Paradise Islands : Maldives

What can I say about the Maldives which hasn't been said or seen before?
A picture is worth a thousand words and if you've seen anything from the Maldives, you would already know what I am talking about. Still being there and living it is a different experience altogether and you have to visit these islands to know what Paradise can mean!

Maldives is a country of some thousand small coral islands in the Indian Ocean. Its quite a unique country, as its made up of so many islands all distributed over a large geographical area. (Also apparently, the country is going to disappear sometime this century due to global warming and the rising sea levels, so you must definitely visit the islands before its too late:)).



There are not many industries or agriculture in these islands, and the main revenue earner for the country is tourism. So Maldives sure is making the most of the beauty it offers and projecting itself as the luxury holiday destination around the world. Its relative closeness to India makes is a favorite destination for vacationers from India. And the fact that you get a visa on arrival is always a bonus!

There are hundreds of resorts in Maldives offering luxury tourism to all. Most of the islands in the country are small and each island is given to one resort. So once in a resort, you can walk around and explore the whole island, swim in the shallow waters around and indulge in water sports around the island as well as other activities which most of the resorts provide.

Since the islands are all coral island, the water around the islands is crystal green and shallow for long stretches. The beaches are all of white sand and clean of course, a pleasure to relax at. One thing of course you definitely need to keep in mind, the resorts are all very luxurious and so highly expensive. The fact that once on an island, getting off it is not as easy, tends to make it all the more pricier. But its all definitely worth it!

Anyways, we stayed at two resorts during our trip and I can write about those two places. Am sure most of the resorts are quite the same and offer similar facilities too.

The first resort where we stayed is the Taj Exotica, run by the Indian Taj group. Its on an island about 15 minutes by speedboat from Male, the Maldives capital. In the evenings, you can even see the lights of Male at a distance. The size of the island is just about 700 mts by 100 mts and you can cover it within 20 minutes at the most:). There are green trees covering the island with white sand all around. Everywhere on the way, there are places to sit and relax and sleep, hammocks, sunbeds and so on.

There is a spa at the resort which is quite an experience.  

It offers a huge variety of treatments if you are interested! Other facilities at the resort include a diving centre, which can take you diving or snorkelling at some corals nearby, a games room with pool et al, a library, a DVD collection (with hindi movies too!), and of course a wide range of water sports, like jet skiing, kayaking and so on. The lagoon at the Taj is quite huge and shallow for the most part, with sparkling blue green crystal water till where the eyes can sea and fishes swimming everywhere. Snorkelling in this area is awesome, the variety of fishes and the colours that you see are so pretty, you can just get lost enjoying the views underwater!

In the evenings, the resort have sting ray and shark feeding for all to see. The fishes all come next to the feeding areas at the designated time and eat the food thrown into the water by the staff. The sharks are actually baby sharks, but still scary. Especially if you look at their teeth. The sting rays are big, and flappy! They swim quite gracefully actually and are a treat to watch.

The pool is located just next to the sea, where you can get an uninterrupted view of the ocean around. Its a good place to spend time if you don't want to get into the salty water. I for one preferred to be in the green water rather than the blue:). The waters are so shallow, and so clean, with very few waves or disturbances. And sometimes you would see fishes swimming just next to you, in different sizes and different colours. How often do you get such water to swim in? Of course it would be a good idea to beware of the sting rays or the baby sharks while in the open waters:).

Taj also has two restaurants on the island itself, one in the open while one with more varied menus, and a bar and lounge which plays live music in the evenings, a nice way to spend time in the evenings viewing the sunset!! You can have a romantic dinner in the evening at the centre of the sea with the wind blowing and not much in sight:). (A positive at the Taj is that they have a huge vegetarian menu which is a good thing for people who are vegetarian. Maybe thats one of the reasons this resort is highly popular with Indians:)).

There are different types of the rooms at the resort, the beach villa, water villa or the water bungalows each offering a different view and experience.The rooms are amazing as expected, with complete privacy and separate from each other. From most of the huts, you can just enter into the sea from the balcony itself giving it a feel of your own private ocean space. Also while sitting in the balcony itself, you can see fishes swimming in the water most of the time. Is very relaxing and feels so completely idyllic!

On the whole, its a relaxing place to just spend time relaxing, sitting by the sea, enjoying the sunset, swimming in the warm waters,  observing the fishes in the water, sleeping on the hammocks or the sunbeds jutting into the sea, swimming in the pool next to the sea. A perfect relaxing vacation or a honeymoon destination, isn't it? Its an experience not easily put into words.

Also, something I must write about is the Taj experience. One of my firsts, the experience was just awesome, especially the Taj hospitality that everyone likes to talk about. The level of service is amazing, ever present without being intrusive. You have a personal Man Friday who is available for any requests and needs you may have, making your whole stay a lot more comfortable and enjoyable. 

The next resort we went to was Soneva Gili and in my mind it perfectly describes what luxury would be like. Its about 40 minutes from Male, and runs on its own 'Soneva time' which is one hour slower than Male. Quite an interesting concept, isnt it? Also there is a no news, no shoes policy on the resort, you walk around the island and the beaches without shoes and they don't deliver you newspapers. Interesting.. !

Soneva is built on the concept of isolation, the huts are bigger and farther apart, and completely private. The resort also has some Robinson Crusoe huts, which are away from the island and can only be reached by boat.

The island at Soneva is bigger than the one at Taj, and also a lot greener. Since the island is huge, you need cycles to move from one place to another. There are green gardens on the island to while away your time as well as tennis courts and all for more hectic activities.

The island has the usual activities for all to do, the pool next to the sea, the restaurant in the sea, the water sports, the spa, the relaxing sun beds strewn all around the island, enough places to rest and enjoy.... You can even swim till the hammock or the small island in the centre of the sea, and then you would definitely want to rest there!!

Their residences are huge, and this is how they look like! You can relax on the beds outside, on the roof, or even in the living rooms with glasses all around. The perfect location to see the breathtaking sunsets especially during low tides. The floor of the residence has glass at some places, and you can see the fishes swimming below from the rooms itself. Just awesome....

Here are some pics of how its like to be there, just an idyllic life...

When we were in Maldives, it rained a lot though which is not the case usually in December. Weather change I guess?

Anyways, the whole experience was so different, completely relaxing and luxurious.. A perfect place for a complete vacation. A must visit place at least once if not more in a life...!