Arriving in the Maldives

How lucky are we?

Seeing in the start of a new year filled with adventure and travels in one of the world’s most beautiful locations, the Maldives.

We flew into Male, the capital, with Silk Air. There were a small number of passengers and we had 3 seats, a luxury on any flight, so we took the opportunity to stretch out and enjoy the time to catch up on some reading.

Although a shortish flight from Singapore, it was quite bumpy, so it was with great delight we emerged from the clouds to see the atolls and islands of the Maldives, iridescent in the morning sun.

Landing at Male, was an interesting experience and perhaps not for the faint hearted, as it appeared we were going into the ocean, the land appearing at the last moment. The airport is so small that the plane did a 3 point turn to get to the terminal.

Clearing customs and collecting baggage was easy and within no time we had located the desk related to the resort we were heading for, Veligandu Island Resort. We were greeted by a young man who, after a short delay, had us on the bus headed for a little airport lounge across the island to await the seaplane transfer. It is worth noting that island time applies from the time you land and nobody is really in a rush; so chill out and enjoy the view, soak up the tropical warmth and relax into island time too.

What a sensational way to arrive at our accomodation! Seeing the Maldives from only a few hundred metres up is like watching a string of jewels strung out over the aquamarine ocean. Veligandu Island resort is indeed a jewel. We were greeted by a friendly hostess, who took us to our villa and explained the details of the island, our package deal and the entertainment for New Years Eve before leaving us to gape at the beauty of where we had just landed.

Welcoming in the New Year

New Years Eve on the island included a sunset cocktail party, gourmet buffet and after dinner entertainment, DJ and dancing in the beachside bar. Never ones to knock back a drink, dinner or a bit of a party we were dressed and ready to go in no time. All the guests of the island had dressed up and with about 100 others we saw off 2016 in style.

I have to admit that we did skive off from the party a bit earlier than midnight. It may have been the champagne cocktails, the lobster, the mountain of dessert consumed, or simply the romance of a private beach, we remain unsure but who could pass up celebrating the start of a new year on their own private beach with a bottle of bubbly?

It was difficult to remain bleary eyed upon waking on the first day of 2017 as our bed looked directly out of our bungalow across a metre of soft white sand to clear skies and  azure waters. One cannot stay bleary eyed in heaven, can one?

In no time at all we were out of bed, across the sand and clearing our slightly foggy heads with a swim in the 26°C water before heading to breakfast where we were greeted with every possible breakfast combination imaginable and more Champagne. Why not we asked each other?

Lazing by the pool

The rest of our day set the precedent for the week. Walking on the beach, lazing by the pool with book and cocktail in hand, lazing by the beach with book and wine in hand, massage, spa, more food and another cocktail.

2017 was looking like a pretty damn fine year so far.

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