Best of the Maldives: Longest Underwater Kiss – Lux South Ari Ari

LUX South Ari Atoll - longest kiss

Happy Kissing Day! Maldives is a world-renowned destination for (a) romance, and (b) underwater delights. So where else to break a word record for underwater kissing?! LUX South Ari Atoll hosted the sub-aquatic smooch:

  • “Beth “One-Breath” Neal and partner Miles Cloutier – AKA Canadian Aquaman – have had their smooch certified by Guinness after a stay at the LUX resort, South Ari Atoll. On February 14 the couple locked lips in the resort swimming pool for an impressive 4 minutes 6 seconds. The record smashed the long-standing previous record (3 minutes 24 seconds), set thirteen years ago as part of the Italian TV show Lo Show dei Record.”

Romance everywhere in the Maldives…above and below the water.

Best of the Maldives: Solar Tracker – LUX South Ari Atoll

LUX South Ari Atoll - solar tracker 1

Solar power is moving from innovation to the new normal especially at higher end resorts. Thanks to their Swimsol power generation, LUX South Ari Atoll can get identify how much clean energy they are consuming:

  • “Guests can follow a live ‘solar tracker’ on their in-villas IPTV that will indicate the energy produced, diesel saved as well as the equivalent of carbon dioxide emissions savings to offset the number of long-haul flights.“

LUX South Ari Atoll - solar tracker 1

Best of the Maldives: Biogradable Coffee Cup – LUX South Ari Atoll

LUX south Ari Atoll - biodegradable coffee cup

For short lattes or long, LUX South Ari Atoll offers eco-friendly coffee cups that allow you to have your coffee and take it away too…

  • Coffee lovers can also have their favourite ice blends to-go in a biodegradable bamboo cup at the resort’s signature Café LUX*. Made of bamboo fibre with biodegradable silicone lids that are dishwasher-friendly, these cups are also in their retail shop for guests to bring home a piece of eco-friendly memento of their tropical getaway.”

Best of the Maldives: Vegan Beef – LUX South Ari Atoll

LUX South Ari Atoll - vegan beef

The ecological impacts of what you eat affects both the surf and turf of your dinner plate. Beef cattle methane flatulence is a major contributor of global carbon which contributes to ocean warming which kills coral. Concern over beef consumption has led to many initiatives to take the beef out of the most classic beef dish of all – the burger. Even mainstream chains like Burger King have introduced vegan versions like its “Impossible Whopper”. In the Maldives, LUX South Ari Atoll has introduced its own vegan “beef” burger

  • Embraced by leading brands, tech companies and major news media, the plant-based protein, formally known as ‘Beyond Burger™’ is now available at three of the resort’s eight restaurants to provide additional vegan and kosher options.”

Inspired by LUX’s culinary carbon-reducing crusade, I found myself trying my first vegan burger yesterday in London. It was a Avocado Chipotle Burger by the UK chain, Leon’s. Admittedly, my expectations were pretty low, but I must say that they were handily exceeded. Eating it, you realise that the taste of a “burger” is a real collection of tastes – bun, condiments, lettuce, charcoal grilling. So getting a patty of something that is remotely evocative of a burger in texture and even some flavour make the whole sandwich a pretty close facsimile to the original. But with much less impact on the coral reefs you are enjoying during your stay.

Best of the Maldives: Edible Straw – LUX South Ari Atoll

LUX South Ari Atoll - edible straws

When most of what there is to do all day is savour pina coladas in the sun (or whatever your favourite tropical tipple is), plastic straws can pile up. Most resorts are moving away from plastic to a variety of sipping tools (so much so that with this post I have introduced the “Straws” tag). LUX south Ari Atoll has introduced another variety of edible straws:

  • The biodegradable straws, made from cooked rice flour, tapioca starch and water, can last up to one hour before they soften and eventually dissolve.”

Best of the Maldives: Largest Floating Solar System – LUX South Ari Atoll

LUX South Ari Atoll - floating solar system 1

LUX South Ari Atoll floating solar farm is using the sea to save the sea. Exploiting the expansive areas of sun-drenched waters, their floating solar system is the not just the Maldives’ largest, but the world’s largest:

  • “This unique technology called SolarSea gathers solar energy directly on the ocean to power the island in an eco-friendly fashion. As part of the resort’s commitment to sustainability, LUX* South Ari Atoll has pledged to minimize carbon dioxide emissions. To achieve this goal, the five-star luxury resort partnered with the leading solar provider Swimsol, an Austrian-Maldivian company, which provided a solution to overcome the limited space available for solar panels on small tropical islands. Consequently, Swimsol developed the first and only patented floating solar system that is designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the waves, storms and saltwater…The resort is already using a rooftop system with the same solar company. Once all suitable roofs were covered with solar panels, the resort decided to expand beyond the shoreline with twelve SolarSea platforms. Thereby the solar capacity increased by 40% and reached 678 kWp, enough to power all guest villas with solar energy during the peak sun hours. The result is cheaper energy and a saving of more than 260,000 litres of diesel per year that previously were needed to produce the same amount of electricity with combustion engines.”

Sunny days to un-warm the ocean.

LUX South Ari Atoll - floating solar system 2

Best of the Maldives: Tree of Wishes – LUX South Ari Atoll

LUX South Ari Atoll - Tree of Wishes

LUX South Ari Atoll has its own wish tree, or as they call it – Tree of Wishes:

  • “Imaginative and uplifting: this new Reason to Go LUX* is a chance for guests to reach for their dreams while being part of unique interactive artworks. Local artisans and in-house creatives are cultivating and crafting Trees of Wishes at each resort by adapting real trees in the flower-filled gardens and by using upcycled materials such as metals and fiberglass to make these sculptures. At night, these mystical shapes are dramatically illuminated. And, in line with the LUX* Tread Lightly program, each objet d’art is utterly eco-friendly and constructed entirely in-house.”

That’s now a trifecta of arboreal adornment aspirations so I’ve add a special “Wish Tree” tag to keep track of even more that might blossom.

LUX South Ari Atoll - Tree of Wishes 2

Best of the Maldives: Beyond the Surface Innovation – LUX South Ari Atoll

LUX South Ari Atoll - flyboarding

The Maldives is all about the surface. The nexus of sea and sky in this land of boundless horizons. Where the islands themselves are just inches above the waterline and the reef wonders just inches below. But LUX South Ari Atoll has been pushing this boundary above and below the water taking their guests to new heights and depths innovative ways…

Many of these activities have been replicated and even prevalent across the holiday destination, but as the posts describe, in most cases they were the pioneers to introduce these far flung experiences. LUX is always pushing the boundaries of luxury and perspective.