Poolside at Medhufushi Island Resort in the Maldives
When RCI announced that it had included the Maldives in its list of resorts, I jumped at the chance to go to Medhufushi Island Resort, a tropical paradise.
For about a decade, I’ve been a loyal member of Club Mahindra and RCI, believing fervently that until my child turned 18, timeshares were the safest, most family-friendly option for a single mom vacationing with a small child.
This was actually true to some extent. There are many benefits to timeshares, but that’s a topic for a different blog post.
Now, the Maldives was on my bucket list for a number of years, but I never even imagined I could go there. It was a luxury and honeymoon destination that, I thought, would always be out of reach.
In my mind, such exotic places were reserved for celebrities like the Bachchans and very rich tourists. So when RCI announced that it had included the Maldives in its roster, I couldn’t contain my excitement at the chance to go.
We booked our trip through a friendly, Sri-Lankan company called Southern Hospitality, that RCI had partnered with. I decided to opt for the full-board (three meals a day) package and paid for our board, plus the seaplane journey before we left.
In early December 2017, we boarded our Srilankan Airlines flight in Mumbai and took our first steps outside India via Colombo to Male. Since the Maldives is one of the countries where Indians get a visa on arrival, the immigration process was a breeze.
At Male, our tourist operator transferred us to the TransMaldivian Airlines (TMA) Terminal. Unfortunately, Cyclone Ockhi decided to make landfall just then, bringing heavy showers, so all flights were canceled due to bad weather.
All flights were canceled due to the cyclone
This led to quite a bit of chaos at the TMA terminal. The passengers who had booked resorts not too far from Male decided to proceed there by boat, while many had not yet realized that they were not going anywhere.
I knew that once people realized we were spending the night in Male, the hotels would be packed to the rafters with stranded passengers. I had to act quickly if we were to find a place to stay, and asked our tour operator to book us a hotel room pronto. It took us a short ferry ride to get there.
Male City did not impress me at all. There was no feeling of being in a foreign country. It reminded me too much of Mumbai, and as we passed a Tata Housing project, it felt just like another suburb of Andheri. Cities can be dreary, soulless places, especially ones that are poorly planned.
As the capital of an archipelago, I found Male a cramped and crowded place. Stepping through lanes too tiny for even a car to pass, we reached the Octave Hotel, where we retired for the night. I prayed that the weather would improve the next morning if only so we could get out of the city.
I was weary and my feet were cramping up. I soaked them in hot water for some relief. The staff at the Octave Hotel were courteous and helpful, and our tour operator made sure we were well-taken care of. But I suspect, at this stage, I would have found any old hotel a blessing.
The room service had some excellent options, and, hungry from our long day, where the only thing we’d eaten were bland-tasting sandwiches in the TMA lounge, I ordered some jumbo prawns before bed.
The concierge (poor man) thought I’d ordered two plates and was dismayed when I had to ask him to take one back, but he took it back and didn’t charge me for it, which I was grateful for.
Whether I was positively ravenous, or because the prawns were so fresh, I’ll never know, but those jumbo prawns were the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten in my life. I still salivate every time I think of them.
The weather had vastly improved the next morning, but on these tiny islands, squalls can descend pretty quickly. Eager to get going, we had a very early breakfast, thanks to the obliging hotel chef, and left for the airport terminal. It wasn’t long before we managed to take off to our destination – Medhufushi Island Resort.
The 45-minute seaplane journey, a first for us, was a bit stomach-churning, but the sight of the numerous little coral atolls from the air was captivating. In my mind, the melodious voice of Harry Belafonte was singing “Island In The Sun” while below, the sun sparkled and glinted on the blue-green sea.
This is my island in the sun…
Medhufushi Island Resort is truly a tropical paradise – one of those picture-perfect little islands that you see in those glossy travel magazines and yearn to visit. I was thrilled to find that, in such a beautiful location, you can get really good photos with just a mobile phone. #nofilter required. 🙂
The over-water villas at Medhufushi Island Resort
We were booked into an over-water villa, one of the little rooms on stilts that fan out into the sea. The guest relations manager, Kishore, was a clever young man from Bangalore.
He was quick to inform us that he’d given us the sunset villas that face the west, which were better than the sunrise villas. Those, he said, are allocated to large families, so that they don’t fight among themselves over who’s got the better villa.
Walking to our water-villa
Stepping out onto the balcony of our water villa, the first thing that hit me was the breeze and the sight of miles and miles of blue-green waves in every direction. It was unreal. It felt like we’d entered a very rarefied realm that we could lose ourselves in.
Those blues and greens are just so calming
It’s true what they say, that the beach is good for your health. The sight of all that water was unimaginably soothing and calming.
All I wanted to do was to spend as much time as possible gazing at the waves, listening to the ocean, absorbing it all so I could see it in my mind’s eye anytime I wanted. Of course, nowadays you have Instagram for that. 😉
The first day we spent on the island was relatively dry, with the cyclone seeming to have taken a hiatus. We spent most of the day exploring the sandy beach, familiarizing ourselves with the layout of the resort, and savoring the excellent buffet.
A picture-perfect island in the Maldives
Maldivians make a living through fishing and tourism. Most of the staff in the resort are ex-pats from Bangladesh and the chefs are very good with fish preparations.
The fish and vegetarian curries were excellent as was the Continental food. The sushi and sashimi were not as tasty. But when you’re spoilt for choice, like we were, you can’t really complain.
On impulse (and thanks to the sales skills of the talented Mr. Kishore), I decided to upgrade us to the all-inclusive package – which included unlimited drinks, two bottles of drinking water a day, and a couple of free excursions. What’s a holiday on the beach without a few Margheritas?
Sunset Bar at Medhufushi Island Resort Maldives
Because Medhufushi Island Resort is just that – an island – freshwater is scarce. The resort has a desalination unit so that they can create the copious amounts of freshwater their guests require.
Being an eco-conscious tourist, I asked Mr. Kishore how the (not inconsiderable) garbage generated at the resort was dealt with. He said it was sent to another island, where part of it is incinerated and the rest is exported for recycling. Hmm, that didn’t sound very eco-friendly.
I could see many opportunities for them to just create less garbage in the first place, especially in the use of plastic straws and plastic bags in the gift shop. But luxury resorts like these are less likely to change their wasteful ways than those that promote themselves as eco-friendly.
