The Maldives is a special place for me. It has a completely unique environment and I thoroughly relax and I enjoy chilling out in a really peaceful and beautiful environment.
My first visit to the Maldives was in the 90’s and since then I have returned every year since 2013. A total of five visits.
The Maldives is a special place for me. It has a completely unique environment and I thoroughly relax and I enjoy chilling out in a really peaceful and beautiful environment.
With a rich culture, gorgeous vistas and spectacular marine life, it’s one of our favourite destinations. We quickly adopt a ‘life is good‘ attitude. One of total relaxation and enjoying being away from our usual routines – it draws me back year after year. I can truly say that the Maldives is a brilliant holiday destination – one of the best.
With 1,190 islands, land is still the scarcest resource in the country, making up less than 1% of its surface area and one of the lowest lying countries in the world (average height of only 1.5 metres).
My choice of hotel for the last four years has been the Centara Grand. Being a former hotelier I know there’s nothing like the personal touch. When you are staying in a hotel as a recognised regular guest, it’s extra special. You get a sense of belonging; a sense of family. A special kind of relationship between you and the management and the whole team. It is something quite unique and this is absolutely the case with the Centara Grand.
Travelling to the Maldives could not be easier. Travelling from Bangkok with my partner Pichai, we boarded a direct flight to the International Airport in Male, the capital and most populous city in the Republic of Maldives. Taking just 4 hours 15 mins from Suvarnabhumi Airport with Bangkok Airways. Over the years, I have become a frequent flyer member of their FlyerBonus Club and take advantage as a cardmember of 10 kg extra baggage as a result. From Male it’s just a short 25 minute hop by seaplane to the resort.
The extra 10kg luggage is handy but not really necessary. You don’t need that much luggage in the Maldives. Staying at a beach resort, you spend much of the time in shorts and T-shirt and quite often for me, as the title suggests – barefoot. Just perfect.
I just love sea planes. Arriving at the resort aboard a twin engined De Havilland Sea Otter is very special, an experience not to be missed. It’s a great way to arrive, stylish and fun.
There is no strict dress code for the restaurants, except swim wear is not allowed and in the evenings you have to cover up a little more than lunch time. Not a problem as most guests wear something loose fitting anyway due to the temperature. Cotton seems to work best.
So to summarise you do not need very heavy luggage. Travel light.
Spending much of the day outdoors and in bright sunshine don’t forget to bring a high factor suncream. The resort provides free SPF 20 replenished daily as a bathroom amenity. I recommended however using SPF 50 to 70 for your neck and face, especially at the beginning of your holiday.
Bring lots of reading material (there is a library if you forget or run out) and your headphones (if you like to listen and relax to music, as I do).
The resort has many daily activities with boat trips to nearby islands; fishing trips and sunset cruises with dolphin watching.
Over the years it has been interesting to watch the development of the resort. The Centara is no stranger to change. Improvements evolve and without ever loosing the designers original concept for the resort. It has improved organically – with care. The inclusion of 20 Sunset Ocean Pool Villas has been so successful they are often sold out. They incorporate a small horizonless plunge pool in the balcony of the Villa and it’s a perfect place to soak and relax especially at sunset with the fabulous colours above the turquoise sea. The colour of the sea a perfect contrast against the red, orange and yellow hues of the setting sun. The low lying landscape provides some of the most brilliant sunsets you will ever see. To view this with a cocktail in your hand – magical and perfect!
Dining at the Centara is a delight. The resort is family friendly so there is a wide choice of dining options.
We particularly enjoyed eating at the Island Club. A fine dining restaurant with a great kitchen. It’s special and relaxed. The menu changes daily for lunch and dinner. The service is faultless.
Being a Thai owned resort, it comes as no surprise that the resort caters for lovers of Thai cuisine. Arguably the fastest growing global culinary ‘flavour‘. Thai cuisine is a huge phenomenon.
The resort’s Suan Bua (lotus pond) is a wonderful Thai restaurant with an exceptional Chef – Khun Ning. We ate regularly here during our two week vacation. Alternating between Azzura Italian Restaurant and Reef the International Buffet Restaurant with its popular Teppanyaki Counter.
The resort is all-inclusive, which at first, 4 years ago, worried me (would it be cheap and cheerful, with heaps of French fries and burgers? Fast high-fat / high-carbs meals?) But I needn’t have worried. It’s a great concept with great food.
You can completely forget about taking your wallet anywhere in the resort. You never need to figure out your spending – it’s all included – going to bars and restaurants is trouble free and most importantly, stress free.
The island is packed with water sports. With snorkelling; para gliding; banana boats; mini water slides; a supervised kids club and a scuba club. On top of this, are daily activities including spa treatments; kids fish feeding; shark/stingray feeding and a new recently introduced yoga program with the extraordinary Dr Raj.
You can learn to scuba dive at the resort, starting with an intro course that is included in the resort package. Also included free are fishing and sunset cruises with dolphin watching.
There are regular diving trips, for the more experienced diver, which are chargeable.
For me the top activity is swimming with Whale Sharks. They are called sharks but actually they are the world’s largest fish, plankton eaters.
The trip consists of a 45 minute boat ride to the area where the whale sharks might be feeding and once spotted, snorkelling 30 to 45 minutes in the general area. Growing up to 9m long, these majestic creatures gently swim along, giant mouths open, as we watch in awe at their immense power and beauty.
This is probably on my list of top 10 things to do in the world, such a unique and extraordinary experience.
What else to do….? Well for me quite often, nothing. (How often can you do that?)
You are you in charge of your own time, you’re on holiday so relax. Lay back and soak up the good karma, which is so easy to do as there is so little that causes you stress.
The staff are fantastic and always on hand to offer help and advise. It all flows so well. You adopt to a slower island pace. Service is effortless and seamless. The staff work together as one big happy team.
The resort has a very extensive library, and for parents with kids there are no worries about cuts and scrapes, with a full-time medical professional and clinic, help is on hand.
Andrew J. Wood (left) is a travel writer and a regular university guest lecturer. A long-time resident of Thailand, Andrew is a former hotel General Manager and Immediate Past President of Skal International Thailand. Both Andrew and Pichai Visutriratana (right) are Directors of Worldwide Destinations Asia Co Ltd in Bangkok.
Pictures by Andrew J. Wood
Andrew J Wood was born in Yorkshire England, he is a former hotelier, Skalleague and travel writer. Andrew has 48 years of hospitality and travel experience. Educated at Batley Grammar School and a hotel graduate of Napier University, Edinburgh. Andrew started his career in London, working with various hotels. His first posting overseas was with Hilton International, in Paris, and he later arrived in Asia in 1991 on Bangkok with his appointment as Director of Marketing at the Shangri-La Hotel and has remained in Thailand ever since. Andrew has also worked with the Royal Garden Resort Group now Anantara (Vice President) and the Landmark Group of Hotels (Vice President of Sales and Marketing). Latterly he has been the General Manager at the Royal Cliff Group of Hotels in Pattaya and the Chaophya Park Hotel Bangkok & Resorts.
A past board member and Director of Skål International (SI), a former National President with SI Thailand and a two time past President of the Bangkok Club. Andrew is the former President of Skål Asia. In 2019, Andrew was awarded SKÅL’s highest award the distinction of Membre D’Honneur.
He is a regular guest lecturer at various Universities in Asia.
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