we had a wonderful honeymoon in the maldives...one week of pure bliss! a perfect honeymoon destination, we now know why it is voted in the top ten!
for those of you who arent familiar with the maldives, it is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls in the indian ocean, south of india and 700km southwest of sri lanka. the 26 atolls of maldives encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, of which two hundred and fifty islands are inhabited...and our resort was on one of these islands, as most are!
two meters above sea level, it is the country with the lowest highest point in the world. unfortunately this didnt help when the tsunami hit in december 2005 as the maldives was devastated. only nine islands were reported to have escaped any flooding, while fifty-seven islands faced serious damage to critical infrastructure, fourteen islands had to be totally evacuated, and six islands were decimated. a further twenty-one resort islands were forced to shut down due to serious damage. the total damage was estimated at over400 million dollars or some 62% of the GDP. a total of 108 people, including six foreigners, reportedly died in the tsunami. the destructive impact of the waves on the low-lying islands was mitigated by the fact there was no continental shelf or land mass upon which the waves could gain height. the tallest waves were reported at 14 feet!!
when visiting the maldives, your first stop is the island of male, the capital. from there you either take a water taxi or a water plane depending on how far your resort is. our resort, 'anantara' was quite close therefore, we took a water taxi and arrived on our island of paradise in only 35 minutes.
the view from the plane before landing into male. a sea of islands...
for those of you who arent familiar with the maldives, it is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls in the indian ocean, south of india and 700km southwest of sri lanka. the 26 atolls of maldives encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, of which two hundred and fifty islands are inhabited...and our resort was on one of these islands, as most are!
two meters above sea level, it is the country with the lowest highest point in the world. unfortunately this didnt help when the tsunami hit in december 2005 as the maldives was devastated. only nine islands were reported to have escaped any flooding, while fifty-seven islands faced serious damage to critical infrastructure, fourteen islands had to be totally evacuated, and six islands were decimated. a further twenty-one resort islands were forced to shut down due to serious damage. the total damage was estimated at over400 million dollars or some 62% of the GDP. a total of 108 people, including six foreigners, reportedly died in the tsunami. the destructive impact of the waves on the low-lying islands was mitigated by the fact there was no continental shelf or land mass upon which the waves could gain height. the tallest waves were reported at 14 feet!!
when visiting the maldives, your first stop is the island of male, the capital. from there you either take a water taxi or a water plane depending on how far your resort is. our resort, 'anantara' was quite close therefore, we took a water taxi and arrived on our island of paradise in only 35 minutes.
the view from the plane before landing into male. a sea of islands...
you can actually see a resort on this island...surrounded by coral reefs...
our water taxi arriving at the resort's dock...
the over water villas from the water taxi...
the walk to our villa suspended over the turquoise sea...
the resort offered private beach villas as well but for us we opted for an over water villa...
our villa was the size of a small house...and it was all ours! completely private - you didnt have to see anyone if you didnt want to. in front of the bed was 2 glass doors that lead out to a private deck with a view to die for. we slept with the drapes open and woke up with the sun every morning.
the heavenly bath in our villa. the windows opened out into the ocean. it was dreamy...
more of the washroom...
the glass window in the floor in front of the toilet. sure made going to the washroom a bit more interesting... ;)
mike soaking up the sun on our back deck. the weather couldnt have been more perfect!! every day was blue skies and sunny. if we got rain it would start only when the sun went down and stopped in time for the sun to rise...how lucky were we!
the path that lead us to breakfast every morning. the island was lush with vegetation. it was nice to see after spending so much time in the desert...
the gym. we actually made it there ALMOST everyday...
someone kite surfing...kite surfing = windsurfing - the sail + a kite...very cool.
i have never seen such clear water before...
...or as beautiful of sunsets...
the infinity pool...can you see where the pool ends and the sea begins?
one of the many restaurants the resort had to offer...
each villa was designed so you couldnt see any of the decks out back. a very clever design. some days we felt like we were the only ones on the island...
the happy honeymooners...
mike sporting his 'JT' hat...he's brought 'sexy back' :)
the spa...
each treatment room had its own villa suspended over the water...
mike and i went for a couple massage in this room, it was beautiful. the floor under the bed was glass so when lying on your tummy you could watch all the colourful fish (thats if you didnt fall asleep!!)...
our last night, we had dinner sitting at this 'bon voyage' table. one of the best meals we had the entire week. made it even more difficult to say good bye and return to reality...
if we could define paradise, maldives would be it!!!!
1 comment:
I cannot even begin to describe how much I wish I had hid in your luggage ;)
Looks like it was paradise Kris :)))
The perfect way to compliment the wedding :)
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