More Photos

In June 2004, I was lucky enough to visit the Maldives with my partner for a 2 week holiday - one word describes it.. PARADISE.

The flight into Male is breathtaking; flying over all the islands with their coral reefs and the colour of the sea was unbelievable - that view will stay with me forever. After landing and collecting our luggage we boarded a speed boat and was whisked away to Meeru Island where a refreshing drink and cold towel were waiting for us.

Our roomboy then showed us to our room which was a jacuzzi land villa - a wooden chalet with an open air shower, private walled garden, jacuzzi and daybed. Just yards from the front of our villa was the white sand beach where we had our own private sunloungers - the perfect spot to sit and watch the sun go down with a cold beer.

Meeru Island is beautiful, soft white sands, clear blue sea and all the staff are very friendly and nothing was too much trouble. We had a choice of 3 restaurants to eat in and the food was lovely with a wide choice every day. There was also 2 bars, pool area, dive centre and spa facilities. We treated ourselves to a full body massage - it was that relaxing I fell asleep.

While we there we did a lot of snorkelling, we could walk out to the coral reef which is just off shore so it was perfect for seeing the tropical fish and coral. We saw all different sizes and colours of fish and we were lucky enough to see white tip sharks and stingrays along the shore. The hotel gave us a leaflet with all the different fish that you can see around the island so it was great crossing off the ones we had seen. The hotel operated a sunset cruise weekly and in the second week we went on it - the boat was surrounded by dolphins at one point, an amazing sight with them diving in and out of the water.

I can highly recommend the Robinson Crusoe excursion - it is the most romantic trip I have ever been on. A speed boat took us to a sand bank in the middle of the ocean where we were left with just 2 deck chairs, a parasol, a cool box full of drinks and a cool box full of food - oh and a mobile phone just in case the sea rose too much. The day was wonderful, with no-one around for miles, just us in the middle of the ocean on our own.

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to the Maldives - something I didn't want to do as I had come to love the easy way of life here - we also had to get used to wearing shoes again and seeing cars.