Maldives Day 5:
On our last full day we decided to wake up early and go sunrise snorkeling. Naseeb woke us up right before sunrise and brought us our tea and coffee. After getting ready we went in the water and I immediately got stung by something. I called Naseeb and he took me to the doctor to get my hand checked out. The doctor wasn’t sure what stung me (we weren’t near the reef and we didn’t see anything in the water near us when I got stung so I couldn’t figure it out either) but the doctor gave me a lotion to put on it and the burning/ itching was gone within a few minutes. We spend the rest of the morning relaxing in our pool then went to the beach later on. After lunch, Naseeb gave us a tour of the Decanter wine cellar, which is amazing (and even more amazing that they don’t have even one kosher wine!!) and the Caroline Astor Estate, Beach villas, and Family villas. Getting to see all the different villas was such a treat, it really helped us appreciate the architecture and planning of the resort.
Sunrise
Caroline Astor Estate bedroom
Caroline Astor View
Beach Villa
Family Villa
Family Villa View
Family Villa 2nd Floor Bathroom
We had booked massages for our last day before the 23 hour journey back to NY so we headed to the Iridium spa after our tours. The spa is even more incredible than the pictures. The views are spectacular and everything is immaculate. At the spa, we were also given our choice of cold or hot tea when we got there and also after our treatments. We chose iced ginger tea when we arrived and liked it so much that we had it again after. We had a bamboo rhythm massage, which uses smooth hot bamboo. The massage was very relaxing and professional. They tried to convince us to use the Blue Hole but it wasn’t included and we would have had to pay $60 pp + tax + service charge and while it does look relaxing we couldn’t justify paying for the experience.
(I apologize, we don’t have any pics from the spa. The hotels instagram has plenty if you want to see it.)
After the massages Naseeb picked us up and dropped us off at our villa so we can get changed for dinner. He waited a few minutes for us then took us back to the Whale Bar for our last sunset there. We spent about an hour there then went to Orientale (the Asian restaurant) for dinner just to check out the scene. There were more people at this restaurant than we’ve seen during our whole stay. It seemed like most of the guests were Asian and stayed in their rooms except to go to Orientale because we only ever saw an average of 5-10 people anywhere else in the resort.
Orientale’s location is right off the beach on the spa side of the island and while it was windier, we enjoyed sitting outside facing the water. The Pom meals took a bit longer to come this time since they were heating them up in Alba and bringing them over but they arrived hot and perfect as usual.
We then went to our room, relaxed outside a bit before calling it a night.
Maldives Departure:
Our flight the next morning was scheduled for 9:15AM which meant that we had to leave the resort on the first seaplane out at 6:30. We got our wake-up call with coffee and tea delivered at 6 and were ready to go 30 min later. We got to the main island at around 7:30AM after taking off a few minutes later than scheduled. No worries as they had already received word that our flight was delayed until 10. Turns out it was delayed until 11 (google now knew when our flight schedule and sent me flight alerts. Creepy, yet cool). Dw and I were secretly hoping that it would get delayed again so that when we landed in DXB, we would stay another night there and come back the next day. We weren’t so fortunate as we landed at around 2:15 with our connecting flight leaving at 3. We did have to go through security again but not passport control. We just made it (we weren’t running through the airport - on purpose), though it seemed like they were waiting for all the NY bound people on our MLE-DXB flight. The 14+hr journey home was … long. Other people on my flight were given the option a few days prior to upgrade to J for $1,000, which I would have done in a heartbeat, but since I booked through the UR Portal, I had a “special fare” ticket and that option wasn’t available for me. The only option I had was to pay $3,200 to upgrade. No thanks.
Our luggage didn’t make it through to NY because of the short stopover but they delivered it the next night (very late- 10:30PM). We could have got Chase (Reserve) to cover us for delayed baggage but we were so hungry (EK Kosher food was terrible way back) and exhausted that we didn’t even think to go out and buy $100pp worth of “essentials” to get reimbursed. We went straight to subs, ate a cow’s worth of meat and tried to adjust back to reality.
We still smile ear to ear when we think about this trip. It truly was an unbelievable trip, only made possible by everyone here on DDF (NOT FT!!
) and my boss. I’m already looking forward to my next trip - Bora Bora - in June!
Thank you to DW for writing most of this and choosing what pictures/videos should go in the TR.
And thanks everyone for reading!