Need a bit of luxury, but don’ t want to be stuck on a liveaboard without your family? Kristina Pedder visits three of the best top-end island resorts
TRAVELSPECIAL
Maldives Magic
Need a bit of luxury, but don’ t want to be stuck on a liveaboard without your family? Kristina Pedder visits three of the best top-end island resorts
A
string of 26 coral atolls in the Indian Ocean trails south to the equator. Reefs rising steeply from the deep ocean support 1,000 species of fish and 250 species of coral, alongside significant populations of manta rays and whale sharks. This is the Maldives.
An island base is the best of all worlds, you can relax with family and friends while making the most of your precious time underwater. Non-divers who enjoy other watersports are well catered for. But with 180, soon to be 200, resort islands to choose from, where do you go? I visited three very different islands run by Universal Resorts, a Maldivian-owned company. Each provides luxury, five-star living and has a dive centre. People make places; the dive teams have fantastic local knowledge, nothing is too much trouble for the boat crews and the dive guides are fun to be with.
Coral reefs worldwide have been hit by warmer sea temperatures, leading to coral bleaching that turns healthy reefs into grey wastelands. Each resort I visited has an in-house marine biologist, engaged in coral conservation and education; I wanted to see for myself how Maldivian reefs are doing.
I do worry about the planet, so I asked about sustainability. Despite relying on boat or air travel and diesel generators to power everything, the Maldives has a transition plan and the resorts are adapting. Reusable glass bottles filled on-island with desalinated water are freely available in rooms, bars and restaurants; vastly different from my last visit in the 2000s, when you had to buy water in endless plastic bottles. Bathing water is reused for gardening. Greener cleaning chemicals are in, and on Dhigali, for example, they recycle steam from the generators to completely power the laundry.
Euro-Divers team at Dhigali
Immersion dive centre team at Velassaru
Euro-Divers at Kurumba
55