Maldives – Worth a closer look (2):

Experience the Maldives – Part 2:

Arriving at Sun Island’s jetty in a hot tropical climate, we were just flabbergasted by the amazing beauty that lies before us…This is The Maldives…stunning powder white palm fringed beaches, crystal clear turquoise water and a vast array of sea life could be clearly viewed from the jetty.


We were guided by resort staff to the stylish reception area, where we would be briefed on the island, services and allocated our room keys.


As we were aware, Sun Island is not a small island compared to other much smaller resort islands in the Maldives, but we were surprised to see that its size is used cleverly to make the best of the island. The natural beauty is kept and so well inter-woven into the whole resort, which really makes it a special island experience.
 We were transferred to our room by golf cart, due to the distance of the room from the reception area (About 10 minutes walk).

We immediately explored our room and the area around our room. We booked a Super Deluxe room due to the good value it provides. These rooms are basic, but more than sufficient. The room is located about 20 meters from the water and you do have an obstructed sea view with the vegetation between the rooms and the water, but you basically have direct access to the beach and sea from your room. The vegetation provides a nice shaded area, but if you prefer you can take your sun lounger right onto the beach where you can enjoy a nice tan in the sun.


What also makes this island so stunning apart from the stunning beaches and stunning waters right around the island; is that the size provides for so much space. No matter how full this hotel is, apart from the main beach, the other beaches around the island are always un-crowded and you are surrounded by total peace and paradise!!!

We decided to be “walkers” the fist day – so that we could experience the island’s beauty by foot. We walked right around the island in about 1 hour along the beach. You can also walk through the island on the island pathways surrounded by the lush vegetation, which will save you some amount of time, but we decided to explore the beaches and lagoons on foot and we would hire a bike the next day for the remainder of our stay (which is the most common mode of transport from point to point on the island if you are going to be moving around and experiencing different areas of the island quite a lot).

The bike hire is quite simple – they give you a key for your bike, which you can only unlock while you ride and the key is in place on the bike, which makes it really simple to just leave your bike really anywhere without anybody being able to take it. It is also great to have a bike to drive from your room to the restaurants and bars at meal times.

The resort also has Sting-ray feeding each night at 21:30, where the guests can interact with the stingrays by feeding them and touching them gently. If you are not into feeding the rays, you can also just watch. This is a big attraction and a really unique experience, and therefore many guests flock to this area each night. Once you have fed the rays, there is also some Shark-feeding at the restaurant on the jetty, which is also a great experience. When we were there we saw some sharks in the distance, but right by the deck were some amazingly large manta rays swimming from side to side – a truly stunning view.

The restaurants offered a good selection of foods including starters, main course, and delicious desserts with the most tasty fruit selection. It is most advisable to either go Full Board (all meals included) or All Inclusive (all meals and unlimited local drinks), as food/drinks can be very expensive.

Generally your days will be spent lazing around on the beach (main beach at reception is more vibey and also the resort’s swimming pool is located here), or taking a dip in the stunning ocean lagoon, exploring the island, or just relaxing on your sun-lounger. There are however a lot of sports activities that guests can engage into – from paddle-boats, jet-skiing, kayaks, wind-surfing, tubes, and much more. Diving and snorkelling trips can also be arranged, as well as day trips to other islands in the Maldives.  And don't forget the most astonishing sunsets at Sun Island!!

This island is too amazing to for one moment be bored.

On our day of departure, we were quite sad to leave this piece of paradise behind, but we were also excited to move on to our next resort, which is Club Med Kani. We once again took a sea-plane flight back to the airport, from where we would catch our speedboat transfer to Club Med Kani resort.  Our experience here will be looked at in detail in the next blog.

For more information on these spectacular islands in the Maldives, visit Travel Expeditions.

Maldives – Worth a closer look:

Travel Expeditions management just returned from an amazing trip to the Maldives and Dubai. This experience has just once again confirmed what stunning holidays and honeymoons we are sending our clients on!

A bit of background on the Maldives:

In the warm tropical Indian Ocean lies an archipelago of 1190 islands and 26 atolls, surrounded by clear turquoise water and white sandy beaches -The Maldives islands. Imagine paradise with magical sunsets, an abundance of marine life and perfect natural vegetation. The amazing coral reefs’ surrounding the islands ensures a haven for dive and snorkel enthusiasts. Each resort in the Maldives has its own white beach flowing around the island. These islands are surrounded by coral reefs resulting in a clear calm lagoon between the beach and the deeper waters.

Maldives resort accommodation varies from single to semi-attached bungalows, either facing the sea and beachfront or built over the water. The only inhabitants on each island apart from the tourists, is the resort staff.

Activities in the Maldives varies from diving or snorkelling to island hopping, seaplane excursions, swimming, visiting fishing villages or even doing some underwater sightseeing in a Whale Submarine.

Below follows a description of our very exciting trip to the Maldives and Dubai, which will be divided into five separate blogs.

Experience the Maldives – Part 1:

We departed from OR Tambo International Saturday 2nd May 2010 at about 14:15. Our flight was due to the Maldives via Dubai and we landed in Dubai just after 00:05 where we spent 3 hours prior to the next flight to Maldives. First of all, if you are flying to the Maldives from South-Africa, you will be able to fly either with Emirates or with Qatar Airways. We have chosen Emirates due to a slight better schedule on our preferred dates, but Qatar is also a great and highly reputable airline to fly with. We were once again pleasantly impressed with Emirates airlines. An eight hour flight really feels so much shorter with all the entertainment you have on board, very comfortable seating and enough leg space. We departed Dubai around 03:25 and arrived in the Maldives 08:30. From here we were easily assisted to our seaplane, from where we will be flying to Sun Island Resort on the South Ari Atoll, about 112 kilometres from the airport (about 30 min flight).

Arriving at Sun Island’s jetty in a hot tropical climate, we were just flabbergasted by the amazing beauty that lies before us. We were terribly excited to explore this amazing island, and our experience here will be looked at in detail in the next blog.

For more information on these spectacular islands, visit Travel Expeditions.