Heaven on Earth, aptly describes Maldives and I am in love with it for the rest of my life! It was our honeymoon and everything was a fantasy. Our first international trip together, from enjoying the flight, new food and Ceylon Tea to landing on the spectacular airport, it was all exciting and new.
We travelled in Srilankan airlines with a stopover at Colombo for few hours. The journey to Paradise Island, Maldives was a short one, 2 flights and a boat ride from Male Airport. The Male airport is located on Hulhule Island in the North Male Atoll. It is surrounded by blue water with a small runway on an island or rather on water, it was breathtaking. As the plane approached landing, we couldn't see the runway, all we could see was water, as if we were landing on water! Such an amazing start to the honeymoon, loved it.
The immigrations took long time and was quiet tiring due to queue of all tourists lined up in front of 6/8 immigration counters and we didn't know that real heat was outside the airport. The weather was super hot and humid because of its location in Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea and we had no water. Water was priceless. It was weird to spend dollars on water. Though all the weariness and tension soon got relieved the moment we came to know that we have to travel via small motor boat to our hotel. Our resort staff was waiting for us at the airport to pickup and take us to our island.
A short 15 minutes boat ride, over clean water under the clear blue sky was incredible. An unforgettable journey to remove all the weariness of the journey. Maldives is a chain of 26 atolls and our resort, Paradise Island Resort, was located in North Male Atoll on Lankanfinolhu island. One of the way to reach there from Airport was boat.Carefully secluded from the sea, with its own natural boundary creating a beautiful lagoon in varying shades of blue giving the feeling of being the only island right in the middle of the Ocean, long white beaches, the wide variety of fauna visible to naked eye, tall palm trees swaying in the breeze, this was paradise, a real paradise, a real heaven on Earth! Our Paradise Island Resort, destination for next five days was a fantasy coming alive.
We were greeted with chilled spa napkins/wet rolled towels and a welcome drink as refreshments. After the check-in formalities, we were taken in a buggy to our bungalow. The buggy is similar to golf cart seen on golf courses. Our superior beach bungalow was beautiful, cozy and spacious, hidden in trees. The bungalow had spacious bedroom, bathtub, wardrobes, king-sized bed, flat-screen television and when you step through the back door in the veranda facing the beach, you will find the comfy sun loungers, which is cherry on the top, for a quiet afternoon to swim, laze, sunbath, read or enjoy the ocean breeze. I started gazing at this place in astonishment trying to digest the view where our backyard was a beach and you could just get up, dip in the water anytime
This place is perfect for a couple. It has all the modern amenities inside the bungalow with the presence in between the ocean. One gets all the privacy one wants for all the time one is here. You can order your food in the bungalow, go snorkelling in your backyard to explore bright colored cute little fishes or stay inside disconnected from the world. One can explore the entire island in less than a hour like we did which was super relaxing and fun. There are various water sports like canoeing, which is now one of my favourite sport, a super calorie burner, killer efforts to paddle from one end of the island to the other, catamaran sailing, windsurfing, jet skiing, waterskiing, parasailing.
One can explore other activities like snorkelling, scuba diving where you could be a certified scuba diver, take a small trip to Male on a boat, or ride in a plane to get a bird's eye view of the island, go shopping and dining in different restaurants or relax and enjoy a massage at Araamu Spa, which is carefully tucked away in a secluded corner of the island. Their private rooms are in the outdoors with tall walls beautifully decorated with trees attached with a flower bath, shower and soothing music and if one is open to groove to the beats, worry not, there is a dance floor and a local DJ for your happy feet.
The food here to our surprise had a very good spread, from Srilankan, Indian, Italian, Maldivian etc. every day they had different cuisine freshly prepared and served. The desserts were the best part of the meal, delectable, eye-pleasing, yummy that we couldn't stop at one.
This island is from different world altogether. Every experience is complimented by the nature. Sunny days, clear blue skies, crystal clear and soothing warm waters with spectacular sunsets, a perfect honeymoon or a romantic holiday. With all these experiences, bundled in forever, one can never leave this place. I would love to visit Maldives again, curl up on the beach, enjoy the sunset or sunrise, dip in the warm blue waters, spot some baby sharks and huddle under the skies wandering about the stars.
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