The Maldives- a Heavenly Mirage in the Indian Ocean

The HIlton Iru Fushi Island

Did I just dream this past week?! I simply still cannot believe that we were fortunate enough to close out 2012 in style with a once-in-a-lifetime “bucket list” holiday in the Maldive Islands! How is came about is a funny story, and goes back about a year and a half….

In 2011, we had just found out about an opportunity for my husband to transfer with his company to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a 3-5 yr assignment. While debating on whether or not to take the challenge of living overseas, we began our research of Asia in general and compiled a list of places we wanted to/had to visit before heading back to the states. The Maldives were of course on the list, as the length of time to travel there from the USA is ridiculously long, whereas from KL it’s only a 4 hr direct flight. A definite must. The problem with the Maldives is the outrageous cost of lodging. However, after some research on our end, we found that there are 3 Hilton brand hotels within the islands….1 of which would allow us to use our HHonors points- yea! Since I had worked & traveled like a horse for my previous company for 5 years around the US, I had socked away an impressive amount of points, with the additional bonus of being a Diamond Member through 2012, Hilton’s top-tier client.

When we first thought of going to the Maldives for Christmas 2012, Hilton blacked out the use of points over the holiday, due to the fact that it is within their high-season of tourism. With this information we decided to shelf this trip and head to Vietnam instead. Well, as luck would have it, the hotel selection in the areas of Vietnam we wanted to visit were mostly sold out so on a whim we decided to check out the Hilton in the Maldives again this past November…..and low & behold, they opened up the space and we booked 6 nights using all our points for a free week long getaway- winning!! Of course we still had to pay for our flights but with free lodging, the good definitely outweighed the bad.

The Maldives are a grouping of 1,190 islands (upwards of 2,000 if you count all coral reefs as well), of which only 200 are inhabited. These islands are situated in the Indian Ocean, about 250 miles SW of India, spread out over an area of about 35,00 square miles. The highest point of any of the islands is just under 8 feet above sea level and the total population of the country is about 330,000 people, of which about 80% live on the island of Male, the capital of the Maldives. This “capital” is an island as big as about 1 square mile. No joke- 80% of the population of the entire island nation live within 1 square mile….amazing.

Airport Ferry Boat to Male Island

Also referred to as the Republic of Maldives or the Maldive Islands, the Maldives are an Islamic nation & the smallest in Asia, both in population and in land area as well as the planet’s lowest country. With the rising sea levels, forecasters are understandably concerned about the future of this island country. In fact, back 2004 with the Indian Ocean’s major Tsunami on Boxing day (26 December), the Maldives were devastated, losing many lives and damaging a large number of inhabitable islands. The country has recovered now and is in full swing of tourism. Interestingly enough, back before the 1970’s, tourism was obsolete and many thought the islands were too far removed and too barren to be considered a money making machine. Well, that all changed in the early 1970s when the first tourists arrived to the islands. However, from the early 1970’s until the late 1980’s, the only way to travel between the islands were by boat, sometimes taking days to reach far lung islands and many encountering treacherous waters on the way. That all changed with the Trans Maldivian Airways, who began flying tourists to the various islands via helicopter. Finally, in the late 1990’s, they introduced seaplanes to the mix and now operate solely via seaplane, allowing the tourists to get to their respective islands retreats in anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour.

