点评:My husband has had "swimming with manta rays" on his bucket list for years and we had booked a Marine Wildlife Cruise back in 2020, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to Covid.
So... as it was our 30th wedding anniversary on 2nd December we decided to book a similar trip again, but with some added luxury and chill out time added. We did a bit of research and came across Secret Paradise Maldives, and Ruth Franklin. Having booked the only available spaces left for the Marine Cruise in mid December, we enquired about places to stay prior to this. Ruth was really helpful, giving us a wide selection of options in different islands, with a resume of each one to help us choose.
We emailed and spoke a few times to discuss options and transfers etc. Be warned, there are so many islands covering a massive area, miles apart. We finally decided on two resort islands in Baa Atoll. We spent our first week and our wedding anniversary on Coco Palm, then moved to Reethi Beach for week two and then the Marine Wildlife Cruise for week three which visited a number of the southern atolls.
Our stay at Coco Palm was amazing. We stayed in a lagoon villa. The villa was beautiful with a small deck with plunge pool and loungers, all above the crystal clear water. There was a small area of new coral just near the villa and this attracted lots of fish, the biggest of which was a Tawny reef shark, which was a bit scary even though we knew they weren't dangerous.
The food was amazing, all fresh, lots of choice and the staff were lovely and friendly and couldn't have been more helpful. The house reef was good.
Week 2 at Reethi Beach was not quite so luxurious but also not so expensive. We had a sunset villa overlooking the beach and sea. The house reef was fabulous, in shallow water and just off the beach. We saw amazing marine life here including shark, dolphins, turtles, stingrays, clownfish, triggerfish, surgeonfish, sweetlips and a multitude of other brightly coloured fish. The food was great, again with fresh ingredients but not quite so much choice as Coco Palm.
Week 3 - The marine wildlife cruise. Here we lived on-board a Turkish Gulet and cruised around the southern atolls looking for Whale Sharks. It was a small group tour and there were 10 of us in total. Luckily we all got on fine as there wasnt really anywhere you could get away from people if you wanted too. We anchored in various spots and took a smaller Dhoni to areas where mega-fauna might be. We had Kemi as our tour leader and Chloe from the Maldives Whale Shark Project on board along with a small number of crew. Kemi and Chloe knew their stuff and the crew were amazing and very helpful. We all ate together and I was amazed at the fresh and varied menu the chef and staff produced in the kitchen.
Each day involved a couple of reef snorkelling sessions (some before breakfast!!!). We saw dolphins, turtles, various species of shark, Moray eels, cuttlefish, trumpet fish and large shoals of smaller fish. We also got to see / swim with manta rays. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the illusive whale shark.
We visited a couple of the local islands and had a beach barbeque.
The Maldivian Evening on board was definitely a night to remember with traditional Maldivian food, music and dancing, with a finale performed by the legendary Ibrahim, the Dhoni pilot. Im not giving any more details on this but lets just say it was a very unexpected end to the evening!
Its worth a mention about inter island travel. International flights all come into Velana international airport (MLE) also known as Male international airport. The resort islands are either served by ferry, speedboat or seaplane, depending on how far away from Male they are. If you decide to spend time at different atolls it is likely you will have to travel back to Male to transfer to the other atoll. Because both of our resorts were in Baa Atoll, We travelled to Coco Palm by seaplane, (awesome!), then by speedboat to Reethi Beach, then seaplane back to Male to pick up the Marine Cruise.
Ruth at Secret Paradise will work out all the logistics for you and keep in contact re timetables etc. which are often not confirmed until the evening before.
So, that is a summary of our 3-weeks discovering a very small part of the Maldives.
The weather was sunny and hot, the sea was warm, the food delicious, the Maldivians lovely and welcoming.
It was wonderful.
If all you want to do is chill out and swim with the fishes, then The Maldives is for you.
My husband was worried he might get bored, but really, there wasn't time to be bored!!
I cant wait to visit again. Maybe next time we'll get to see whale shark too!
