November 2009 - Posts

Best of the Maldives: Pool Seating – Holiday Inn Male
Published 29 November 9 9:4 AM | Maldives Complete
I don’t usually do two ‘Best Of’ awards for the same place back to back, but this one so naturally followed last week’s that it made sense to put them together. Most resorts have the classic white plastic lounge chairs. The good...
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Best of the Maldives: View – Holiday Inn Male
Published 23 November 9 1:12 PM | Maldives Complete
At 13 floors up, the Azure restaurant (and pool) of the Holiday Inn Male is the best hotel view in the Maldives. I counted 17 islands visible from this elevated perch not to mention the many toings and froing of boats in the harbour and the surrounding...
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Best of the Maldives: 2010 Annular Eclipse – Huvafen Fushi
Published 17 November 9 6:17 AM | Maldives Complete
On 15 January 2010, an annular eclipse will be visible from a 300-km-wide track that traverses central Africa, the Indian Ocean and eastern Asia. Several resorts will be in the shadows path (follow the handy Google map plotting the course above), but...
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Photosynth Maldives
Published 13 November 9 2:13 PM | Maldives Complete
One of my tasks when I visited Kurumba last week was to get a boat and circumnavigate the island taking pictures to create a Maldives Photosynth . Thanks to the kind assistance of Andreas Ronecker of the Unlimited Watersports centre there, I got a full...
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Best of the Maldives: Choice – Kurumba
Published 9 November 9 6:44 PM | Maldives Complete
Given my experience and investigation into Maldives resorts, people often ask me ‘which one is my favourite?’ It is a bit like asking which of your children are your favourites. They are all great in their own distinct way. But it is their ‘own distinct...
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Maldives Kurumba Visit – Day 8: Maldives Departure
Published 8 November 9 6:38 PM | Maldives Complete
As we transferred to the Male airport for our departure, the Maldives hit us with everything it had left in its rain/wind/storm system as a final inclement send off. While it certainly made saying good-bye easier, we reflected (as noted in my ‘ Stormy...
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Maldives Kurumba Visit – Day 7: Kurumba wrap
Published 6 November 9 11:16 PM | Maldives Complete
Well, we say goodbye to our now beloved Maldives and our new dear friend, Kurumba . I started the week with a ‘ first impressions’ post and thought that I would finish with a wrap up review. As the week went on I certainly began to appreciate...
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Maldives Kurumba Visit – Day 6: Meal Plan
Published 6 November 9 3:56 AM | Maldives Complete
Not only did we do our whole trip DIY (buying resort, air travel, connections all separately), but we also opted for the a la carte meal plan (versus full or half board). This decision of which meal plan is one of the most prominent in deciding a Maldives...
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Maldives Kurumba Visit – Day 5: Male Visit
Published 5 November 9 10:7 PM | Maldives Complete
One of the commonly offered excursions by resorts in the general Male area is a trip to visit Male. Male is the heart of the nation with a third of its population. We always landed right next to Male, but never actually ventured into it. The planning...
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Maldives Kurumba Visit – Day 4: Manta madness
Published 4 November 9 9:47 PM | Maldives Complete
Best dive of my life. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. It was raining this morning so we cancelled our snorkel trip and went on a dive trip to Manta Point. Coincidentally, Manta Point was the last subject of this blog before my departure for...
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Maldives Kurumba Visit – Day 3: Stormy weather
Published 3 November 9 9:30 AM | Maldives Complete
One of my greatest fears when visiting the Maldives in past years was not sharks in the ocean, or travel complications, but the weather going sour. It was all so perfect that you just wondered whether it just might turn some day. We have generally visited...
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Maldives Kurumba Visit – Day 2: Kurumba first impressions
Published 2 November 9 6:42 AM | Maldives Complete
We’ve arrived at our resort Kurumba. We chose Kurumba as a good value, highly rated resort near Male and pretty much it delivers on all fronts. We will see how the week transpires to uncover the pleasant surprises and the annoying disappointments...
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Maldives Kurumba Visit – Day 1: Flying BA’s new non-stop service
Published 1 November 9 3:18 AM | Maldives Complete
Hmmm. For the longest time I swore off booking separate resort bookings and commercial flight bookings. Such an approach gave one much more flexibility, but I could never get a deal that matched the complete package prices and the fine service of the...
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