simple Hotel Octave breakfast

Enough history and background info, now back to our vacation :-). Since there is only 1 flight a day to & from the Maldives from KL, landing after 8pm, we had no choice but to overnight at a “transit hotel” in Male the night before our arrival at the Hilton (the seaplanes will only operate during daylight hours). The Male “airport” is seriously unreal. Its an island the length of the runway…no joke. The width is about half that amount. Upon arrival, we were met by both a Hilton representative as well as a representative from our Male hotel. The Hilton rep informed us of our departure date for the island (6:45am check in time the following morning- ouch!) and the rep from Hotel Octave led us to his hotel. We left the (small) airport and walked about 50 yards to a ferry boat….yup, you read that right, a boat. This boat took us, and many others, to the neighboring island of Male (10 min ride) where a hotel car picked us up and drove us the 5 min (in heavy traffic) to the hotel. Hotel Octave was built in early 2012 and has about 30 rooms max. Its a no frills kind of a place but for $90 USD what do you expect?! It was a clean and safe place to lay our heads for 7 hours, and grab a quick dinner at the hotel restaurant. Seriously, the hotel was very basic in every way but the bed was surprisingly comfy (or we were just really tired) and the food was decent. The huge bonus was the service of the staff- top notch! Early in the morning they delivered some basic toast and OJ to our room while we woke up and drove us back to the pier for the boat as well as hand delivering us to the Hilton seaplane check in counter- awesome.

Capital Island of Male behind airport boat transfer

Right away the Hilton reps took over; we checked in our luggage and were whisked away via van to the seaplane “terminal” of the airport/island. Hilton had a very nice lounge area for Diamond members and we enjoyed some coffee and continental breakfast while waiting for our flight. The seaplane pilots ever wore shorts & flip-flops for goodness sake- so chill here! The Seaplane experience was out of this world amazing. There were about 8 of us total on the plane, along with our luggage, as well as 2 pilots. It took us about 45 minutes direct to get to the Iru Fushi Island and the entire way as the sun was rising the sky was clear and blue, rewarding us with spectacular views of the islands along the way. Seriously surreal. We took as many pics as we could, although none of them doing any justice, and simply felt like we were in a fantasy land.

Hilton Seaplane airport lounge inside

Seaplane “runway”

Seaplane Adventure awaits

Pilot is not wearing any shoes!

Some shots from the sky of the various islands below….

Once we arrived at the Hilton Iru Fushi island resort, the seaplane dropped us at the end of a very long jetty. Here we were met by yet another Hilton rep who guided us to a spectacular beach front open air bar/lounge area for check in. Yup, we didn’t even have to go to a formal reception area. They came to us and even brought us welcome drinks. Here they informed us that we had been upgraded to the deluxe beach villa (woohoo!), as well as complimentary daily breakfast & happy hour. Um, wow- it sure does pay to be a Diamond member of HHonors! The island itself was not very big at all, with 220 rooms in total- either being private beach villas or over the water bungalows. There were about 6 restaurants on site and 3 bars. The island resort also had a world class spa, kids club, and fitness facility. There were a plethora of water sports ranging from stand up paddle boarding and kayaking to snorkeling and scuba diving to jet skiing and banana boat rides. They also had private boats available for charter for fishing, snorkeling/scuba diving, sunset cursing, island tours, and more!

Our arrival…in style!

What was even more amazing was that our room was about 25 yards from the waters edge on the beach and it took us about 15-20 minutes to walk around the entire island!! Yes, you heard me- 20 minutes max. Took us about 1 hr to swim around it and 30 min to kayak around it. So you get the picture right, its small….and oh-so-private, relaxing and decadent. The waters surrounding the island were as clear as a pool, turquoise in color, with pure white fine sand. What was even cooler were the reefs surrounding the island about 100 yards out that we could snorkel too from the beach and see a plethora of tropical fish every single day. Simply stunning.

Pictures of our deluxe beach villa……

View from our villa….

Since we arrived so early in the day (10am) we were worried about being able to check in but low & behold, the resort was only 45% full the week of Christmas (95% full the day after we left on the 301st) so we got into our room straight away and had the whole day to enjoy! Our room was amazing…..a “round” villa with vaulted wood ceilings & a thatch roof. There was a huge (and comfy!) bed facing a wall of floor to ceiling doors leading out onto our own private patio, veranda, and a couple steps further, the beach with our own beach loungers. Hands down the best part of the room (besides the proximity to the beach) was the bathroom, if you can even call it that. A set of double-doors opened up to an open air master bathroom!! There was a thatch roof hanging over half of it- the half that housed the toilet, 1 of the rain showers, and 2 separate sinks/vanity areas. In the middle was a jacuzzi tub, to the side under the open sky was another shower- this one was open air with a rain can- so awesome!! The area was complete with a wooden deck area and another cozy sitting/lounging nook under its own separate thatch hut- wow. My 1 and only complaint was the tile flooring. For a resort that is only 4.5 yrs old, we were appalled at the broken & uneven tile flooring throughout the villa. Luckily the management was aware and is on their “fix-it” list for the next low-season coming up. Must have to do with the shift of the islands, sand, etc??

