Today’s Commemoration of Atatürk in Turkey is celebrated with a traditional Youth and Sports Day featuring a whole host of competitions and exhibitions. Here in the Maldives, the Turkish inspired resort of Ayada offers its own distinctive sporting venue with the premier 5-a-Side pitch of the Maldives resorts complete with astro-turf and night game lighting.
‘Tis the season. Not the season to be jolly, but “The Season” to be generous. May kicks off the start of the social “season” here in London with Ascot, Wimbledon, Henley bringing out the picnics of champagne, strawberries and cream. And the circuit of charity balls bringing out the black tie and sequined gowns for good causes.
Kurumba has joined the season-al spirit with its own fundraising “Party with a Purpose”:
“On Friday 24th April Kurumba Maldives proudly hosted the fundraising event “Party with a Purpose”. This event was held for the fourth year running in aid of 72 orphaned children residing at “Kudakudhinge Hiyaa” located on Villingili island. Support from 10 different Maldivian performers, many suppliers and partners contributed to raise over US$21,000. This upcoming year, the funds will be destined to the development of the “Early Childhood Play and Development Training Programme” for caretakers, in cooperation with the local non-governmental organization ARC – Advocating the Rights for the Children, amongst other projects. Local artists volunteered their time to perform Maldivian and international tunes with bands, DJ’s and a Bodu Beru groups performing for guests’ enjoyment.”
Photo credit – NICOLE HERZ MSc
International Nursing Day today I thought was an apropos time to call out the eponymous “creature feature” nurse shark. As dependable as those faithful healthcare workers who alleviate our suffering, the similarly calm and composed ‘Ginglymostoma cirratum’ can be found on the Huvfenfushi house reef. Even more precisely, the resident marine biologist Nicole Hertz told us we could see her under the restaurant’s decking among the support pillars. Now, we’ve had lots of snorkel guides enthuse about lots of aquatic residents and, but unfortunately we all too often don’t have the fortune to see these allegedly regular visitors. But as advertised, we swam over and the Huva nurse was sitting on the sand precisely where Nickie said she would be.
Nurse Sharks are much more nocturnally active so it was not unexpected to see her just lying there. But, when we participated in Huvafenfushi’s night time “night aquarium”, she perked to life and paid us a visit with a number of graceful passes by the window (see below).
Watching the nurse shark at night from the underwater spa.
Photo credit – NICOLE HERZ MSc
A place for quiet reflecting itself in a reflecting pool. NIYAMA’s pool hammock is very close to the Hammacher Schlemmer on my “Haven’t Seen” list (but it’s not quite the petiole model I had noted).
Just floating in the pool…
If you want more literal self reflection, the Jumeirah Dhevanafushi is the place to go. I know I gave a nod to W Retreat’s seeing glass motif. So to fairly distinguish the two, I’m calling out Dhevanafushi’s “free standing” looking glasses. They have extensive wall mirrors too, but the more striking striking features are the framed one placed various places around the villa – The bathroom has a double sided mirror, the outdoor shower has one, the dressing room has a giant one (see photo above)
Great for vamping, less good for vampires.
A segue from “sole cleansing” to “soul cleansing” (or even more unpardonable, from “heeling” to “healing”), as Soneva Fushi introduces its own Healer in Residence, Jaqueline Bourbon. She is described as a “leader in enlightening wellness experiences”
“Soneva Fushi is proud to welcome Jacqueline Bourbon, its very own ‘Healer in Residence’…A fully qualified Medium, Spiritual and Shamanic Healer and Teacher, Jacqueline will offer her services to resort guests on a one-to-one basis by performing treatments such private sittings, energy readings and healing, spiritual assessments and traditional Tibetan Sound Healing…’Eva and I have worked with Jacqueline for a couple of years, and have witnessed quite how often she has a positive and life-altering affect on guests, even the most cynical ones. She is one of those highly intuitive people that come into your life rarely. She is brilliant at unlocking the past and setting people back on track for a far healthier and happier life,’ commented Sonu Shivdasani, CEO and Chairman of the Soneva Group…Jacqueline’s healing works on many levels: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.”
If there was ever a place for a “positive and life-altering affect” it would be the Maldives…
If there is anything that needs cleaning in the “no shoes” world of the Maldives and needs a bit of pampering after long haul travel, it is the piggy toes. Here Charmaine is treating Lori to a signature welcome by One & Only Reethi Rah. Foot washing is also a gesture of great respect and hospitality in many cultures with even Biblical references.
(picture courtesy of Alexander von Mende)
Maldives diving expert Alexander von Mende not only helped with the Huvadhoo dive sites, but he also offered some very insightful tips for my Best of the Maldives research. He ventured that the dive site Dheeva Giri is the best in the Maldives for Mobulas. Well, I certainly hadn’t encountered these creatures in my 20 years of visits and research.
In fact, I didn’t even know what they were. So I turned to Alexander’s book which also includes an extensive marine life guide. It turns out that Mobulas as sort of mini-Mantas, also referred to colloquially as “Pygmy Devil Rays” (great name).
Alexander says that the only place he has seen them has been at Dheeva Giri and Nilamdhoo Kandu which is near Robinson Club. He commented…
“We had a place which was regularly frequented by them in larger numbers: Dhevva Giri’s southern sand flats – quite a sight these small Manta relatives”
When describing my motivations for adding a Dive Site database to Maldives Complete, I noted the lack of interactive guides. Most diving information is traditional hard-copy book form or magazine websites that provide articles and overviews, but not a structured, interactive resource.
The exception to this standard approach is the Werner Lau dive centre website. They have cleverly integrated a mapping of the dive sites near their centres with Google Maps to provide an interactive layout of all of the dives sites local to their 4 Maldives dive centres. You can scan the area for websites who have ToolTip annotations and then simply click on their names to take you to a full profile of the dive site complete with dive chart.
Arbor Day today celebrates those those towering stoics of landscape flora. Actually, Arbor Days have proliferated around the world (celebrated in over 40 countries on different days of the year) indicating how pervasive the world’s appreciation for trees is. But the first Arbor Day was today in1872.
You can sit under them, look up and admire them, and climb them. But at the Dusit Thani kids club, you can play in them. The “Baan Sanook” features an extended treehouse complete with walkway and Maldivian palm thatch.
The feature echoes the Dusit’s Swiss Family Robinson chic of its Devarana Spa which is also elevated to the treetops.
Hug a tree today.
