Tag Archives: Not Seen

Despite seeing more things than we ever thought we would, we still have come across features and items that seem like they really do belong at Maldives resort somewhere and yet I haven’t seen them yet. Here’s the latest installment of “wanna sees”.

Wave Jewelry – Some sort of crowdsourced fundme project (thanks Paola). [ABOVE]

Super High-Tech Shower – When we first started coming to the Maldives the most common consideration about showers was how strong the hot water pressure was. Then rain showers became the vogue for the luxury properties. Then drench waterfall showers. Just how far can the evolution of shower luxury go? Well…

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Ocean Lighting – The Maldives’ famous water villas put you right in the ocean, but how about this light to put the ocean right in your villa?

Diamond Ice Cubes – Ice is a particularly essential ingredient in the hot tropics at premiere resorts serving refreshing drinks. And I’ve posted a number of “haven’t seen” riffs on this simple cocktail component, but none so luxurious as this.

    

Orange Rose Ice Cubes – One of Lori’s (and everyone’s these days) favourite hot weather cocktail is an Aperol spritz and these cubes make it all the more appealing.

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Magic Cocktails – Cocktails are a delightful accompaniment to the entertainment that the resort puts on, but actually the cocktails could BE the entertainment…

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Blue Jelly Fish Shot – And for some apropos aquatic cocktails magic…

Tipping Note – Seth Godin’s piece on “Customer Satisfaction and Tipping” provides a tip for resorts which addresses a perennial issue on TripAdvisor Forum – tipping,,,

  

Healthy Choice Buffet Arrangement – “Serving Healthy Foods First in Buffet Lines Improves Overall Meal Selection”

Non-Alcoholic Pairing Menu – We came across this variation of varying your beverages with each course at Rickety Ridge winery in Franschoek, South Africa.  Especially with the growing number of Islamic guest as well as the tee-totaling wellness holidayers.

  

Children’s Pairing Menu – Rickety Ridge also featured a pairing menu for the Kids Menu. So fun!

   

Aquafit Boards – Paddleboards, fitness classes and pools are all commonplace now in the Maldives…so why not put them all together?

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Pool Meditation – Or something a bit less stressful for your pool float (in fact, perhaps the very opposite of paddleboard fitness)…

Hydro-Foil Kite Surfing –  You can feel like you are flying across the water kite surfing. Or with a hydro-foil. Or both!

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Sea Bike – Or for that flying underwater feel…

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I did get to see the Euro 2020 Final though sadly not underwater…nor even in the Maldives. Which is where we usually are this time of year there on our annual research tour. Obviously, halted by the “Red” status of the destination by the UK authorities, we have re-scheduled for November when we hope things will be even more settled. Our trips allow us to ferret out things we’ve not yet seen despite 20+ years of visiting the Maldives, and so we often preface them with my bi-annual instalment of “Things I Haven’t Yet Seen in the Maldives”. Over the years, I’ve posted 323 of these (of which 34 I have now “Finally Seen” many of which the resorts who introduced them told me that they did so after reading my piece). Here is another score to add to the list I’ve rounded up over the past six months:

1. Ocean Suncatcher / Ornament – Christmas ornaments are great gifts and I’m a bit surprised I don’t see more of them sold in the resort gift shops. Rather than shelf-cluttering chochkies, ornaments are seasonal aesthetic treats that remind us of our sunny times in the depths of winter.
   
     
   
2. Scuba Nutcracker – Nothing is more Christmasy than a nutcracker. And no nutcracker is more Maldivian than this special edition version by Really Cool Nutcrackers. Thanks Lori for not just discovering this gem (I collect nutcrackers and own over 100), but also for the custom “Maldives Complete” rendition for my birthday (see photo at top)!  It includes a “Maldives Complete” logo on the shirt (which she also gave me for my birthday) and “Paul Shark” shorts (which she gave me for last year’s birthday (and featured in the last edition).
   
