans Day

 

Happy World Oceans Day!

The entire country of the Maldives is celebrating this event including several special activities in various resorts. But the resort that has pulled out the stops is Kuramathi. They are featuring a special complementary dive, an underwater photography competition, and reef clean up. The event is being sponsored by the resort’s recently inaugurated Eco Center as a part of its overall green strategy.

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Best of the Maldives: Southernmost – Shangri-La Vilingili

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Hours of Sunshine - Southern Maldives

This award could also be called the ‘Driest of the Wettest’. That is, the driest place to be (south) during the wettest period of the year (June).

June is the wettest month of the year with an average of 12 inches of rain. Not to fret too much. I’ve travelled to Maldives in June on several occasions and never once saw a cloud. Same old dazzling sunshine. I kept dreading to pull back the curtain in the morning and see the climate of Macclesfield in January only to be blinded by the sunlight. The other counterbalancing statistic is that the ‘Hours of Sunshine’ is pretty much uniform across most months.

But if you are playing the odds, then June will indeed bring greater likelihood of a dampening to your day. And if you really want to try to outsmart the weather gods, then the south is drier in June. However, the south is wetter in May (so if you were going on 30 May / 1 June, then I don’t know how you would make the call).

‘Goffy’ highlighted this thinking in his Trip Advisor Forum post of targeting regions of the Maldives to try to get the slight edge on even more sunshine. But the big resource is ‘Mariaeugene’s post to TA where she analysed the differences quite thoroughly (see above).

Still, if you want to be as south as possible for whatever reason, then Shangri-La Villingili is your place at 0.041 degrees below the Equator (one of the few Maldives resorts in the Southern Hemisphere).

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Best of the Maldives: Gazpacho – Sheraton Full Moon

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Sheraton Full Moon gazpacho

In honour of Italy’s National ‘Republic Day’ holiday today, I pay tribute to the finest execution of one of my favourite Italian treats – Gazpacho.

Probably because it is a refreshing cold soup, it is served at every resort that I have been to. I happen to be a soup lover and gazpacho is right up their at the top of my list of favourite styles. I shy away from awarding ‘Best Of’ distinctions on food because (a) there is so much fine cuisine in the Maldives now that it seems unfair to do so without sampling everything, and (b) a supremely well done dish is hard to distinguish from another supremely well done dish.

I break the protocol through for Sheraton Full Moon’s ‘Trio of Gazpacho’ at its Sand Coast restaurant. Most of all, it is not just one gazpacho, but three gazpacho treats. The first is a delightful traditional recipe. The second is made from green tomatoes (after years of visiting the American South it is encouraging to learn that there is something you can do with green tomatoes besides fry them…the South’s answer to everything culinary). The third was an almond base with grapes and apples.

It wasn’t just the stand out execution that struck me. The whole ‘gazpacho experience’ was excellent. Sand Coast is set in a grove of coconut trees on the sand by the water. This set up is certainly not unique in the Maldives (we ate almost everyone of our Coco Palm Dhuni Kolu meals in a restaurant they had like this), but we are always surprised how hard it is to get toes-in-the-sand-water’s-edge eating in the Maldives. The restaurant played soothing ambient music with a local twist. And the price was very reasonable and less than what you would pay for a similar dish in a London establishment (it also spoils the appetite a bit looking at stupid prices in menus especially at the higher end resorts).

Kudos to Chef Garth Welsh (see below) who has really set up an operation of lots of gustatory delights at Sheraton Full Moon.

 

Sheraton Full Moon Chef Garth Welsh

Chef Garth Welsh

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Best of the Maldives: Teenagers – Landaa Giraavaru

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Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru teen room

Happy International Children’s Day!

An increasingly number of resorts are seeing the appeal to Maldives for families and catering to the younger clientele with some of the distinctive facilities and service that have spoiled the adults for years. One of the first orders of business is a ‘Kids Club’. These clubs not only provide great fun for the children, but also some extra freedom for the parents. But most of these clubs really cater for the ‘tot’ group with lots of colouring books, toys and crafts. But what about that often neglected (or at least feeling neglected) group…Teenagers.

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru is the first resort to open a club specifically designed for ‘young adults. It’s called ‘Majaa Maizaan’. It includes more big kid pastimes like pool, ping-pong and Playstation.

Whatever.

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru teen centre 2

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Best of the Maldives: Luxury All Inclusive – Lily Beach

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Lily Beach All In cocktails

‘Luxury’ and ‘All Inclusive’ don’t typically go hand in hand.

All Inclusive resorts have tended towards the budget end of the market where people wanted to have a very defined price for their holiday without risk of overspend. Also, budget conscious travellers value the ‘quantity’ (all you can eat) versus ‘quality’. The problem with having ‘All In’ for premium travellers is that when they want extra wine, it could be £100 per bottle wine. An evenings drinking session could consume more than the cost of the holiday. If you start excluding all the treatments, yacht trips, Blue Label scotches and lobster dinners, then the high end traveller wonders what the point is.

But if you want your cake and eat it too in wanting a 5 star resort with an All In plan, then the Lily Beach is the place to go. Trip Advisor Forum reports and reviews consistently rate it as the highest quality all inclusive resort.