The way that the architects designed this resort was truly magical. Without taking too much away from the simplicity of this small round island, they carved out private villas nestled amongst the jungle trees & 2 jettys dotted with the water bungalows as well as 2 mouthwatering restaurants. All of the walkways within the island were sand & all were surrounded by lush tropical trees & plants and made you feel as if you were on a deserted island….everywhere you walked! Everyone pretty much walked barefoot everywhere, even shoes were optional in almost all of the restaurants. There was an adult only infinity pool & bar area that jetted out onto the sand, providing spectacular views & sunsets. The family pool was inland but had fun waterfalls and a great restaurant as well. The fitness faculty was small but who cares when you can get enough exercising naturally every day and the kids club seemed cool enough. The food, although very pricey, was seriously out of this world- we have no complaints at all, and gorged at every meal, as everything was just too delicious to pass up (even the breakfast buffet which I usually don’t care for was awesome!).

Christmas Eve festivities…..

The resort provided complimentary snorkel gear to keep in our rooms throughout the week so every day we snorkeled at “our” beach, paddle boarded, went kayaking, and swam. We took long walks around the island, napped in the shade, and read an obnoxious amount of books (5 for me & 2 for David!). We enjoyed happy hour at sunset and fabulous dinners under the open sky.

Merry Christmas from the Maldives!

The resort did a great job of outlining the various activities and specials available throughout the Holiday week. They had Christmas decorations up…complete with REAL trees that smelled amazing & offered Christmas Eve set dinners at a couple restaurants which we indulged in. We also went on a “Lucky Dolphin Sunset Cruise” & a snorkeling safari. As luck would have it, we DID see wild dolphins which was awesome and snorkeled at 2 deserted islands where we saw the most amazingly vibrant, tropical, and rare fish we have ever seen! And this is coming from a person who has snorkeled in Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, Bali, Thailand…..you get the picture. It was unreal how amazing the snorkeling was in the Maldives! I can only imagine if we were PADI certified (the resort did offer 4 day courses) how awesome the diving would have been. Its rumored to be the best in the world, and I can see why.

Our Christmas Day Lucky Dolphin Cruise….

Snorkeling Safari!

I am sorry to have just bragged on & on about our amazing Maldive Islands getaway but it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one I am highly doubtful we will be fortunate enough to do again. When you look through the pictures, I am sure some will say they have seen water & sand this color in the Caribbean or other places but let me just say, you have never seen anything like this before, and I’ve been to all the other places too. But more than the color of the water & sand is the truly “magical” feeling you get while there. Picture it- you are on a tiny little island, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by crystal clear water & white sand, and the fastest way out is a 45 min seaplane ride to an airport which will then take you to the continent you came from. Pretty freaking fantastic if you ask me.  I will never forget this amazing holiday over Christmas 2012 with my wonderful hubby. Oh, and I find it seriously ironic that I grew up & lived in Seattle, WA for 25 yrs where seaplanes are a way of life to travel throughout the San Juan Islands & we watched them land from our boat daily on Lake Union….and yet I never went in one…until I visited the Maldive Islands in the middle of the Indian freaking Ocean. Hilarious!

Barefoot beach dinners on the island…..

Nighttime Entertainment….traditional Maldivian dancing!

David jumping into the ocean at the end of the night….

Our nightly ritual….beachfront sunset happy hours.

Until next time, safe, relaxing & happy travels! 🙂

Kimbra

Sad day of goodbyes….

Maldives Flag