       
3. Puzzle Station – Amilla had first puzzle we’d come across that was actually not just a Maldives scene, but also one of the island itself. It was a relatively trivial 100 piece affair. The classic format is the 1000 piece. These typically take several days to do (eg. 8 hours to do with a few people). They a great over holidays sitting on a table where people can come and try to find a few pieces. I would like to see a brilliant photo made into a puzzle in the gift shop, but also a puzzle set out on a public area table where people could pop by and work on it for a little while. Maybe if a short rain shower is coming down, guests could pop in an contribute to the puzzle for a little while. The resort could announce over social media when the puzzle was completed (and then start all over again or start a new one). Online photo production places make these custom photo puzzles very easily.
   
     
4. Blind Date with a Book – If you prefer to lounge with the traditional beach read, here is another Turkish delight taken from a Dalaman resort that Lori goes to regularly. Not only does it have fun element of serendipity, but also the books are sterilised for COVID safety.
   
         
5. Under the Sea Scratch and Draw – For more creative and less intellectuallty demanding fun, the “Scratch and Draw” books are great and this one especially thematically apropos for chilling at the villa for the little ones.
   
       
6. “Mermaids Drink Free” – A relatively well-known vintage sign and yet I haven’t come across it in the land of mermaids.
   
     
7. “Papa Don’t Preach” Resort Collection – Resort wear for all visiting mermaids, “The Mumbai-based label started by Shubhika Sharma has launched a collection of swimsuits, cover-ups and beach accessories inspired and shot in Maldives.”
   
     
8. Naia Beach Swimwear – Their “Sustainable Swimwear” line is not only made from recycled fishing nets (giving new meaning to the term “string bikini”), but also is itself inspired by the Maldives.
     
      
9. Sea Morgens Sustainable Swimwear – “SeaMorgens we only uses fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles, regenerated ocean fishing nets, and other household waste.”
   
     
10. Etro Striped Fish Print Cotton Shirt – Not to leave out the mermen, this Etro style is as stylish as it is suited to the destination.
    
     
11. Coral Crocs – Sunies “Sea and Ocean” sandal – Even Crocs can be stylish when infused with the spirit and aesthetic of the Maldives.
    
     
12. Treasure Island PJs – Even the littlest ones can become fastionistinas with this treasure island themed outfit by Little Outfitter from neighbouring Sri Lanka.
    
      
    
13. Toddler Water Ski – With families surging as a segment in the Maldives, there’s no reason they can’t enjoy the watersports too.
    
      
14. Electric Surfboard – Electric bikes all are the rage with the MAML crowd these days, so a bit of eco-friendly motorised watersport should be appealing.
    
      
15. Loo Sink – Common in Japan, the hand wash sink is placed on top of the toilet cistern so the waste water from washing your hands is re-used for the next flush.
    
      
16. House Reef Guided Tour – Audio tours are standard fare for the top flight museums and tourist sites. Why not a guided tour of a house reef? Plant small, discreet markers around the house reef and provide audio commentary that the snorkelers can listen to for each spot. Maybe a frequent resident creature lives there or some particularly interesting type of coral that might get overlooked, etc.
    
       

17. Coconut Cup – This is coconut iced coffee, but a wide range of drinks could be served this way. Reminds me of the carved ice tumblers at the Ice Hotel. Sipping the cocktail *in* the ice (rather than the ice in the cocktail) provided a distinctive sensation to enjoying it. I have seen the coconut husks used for a variety of purposes in the Maldives, and often welcome drinks are served in whole coconuts (husk with outer green pod casing). But these drinks are delivered through a straw and part of the experience of this approach is to get a taste of the coconut meat on the “glass” rim. A tropical equivalent of salt on the rim of a traditional margarita.
    
      
18. Cocktail Coconut Rimmed Glass – Great idea for Pina Coladas, but absolutely perfect for a Coconut Margarita.
    
      
19. Da Hong Pao Tea – In a destination that offers up gold leaf pizza, elephant dung coffee, and $100,000 bottles of wine in the heartland of the world’s tea, the most exclusive tea in the world would seem to be a natural decadence. At £1000 per gram, it costs 25 times more than gold.
    
      
20. To’ak Chocolate – And for choccies, how about the most expensive sweet in the world, To’ak chocolate ($7 per gram) made with barrel-ageing techniques similar to those used by whisky-makers.
    