翻译:我丈夫多年来一直把“与蝠鲼一起游泳”列在他的愿望清单上,我们在 2020 年就预订了海洋野生动物巡游,但不幸的是,由于新冠疫情,巡游被取消了。
所以……因为 12 月 2 日是我们结婚 30 周年纪念日,所以我们决定再次预订类似的旅行,但增加了一些奢华和休闲时间。我们做了一些研究,遇到了马尔代夫秘密天堂和露丝·富兰克林。在预订了 12 月中旬海洋巡游仅剩的可用空间后,我们在此之前询问了住宿地点。露丝真的很有帮助,给了我们不同岛屿的多种选择,每个岛屿都有一份简历来帮助我们选择。
我们通过电子邮件和电话交谈了几次,讨论了选择和转机等问题。请注意,岛屿太多,面积巨大,相距数英里。我们最终决定在 Baa Atoll 的两个度假岛屿上住宿。我们在 Coco Palm 度过了第一周和结婚纪念日,然后搬到了 Reethi 海滩度过第二周,然后乘坐海洋野生动物巡游度过了第三周,游览了几个南部环礁。
我们在 Coco Palm 的住宿非常棒。我们住在泻湖别墅里。别墅很漂亮,有一个小甲板,上面有跳水池和躺椅,全都位于清澈的海水之上。别墅附近有一小片新珊瑚,吸引了许多鱼,其中最大的是一条黄褐色礁鲨,虽然我们知道它们并不危险,但还是有点吓人。
食物很棒,都是新鲜的,有很多选择,工作人员很可爱、友好,非常乐于助人。珊瑚礁很好。
在 Reethi 海滩的第二周没有那么豪华,但也不是很贵。我们住在一栋可以俯瞰海滩和大海的日落别墅里。珊瑚礁很棒,位于浅水区,就在海滩边。我们在这里看到了令人惊叹的海洋生物,包括鲨鱼、海豚、海龟、黄貂鱼、小丑鱼、鳞鲀、刺尾鱼、石斑鱼和许多其他色彩鲜艳的鱼类。食物很棒,同样是新鲜的食材,但没有 Coco Palm 那么多选择。
第 3 周 - 海洋野生动物巡游。我们住在土耳其古莱特船上,在南部环礁巡游寻找鲸鲨。这是一次小团体旅游,总共有 10 个人。幸运的是,我们都相处得很好,因为如果你想的话,真的没有地方可以远离人群。我们在各个地方停泊,然后乘坐较小的多尼船前往可能有大型动物的地区。我们有 Kemi 作为我们的导游,还有来自马尔代夫鲸鲨项目的 Chloe 和少数船员。Kemi 和 Chloe 很了解他们的东西,船员们都很棒,非常乐于助人。我们一起吃饭,我对厨师和员工在厨房里制作的新鲜多样的菜单感到惊讶。
每天都有几次珊瑚礁浮潜活动(有些是在早餐前!!!)。我们看到了海豚、海龟、各种鲨鱼、海鳗、乌贼、喇叭鱼和一大群小鱼。我们还看到了蝠鲼/和蝠鲼一起游泳。不幸的是,我们没有看到难以捉摸的鲸鲨。
我们参观了几个当地的岛屿,并在海滩上烧烤。
船上的马尔代夫之夜绝对是一个难忘的夜晚,有传统的马尔代夫美食、音乐和舞蹈,最后由传奇的 Dhoni 驾驶员 Ibrahim 表演。我不会透露更多细节,但我们只能说这是一个非常出乎意料的夜晚结局!
值得一提的是岛屿间旅行。所有国际航班都降落在维拉纳国际机场 (MLE),也称为马累国际机场。度假岛屿有渡轮、快艇或水上飞机,具体取决于它们与马累的距离。如果您决定在不同的环礁度过一段时间,则可能需要返回马累,然后再转乘另一个环礁。由于我们的两个度假村都在 Baa Atoll,所以我们乘水上飞机前往 Coco Palm(太棒了!),然后乘快艇前往 Reethi 海滩,再乘水上飞机返回马累,搭乘海上巡游。
Secret Paradise 的 Ruth 将为您安排好所有后勤事宜,并保持与时间表等的联系,而时间表通常要到前一天晚上才能确认。
所以,这就是我们 3 周探索马尔代夫一小部分的总结。
天气晴朗炎热,海水温暖,食物美味,马尔代夫人可爱热情。
真是太棒了。
如果您只想放松并与鱼儿一起游泳,那么马尔代夫就是您的最佳选择。
我丈夫担心自己会觉得无聊,但实际上,没有时间感到无聊!!
我迫不及待地想再来一次。也许下次我们还能看到鲸鲨!