Escape to paradise im the Maldives (2009)

We flew from Danang into Male, the capital of the Maldives on the last leg of our fantastic honeymoon. The Republic of Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty six atolls oriented north-south off India's  Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in the Laccadive Sea, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka and 400 kilometres (250 mi) south-west of India.

We were met by our resort rep in arrivals and taken to our transport, this is one of the cool things about landing in Male, the transport to the islands is by speed boat. Travelling to our resort, Anantara Dhigu Maldives, speeding over the waves with the reflection of the moon glistening over the Indian Ocean was brilliant.

After checking in we were taken to our beach villa,  now we'd had lovely rooms in all the hotels so far, this one was fantastic. Especially the bathroom which was 80% outdoors, a tad creepy at the start. Here are a few shots of our island home for 5 days.

Fabulous bathroom

Gorgeous bedroom

Terrace, nice for a refreshing beer after a tough day on the beach

Short stroll to the beach

There was a nice bottle of chilled champage waiting for us in the room which we took down to the beach and enjoyed it whilst looking up at the thousands of stars in the clear black sky, a magical moment right up there with the lovely decktop barbeque on Halong Bay.

Our "private beach" with villa in the background

There's a couple of things to consider if you're thinking of going to the Maldives (1) If you don't like relaxing on the beach and/or water sports then don't go as these are the two main activities (2) A bottle of wine which costs 10 Euro in Ireland or the Netherlands will cost you 30 on the Maldives, that said the weather is amazing.

We quickly got very used to relaxing on what was an amazing beach, the colour of the ocean is so blue its almost untrue, check out some of the photos below, standing in the water with flying fish all around you was incredible. It really is the perfect place to go and recharge your batteries for a while.

And now some more images of this amazingly beautiful island. It was pretty tiny, I think it took about 10 to 15 minutes to walk around so that's why it really is the place to switch off and relax as theres not too much else to do.

Arrival point

Last night in the Maldives

So the Maldives was the last stage of our honeymoon, during which we visited Vietnam and  Cambodia before experiencing a taste of Paradise. When we left Dusseldorf we could never have expected just how perfectly the trip would go, no problems, no delays, no hassle at all. Simply the most perfect trip of a lifetime, all you could possibly hope for from your honeymoon.

Home again, a little tired but very happy