      

 

Off to the Maldives again today! Despite being our 9^th tour of islands (after this trip we will have stayed at over 90 resort which as far as we can tell is still the most of any one in the world) and our 15^th visit there overall, we still are looking forward to seeing so many things that we have not yet seen there in our two decades of visiting. In anticipation, here is my bi-annual list of “Things I Haven’t Seen In the Maldives…Yet (But Probably Should)…

1. Underwater Concert – Especially for one of the resorts with an underwater restaurant [ABOVE].
      
2. Underwater Easter Egg Hunt – Shangri-La Villingilli advertised it in their newsletter, but I’m not sure they ended up doing it as I can find nothing about it on the web and they are not responding to my enquiries. An inspired concept where guest would get different prizes based on the colour of the eggs they discovered like a bottle of champagne or a free spa treatment.
   
      
3. Gold Leaf Coffee – The ultimate “Golf Blend”.
   
      
4. Fish-Shaped Ice Cream Cones – No comment needed.
   
      
5. Watermelon Cocktails – One of our favorite items at any Maldives meal is it ripe and juicy watermelon. Now watermelon cocktails are becoming popular so I’d be surprised not to see them at resorts soon.
   
      
6. Floating Mansion Boat – Slick modernistic design, luxury yachts, and spacious mansion-sized villas all a becoming de rigeur in the super premium properties.  So only a matter of time when someone puts them all together.
   
      
7. Rooftop Pools – Always a big fan of a bit of an elevated vista especially in this country of such low lying landscape (thanks Paola).
   
      
8. Float Pools – I’ve seen lots of floats in pools, but this is the first time I’ve seen a pool in floats.
   
      
9. Whale Shark Floats – Of all the dozens of floats that launch onto the Maldives lagoons every day for an Instagram snap, how have one (or both) of these whale shark float not migrated there??
   
      
10. Clear Bottom Inflatable Boat – Any clear-bottom boat is a winner in the Maldives to provide a means to observe the subaquatic sensations.  This one is particularly stable and safe for the less comfortable swimmers (though only supervised as winds and currents could easily push such an inflatable into the open ocean).
    
        
11. Flexible Wooden Loungers – One of the give-aways to the true quality (regardless of how they have graded themselves) of a property is the quality of the loungers. At the bottom of the scale are the cheap, white, plastic jobs. The more sophisticated resorts have fancier adjustable, wheeled, cushioned wooden loungers. But the crème-de-la-crème looks to me to be this flexible design.
    
       
12. Gyrotonic – We got introduced to this yoga, dance, pilates fusion by our friend Dean in Boston.
    
       
13. Waterfall Table – I love innovative water features and I love creative dining tables. So you can imagine how much I love this creation…
    
       

I also do Maldives Complete to ferret out new discoveries. Some people seek out and collect quirky and distinctive commemorative plates or garden gnomes. I collect distinctive features in the Maldives. Every time I find or someone forwards me something I haven’t seen, I get a buzz similar to a train spotter seeing a 66779 Evening Star.

It’s now become a semi-annual tradition (after my anniversary date in December and before our Maldives departure in July) to share the latest compilation. This group of 24 brings the total to 285. I’ve actually had to start a spreadsheet to keep track of all the “Haven’t Seens” so far (to help me make sure I’m not repeating myself). Of those, 24 have since appeared (with actually a number of resorts telling me that my piece inspired them to acquire or add the feature). They fall in to the following main and secondary groupings…

• Activity: Water Activity, Entertainment, Romance, Mermaid, Kids
• Infrastructure: Villa, Shopping, Digital, Seat, Décor, Glow, Spa, Artistry, Gadget, Eco, Service
• Food: Dining, Frozen, Drink, Lobster, Coconut
• Water: In Water, Underwater, Soak, Pool, Boat

Here’s the latest selection which happen to add up to an Advent Calendar’s worth with 24 treats…

1. 1. Drone Spotting – For Mantas and Whale Sharks. The dive boats waste so much time going back and forth between known haunts. Boat captains shared sightings information, but a drone would easily spot these creatures and give the search a broader perspective. Much like the African safaris which use helicopters (and increasingly drones) to spot wildlife movements. [ABOVE]
      
   2. Underwater Topology Table – Great for diving briefings (for a house reef dive) or for just bringing the underwater landscape to view.
      
