Best of the Maldives: Maldivian Floating Lunch – Kandima

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).

Best of the Maldives: Virtual Tour – Kandima

Kandima - virtual tour

I came across a good collection of virtual tours, “10 Maldives Resorts with Virtual Tours” (for trip research or just your own vicarious escapism to paradise). Some are just 360 degree aerial photography. Some are simply panorama videos on YouTube. Some are galleries of 360 degree perspectives of various places around the island. Some do have hot spots that you can click on for drill-down panoramas. Malahini Kuda Bandos is close, but Kandima goes that step further with a clearer layout and more extensive range of island places you can explore created by “Digitally Immersive Virtual Experiences” or D.I.V.E.

Best of the Maldives: House Reef Platform – Kandima

Kandima - house reef platform

One of the key criteria to a great house reef is accessibility. The intra-atoll drop-of-sand islands typically have house reefs a few metres from shore. You don’t have to juggle the logistics of signing up to a resort excursion to take you to some snorkel spot. Instead, you can just dive in and the aquatic wonderland reveals itself to you instantly. It is not just the convenience of proximity, but also a bit of reassurance. Despite the fact that you might be standing metre (on the sand not the coral, please!) in merely a metre of mill pond calm water, there is still something unsettling about swimming hundreds of yards off shore. And snorkeling can take a bit of energy so if you have had a particularly extensive outing, then the last thing you relish is an extended swim back to shore.

The islands that on the outer reef tend to be on broad tables which may make for expansive lagoons, but make for either weak or distant house reefs. Some of the resorts on these islands will typically offer regularly excursions taking people to the edge in a dhoni for an easy splash onto the reef.

Kandima does sit on an outer reef plateau and it has gone a step further to support house reef snorkeling constructing a platform in the lagoon relatively close to the edge. You can use it as a base camp for your house reef expedition. Or just for some middle of the ocean swimming or sun bathing.

Best of the Maldives: Art Cafe – Kandima

Kandima - art cafe

One of my favourite hangouts for my first stint as a travel writer and destination research in Togo, West Africa was the Café des Artes. The little tea shop displays and sold a variety of works from local artists including distinctive tapestries by an artist named Helga whose pieces are the pride of my African art collection. That local creativity set in a relaxing place to sip cold drinks and nibble treats all came flooding back to me when I stepped into Kandima’s Art Café. The joint sits adjacent to the resort’s art studio (so you can pop in for a coffee break while working on your Maldives masterpiece). The floor-to-ceiling windows look out over one of the rare inland lakes to be found on a resort island while also adds to the visual aesthetic.  And if that’s not enough inspiration, the cafe serves cakes as artistic as the surroundings themselves.

Best of the Maldives: Seaside Pitches – Kandima

Kandima - football pitch

As the football season winds down caped by Liverpool’s win last night, more and more footie stars are heading to the Maldives for some post-season recuperative therapy. Bunyamin’s legendary feed is packed recently with star players invading paradise over the past week.

If they start to miss kicking around the ball, then the most idyllic venue would be Kandima’s seaside pitch. Kind of evokes the luxurious coastal cachet of AC Monaco’s Stade Louis II (while the infrastructure is undoubtedly more modest, one could argue that the scenery is even better). Yes, most of the players are resident staff, but guests are always welcome to join in. Most of the time, these football grounds are sequestered in the interior of the island in the staff area. But Kandima has kindly situated its pitch right by the beach. So for the spectators, if the match gets boring (like most of last nights Champions League final), they can always gaze out on the picturesque ocean. Of maybe, amble over to the adjacent badminton court with the same seaside positioning some racquet fun.