Best of the Maldives: Heart-Shaped Island – OBLU Select Lobigili

OBLU Lobigili - heart island

The biggest heart in the Maldives would be an island shaped like one. I have been on the hunt for such a mystical land mass ever since #15 of my 7th Haven’t Seen Yet series. I did another Valentines post on the “Most Heart Shaped” islands “in the Maldives”, but only one was real and that one wasn’t really that heart-shaped. But now OBLU Select Lobigili features not just such a romantic plot of sand, but it also has the archetypal palm tree.

Best of the Maldives: Crab Mac and Cheese – Amilla

Amilla - crab mac and cheese

Sort of “Finally Seen” from way back to my 3rd “Haven’t Seen Yet” post where I highlighted the American delicacy of “Lobster Mac and Cheese”. This popular dish combines one of the most classic luxury ingredients, lobster, with one of the most basic homespun dishes, mac and cheese. I still haven’t found it in the Maldives, but I did enjoy the next best thing at Amilla Maldives – Crab Mac & Cheese. Same concept, but with a different luxury crustacean. And just as delicious as many lobster mac & cheeses I have enjoyed.

Best of the Maldives: Vilebrequin Swimsuits – Ritz-Carlton Maldives

Ritz-Carlton Maldives - Vilebrequin swimsuit

Black Friday is the starting pistol for the Christmas shopping season. A few Christmas’s ago, I asked Santa for a Vilebrequin swimsuit which were the smartest suits I had come across. Since the fashion line was among my Haven’t Seen collection, Santa’s little helper had to find one at their London boutique (see me modelling my turtle motif suit below). But now Ritz Carlton Maldives is featuring the Vilebrequin line at its resort boutique. So if you are puttin’ on the Ritz Maldives for Christmas and are behind in your shopping just put on some Vilebrequin.

Riz Carlton - Villebrequin

Best of the Maldives: Seabreacher – Siyam World

Siyam World - seabreacher

If you prefer your aquatic thrills above the water and fast, then I have now finally seen (after first noting it back in 2014) a Seabreacher introduced at Siyam World

  • “Operating more like an aircraft than a watercraft, these extraordinary semisubmersible vessels can jump over, dive under and carve left and right through the waves – and are even capable of 360-degree barrel rolls on the water. The Seabreacher’s acrylic canopy and underwater view ports give pilot and passenger near-360-degree views, while its supercharged 260hp engine propels them across the water at speeds of up to 50mph.”

If snorkeling over a house reef drop-off feels like “flying” in water then riding one of these does seem to be like flying Jetson-style over the water.

Best of the Maldives: Personal Fragrance – SAii Lagoon

SAii Lagoon - MIY 1

Instagram can save the sights and sounds of your trip to paradise, but how to do preserve the scents? The tropical flowers, the salty sea air, the crisp coral sands. I asked that question with my #26 of installment #5 of “Haven’t Seen Yet”, but thanks to SAii Lagoon “M.I.Y” (ie. “Mix It Yourself”) bar, I can finally tick that one off.

The M.I.Y. boutique lets you prepare a customised bouquet from their extensive array of aroma’s in the “Aroma Lab”. “M.I.Y.” is also a reverse acronym for “Yim” Thai word “Yim”, meaning “to smile”. So, the Aroma Lab motto is, “Make a scent that makes you smile.”

The process includes product testing to ensure your skin’s suitability and affinity with the customised formula. You can wear the final olfactory cocktail directly or have it added to you shampoo and soap in your room as well throughout your stay. Finally, each formula is kept for when you return to SAii Lagoon.

Makes scents to me!

SAii Lagoon - MIY 2

Best of the Maldives: Underwater Easter Egg Hunt – LUX* North Male Atoll

LUX North Male Atoll - easter egg hunt 1

Happy Easter! The Easter bunny left me another “Finally Seen” item with LUX North Male Atoll’s underwater easter egg hunt (#2 of the 13th “Haven’t Seen” instalment). Of course, they weren’t able to reprise it this year with the property closed, but they shared these photos from last year’s event. It was part of a largest egg hunt with goodies sequestered around the island with one giant golden egg hidden in the lagoon for intrepid snorkeling egg hunters.

LUX North Male Atoll - easter egg hunt 2

Freeze Frieze

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Maldives resort distinctions are like London busses…you wait forever, and then a bunch come along all at once. That’s the case with the clever content of “Animated Wedding GIFs” featured as item #20 in Part 5 of the “Haven’t Seen Yet” series. Now there’s a whole collection of these Maldives-own Mannequin Challenges (albeit technology assisted)…

    1. Sailor Moona (China) – NIYAMA [ABOVE]
    2. Coco Laite (Germany) – Holiday Island

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    3. Sania Camelli (Russia) – Dhigali

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    4. Karina Leyman (Russia)

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    5. Natasha Davydova (Russia) – Soneva Fushi

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    6. Bernshtein (Russia) – Sun Siyam Irufushi

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    7. Man Chia (Malaysia) – Ayada

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    8. Nadya Kiss (Russia)

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    9. Chou Chou (Vietnam) – W Maldives

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    10. Maria Medvedeva (Russia)

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    11. Camila Carril (Brazil) – Six Senses Laamu

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  1. Maria Karieva (Ukraine)
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Best of the Maldives: Reef VR – Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem - underwater VR

While still many “not seen yet” possibilities, my research is uncovering “finally seen” features I’ve proposed ages ago. Like Carpe Diem’s (also at the Raa atoll but didn’t get a chance to stop by this tour), house reef VR (which I proposed in Haven’t Seen #11 post, #4 a couple of years ago). The resort is doing more than just providing a sexy view of its underwater seascape, but is actually using the footage to assist with its reef conservation efforts:

  • “Carpe Diem Maldives is excited to expand on the Dive with a Purpose marine conservation programme this September in collaboration with Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the United States of America…Using innovative imaging and data technologies to archive reefs digitally and watch how populations change through time. Recreational divers joining the cruise will learn how to take their own reef images to recreate a virtual reality of the dive using special software. During the Dive with a Purpose week on Carpe Vita from September 9th – 16th Dr Brian Zgliczynski, Project Director of the 100 Island Challenge will present to Carpe Diem’s guest divers the research work involved in the project and go diving with the Carpe Diem Maldives team and guests to lesser-known dive sites in Raa Atoll as they accomplish conservation tasks.”

Best of the Maldives: Skydiving – Shangri-La Vilingili

Shangri-La Villingili - skydiving 1

Look! In the sunny cerulean sky! It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s super Best Of! “Super” because skydiving in the Maldives is perhaps one of the most eagerly anticipated Best of the Maldives activity to date. It was featured in the very first “Haven’t Seen Yet” post nearly a decade ago. Since then, I have been teased regularly by a number of announcements that skydiving was coming to the destination. A number of initiatives never seemed to get off the ground (quite literally). Even the company who eventually pulled it off, Sky Diving Maldives, posted about it months before details actually were forthcoming. Until finally they teamed up with Shangri-La Villingili for a landmark jump. The plane takes off from neighbouring Gan airport and you land on Villingili island. Guests were able to sail through the blue sky towards the blue water in a tandem jump for $699.

Shangri-La Villingili - skydiving 2

Shangri-La Villingili - skydiving 3