They offer a special ‘Platinum Plan’ which they describe as…

“Keeping the overall concept of ‘Affordable Luxury’ in mind, ‘Platinum Plan’ is a Premium All-Inclusive Plan, offering the discerning traveler absolute value-for-money and a hassle-free holiday with uninhibited enjoyment and peace of mind. Our ‘Platinum Plan’ will delight you with a fantastic array of quality services including premium wines & spirits, sumptuous dining experiences, hand-crafted excursions, sport activities, and much, much more!”

Lily Beach is the place were high rollers can go ‘all in’.

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Best Of Failures

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This is my 200th blog post on Maldives Complete.

I’ve covered a range of topics focusing, like the website, on useful tips and help for prospective visitors to the resorts. The Maldives’ rich diversity of the 100+ resorts provide an unceasing source of inspiration from the quirky to the spectacular for the most popular section – ‘Best of the Maldives’. As it happens, I have another 80+ ‘Best Of’ posts already researched, outlined or drafted just waiting for the most apropos point to post. I am also starting work on a project to assemble all of the ‘Best Ofs’ into a published book for those who prefer that medium. My next visit is already planned for July when I will visit 14 new resorts which will only add to the trove of material.

Not all prospective Best Ofs work out though. As it happens, my other major writing outlet covers the topic of ‘Embracing Failure’. And by coincidence this weekend’s post is also my 200th on that topic. In that spirit, I thought that I would celebrate #200 here with some of the blog posts that didn’t work out. But as you will see, they presented enticing possibilities…

Kandooma – Radio Station: Kandooma used to have a radio station on its resort that broadcast a combination of music and DJ commentary to guests. It sounded great but shut down before I could do a piece on it

Kandooma Radio

Equator Village – Golf Course: One of the ‘big’ attractions that the Maldives lacks in the eyes of many high end travellers is a golf course. This omission is in itself enough to keep many high flyers away. Despite some valiant efforts like Kuredu and Meeru, the situation is still acute enough to inspire desperate ideas like the well publicised ‘floating golf course.’ The island of Gan is home to the Equator Village as well as the one full 18 hole golf course in the country. It was built to serve the RAF base there, but has since fallen into disuse and disrepair and no visitors are allowed on it.

Gan Golf Course

Equator Village – Sky Diving: Gan is also home to the Hanimadoo Airport which had its own intriguing reports of sky-diving. Unfortunately the parachuting appears to have been a one-off event.

Gan Skydiving in Maldives

Six Senses Laamu – Slide: The most recent dead end story was the Six Senses Laamu ocean slide. It appeared on the design drawings when the resort was underdevelopment. Unfortunately, the resort decided not build the two story building in the end (and I guess ground floor slides just don’t have much thrill).

Six Senses Laamu Slide

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Best of the Maldives: Maldives Culture – Beach House at Manafaru

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Beach House at Manafaru Maldives Culture

One objection to a Maldives trip is not enough ‘cultural’ stuff to do. Sitting in the sun on a tiny, dedicated resort island doesn’t really present any historical or cultural experiences beyond some chit-chat at the pool bar. Cultural exploration at most resorts is limited to an excursion to a local island or Male and some visiting traditional dancers.

But, if you do want to sample a broader range of the local custom, then The Beach House at Manafaru has just launched a complete range of Maldivian treats including…

  • Historic island excursion – “Utheemu island, one of the most historically important places in the country being the birthplace of national hero Mohamed Tlrakurul’aanu who led the resistance against the Portuguese invaders in the mid 16th century. The visit includes a tour of a 500 year-old palace, local historic places, a market and a visit to a home in the nearby village to sample local delicacies cooked by the family.”
  • Maldivian Night – “Every Friday evening the resort transforms one of its beaches to an open air market offering a Maldivian style feast. With delicious local delicacies, specially prepared by the resort’s creative kitchen team, this evening brings the culinary treasures of the Maldives to the dining table.”
  • Maldivian Style Afternoon Tea – “Over a century ago, when the King visited the islands of his kingdom, the tradition of home-baked Maldivian snacks and infused drinks was created to welcome him…Subtly fragranced tisanes made from local herbs accompanied by delicate savouries, pastries and cakes, all with a local twist, are served in ART, a thatched-roofed open-air restaurant nestled in the lush tropical gardens of the resort.”
  • Maldivian Line Fishing – “Fishing is the lifeblood of the Maldives. To truly understand the culture of the country, a fishing excursion on a dhoni (a traditional Maldivian boat) opens doors to the rhythms of the ancient ways that are still practiced today. The boat sails in the late afternoon and as the sun falls towards the horizon the experienced fishermen will show the guests how to catch their own fish using the traditional hand line method. No nets, no rods, just a line, a hook, you, the fish and the infinity of the ocean. Fish caught on the excursion will be prepared and cooked by the resort’s chefs for the guest’s lunch the following day.”
  • Maldivian Cooking Class – “One of those dishes that the guests can learn to cook is called “Muranga Tholhi Kiru Garudhiya’(drumstick milk curry).”
  • Veli Modun Signature Treatment – “This unusual spa treatment [uses] locally sourced ingredients, this treatment is designed to invigorate and energize the body and assist in alleviating any aches and pains.”
  • Maldivian Blessing Ceremony – “The resort’s team will organise a stunning ceremony for the couple that includes traditional drumming, flower petal shower and a barefoot ceremony on the beach.”

Each of the activities can be booked individually, or Beach House offers a comprehensive package with every one included.

Aharemen dhanee kon irakun? (Dhivehi for “When do we go?”)

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