The Maldives Wrap Up:

There is no doubt the Maldives are a very special place in this world. Upon landing into this remote island chain in the Indian Ocean, you know you’re in for a very different experience. We were both taken aback at how clear the water was, even able to see right through to the reefs from 30,000 feet in the airplane. The atolls from the sea plane were gorgeous to look at, and the range of blues and green of the ocean would sparkle in the light. Our amazing W Retreat was no doubt a big part of our experience while in the Maldives, giving us a very relaxing place to unwind for a week. This place is the closest thing I’ve ever come to a true paradise. From the smooth beaches, to the warm ocean water, and the amazing alive reefs, this is truly heaven on earth.

Highs/Best Moments: Walking into our “Beach Oasis” for the first time; dinner at Fire our first night; doing a “drift” scuba dive; night fishing and eating our catches of snapper and barracuda; our night dive; watching the sunset from the cocktail bar over the water; snorkeling everyday from our “backyard”; dinner at Fish restaurant; our eco-adventure upon the W yacht; our private “night fishing” trip; seeing dolphins; lounging on the swing bed for hours; the band at Fire restaurant

Lows/Worst Moments: Realizing that what we thought was a $40 bottle of wine, was actually a $120 bottle of wine (we drank two that night also!); going a little stir crazy with how small the island was; how expensive scuba diving was; terrible internet connection; overly chatty and in our face staff; $50 room service breakfast of eggs and toast

Sights: beaches; ocean; reefs; tropical fish; turtles; atolls from the sea plane; dolphins; octopus mating; sting ray; darkness of night dive; reef shark; lion fish; fruits bats; “action” in the water”; bio-luminescence underwater during our night dive

Food and Drink: lots of fish; humongous plate of snapper sashimi; grilled whole barracuda; $120 bottle of wine, that we thought was $4o; $60 plate of sushi; breakfast buffets with mangosteen every morning; reef-fish; entire roasted lamb; yummy desserts left in the room each evening; free ice creams and drinks in the anytime snack areas; bottles of water we’d take from the gym; $5.00 tiny bottle of Voss; requests for tap water verses bottled water; our chicken wrap we split almost every day for lunch

Favorites:

Towns: The W Retreat in its entirety

Accommodations: The Beach Oasis

Food: snapper sashimi that was prepared from the fish we caught

Restaurants: Fish

Drink: The “Vesper” martini

Activities: scuba diving

Least Favorites:

Food: Cilantro Halibut dish at Fish

Restaurants: The Kitchen

Drink: $120 bottle of wine, which we thought was $40 since we didn’t appreciate it for it being so much nicer

Activities: chatting with the staff

Internet Connections: it was terrible

Exchange Rate: we didn’t even change any money, since we just put everything on our card at the hotel