You may deny it, but you know you have fantasies. And, if you’re over the age of 35, you secretly fear that if your fantasy actually happened it would never live up, in reality, to the fantasy version. This is one case where it not only lived up to it but exceeded it!
Blonde and Brunette had dreamt and schemed for years about going to the Maldives but it was always just too expensive because of the cost of getting there. Then Brunette cleverly won free Business Class tickets on Qatar Airways and suddenly the getting there part of the trip was taken care of! Now all we had to do was figure out the rest.
The Maldives had become a more urgent “must see” destination because of the effects of climate change. The Maldives is the lowest lying country in the world. They rest on coral reefs and the highest point of all of the islands is 8 feet. Rising sea levels, storm surges and reckless mining near the reefs appear to be leading to the day in the not unimaginable future when the Maldives will no longer be there to visit.
Brunette got cracking on her usual pre-trip research to select a property. Because when you go to the Maldives you generally pick one resort, which is often the only one on the island, for your whole stay, it’s important to get it right. We didn’t want a long or overly expensive transfer from the airport. Blonde wants wi-fi and dislikes buffets and many of the properties are all-inclusive. Brunette needs good swimming pools and we both wanted to be sure we were on an island that still had healthy reefs. Some have been damaged in cyclones and it took a fair bit of asking questions in Trip Advisor forums and other research to ferret out where the reefs and fish were still copacetic. In the end the first place we both wanted to go, and one where a blogger friend of ours, MrsOAroundWorld had recommended, was the winner; Kurumba, Maldives.
When we landed in Male we quickly found the representative from Kurumba and in less than 20 minutes we had been whisked away in a large private yacht and taken to the property. Not a bad way to make an arrival.
We had booked a deluxe ocean villa that was (by sheer luck) well situated on the island in terms of being equidistant from the restaurants, water sports center and various other points of interest.
Also we had chosen the “dine around” program for eating. This meant we could have dinner every evening at a different restaurant thus eradicating Blonde’s buffet anxiety. Although truthfully the buffet, where we had an excellent breakfast selection every day, would be fine if you wanted to conserve some of your budget.
Before we went to the Maldives we both envisioned ourselves sitting on lounge chairs in the shade reading books and going on a snorkel or swim every day. We certainly could have done that but the snorkeling was so fabulous that in the end we never once, not even for 5 minutes, sat in a lounge chair and read a book. Why waste paradise? You can read a book in an airplane or a bathroom (but please don’t do it in an airplane bathroom) so don’t squander time doing it in the Maldives!
The Kurumba water sports staff, like all of the staff, was really fun, friendly, and knowledgeable so we did two snorkel trips most days; sometimes on our own and often with them guiding us. We even did our first ever night snorkel which was fascinating as you see different fish and other critters at night than during the day.
On the last snorkel of our stay we saw a large octopus undulating and doing all kinds of intriguing octopus antics. Every day we saw lots of different species of fish as well as reef sharks and eels.
We also did a sunset cruise one evening and saw dozens of Spinner Dolphins. This is a type of dolphin we’d never seen before. They jump way out of the water, twirl around and then plop back into the Ocean. They have a sort of propeller and lots of enthusiasm. (Reminds us of a guy Brunette dated a long time ago.)
Another thing about the Maldives, beyond the stunning natural beauty, is how genuinely nice the people are. Blonde is accident prone to the point that Brunette occasionally suspects Blonde of inflicting her own injuries. Early in our stay we were dining in our favorite restaurant, La Cucina, on the property. Blonde was having some vino and perusing the menu when she realized that her left pinky finger was spurting blood everywhere. As this isn’t all that unusual in her experience she wrapped the napkin around it and raised the hand above her heart to stop the pumping of the blood.
The staff of the restaurant was as concerned as if Blonde had suddenly given birth to quintuplets during dinner. The server ran into the bathroom with her (not the first time that has happened but usually it’s been more subtle) and made sure the wound was cleaned and properly bandaged.
For the rest of the week we were on the island the staff would come up and ask Blonde how she was doing. At first this seemed odd; clearly she was fine! Then they would clarify that they were asking about the finger wound. And they weren’t doing it in that Ritz Carlton Zombie way like they had to do it – they actually seemed to care! It’s very fortunate that none of them live with Blonde as they would be in a constant state of concern seeing her slice her hands on a regular basis.
If you consider a trip to the Maldives, or really any other resort where you stay on the property to eat, remember this: Discount booking sites don’t always offer all of the dining options. We’re big fans of Booking.com but the PR Manager at Kurumba told us that you can’t get the “dine around” package through any booking site. Always go first to the property’s own website. She also told us that by going to their website and booking way in advance (6 months for example) you can get very good deals that you will never get at the last minute.
Another thing to keep in mind is if the place you’re going offers entertainment. Most do but it never hurts to know ahead of time. There was excellent quality live music every evening at Kurumba and it always kept us up later than we planned but then again we could hardly be said to have been “planning” much! (And wine was included in the price of the “dine around’ option so lingering to listen to music was very enjoyable.)
In 2014 Qatar Airways is opening up several U.S. cities as new gateways, among them Houston, Miami and Philadelphia so now the Maldives will be much easier to get to for Americans. They’re still a costly destination but we had a fabulous time and would go again in a heartbeat (can we take the heartbeat from Dick Cheney?).