   3. Lego Model – Maps are one thing for a birdseye perspective of the property, but a Lego model of a resort would be particularly cool especially for a child-friendly property. A Lego model that included a model of the house reef would be pretty amazing.
      
      
   4. Lego Set – The Maldives are sort of the caricature of deserted tiny islands of pirate folklore. When our kids were little, we used to set up treasure hunts for them around the island, and a number of resorts now offer the same. For the young crowd, this Lego set seems the perfect memento for a gift shop.
      
      
   5. Pirate Brio Train Set – For an even more upscale block model set, BRIO is the classic. While the notion of trains in the Maldives might be a bit far-fetched, not much more imagination required than pirate treasure I suspect…
      
      
   6. Stick-On Soles – For protecting against the occasionally sharp shards of coral in the sands without the annoying flip-flop tan lines.
       
      
   7. Underwater Light Show – Empty lagoon a bit boring without the dramatic drop-off and marine life of a house reef drop-off?  Why not bring it to life with an underwater light show?  Laser shows are a staple at big events like galas and concerts.  A chance for a light artist to explore creations projecting lasers into or under the water.
      
      
   8. Pool Disco Light – Or for a more modest light show especially for a poolside disco (eg.  W Maldives, Finolhu), these look like a bit of aquatic fun.
      
      
   9. Ocean Wave Projector – Instead of lighting in the water, you could bring the water in with light. Might be good for resorts that have spa that aren’t overwater.
      
   10. Reef Engineering for Surfing – The east reef of Meemu is an extraordinarily long stretch. But the waves break unevenly because the underlying reef which causes them is uneven. I was wondering if you could “even” it out a bit with some Reefscaping to create the longest surf break in the world.
       
   11. Surf Dock – Another bit of surf engineering this time on top of the water is surf dock which makes access to the breaks that much easier.  Maldives surfing is known for its long, gentle breaks which are great for beginners and I suspect a surf dock would cater to them that much more.
       
   12. Floating Beach – Or your overwater engineering could simply help you to chill out swaying and bobbing with the ocean, while being dry and stable on firm platform (Hillside Beach Club, Fethiye Turkey).
       

   13. Water Go-Kart –  For a bit more speedy bobbing around the water, how about an electric water go-kart?
       
       
   14. Jet Pad – A bit faster bobbing about the ocean…
       
       
   15. Water Car – Even faster?
       
       
   16. Jet Capsule Yacht – How about this transfer shuttle?
       
       
   17. Fishing Camera – A luxury techno-yacht calls for some luxury gadgetry for some deep sea fishing.
       
       
   18. Mask with GoPro Mount – See for yourself where the fish are and bag snaps.
       
       
   19. Wallpaper LED TV – Watch your underwater videos still still in the water.  Coincidentally and curiously advertised on this photoshopped Instagram pic in the Maldives (their marketeers must have had the same idea I did).
       
       
   20. Shared Cocktails – For a location renowned for honeymooners, a bit surprised this hasn’t cropped up.
       
       
   21. Lobster Tempura – Lots of Asian fusion in the Maldives and lots of the ultimate luxury seafood – lobster – but not yet the classic tempura preparation. I had this dish at Circus in London and it was quite tasty.
       
       
   22. Coconut Sugar – A less processed for of sugar, many people consider it to be a healthy alternative to cane sugar with more nutrients. Made from the sap of the coconut palm flower, it seems like an opportune venture for some Maldivian entrepreneur.
       
       
   23. Salad Station – Salad Bars, yes. But a station where a chef freshly cuts and prepares your salad to order, no. Inspiration from Hillside Beach Club in Fethiye, Turkey.
       
       
   24. Disabled Staff – Pararowing. Have any resorts recruited disabled individuals and supported their adaptive needs?