The luxury started the moment we stepped off the Sri Lankan plane in Male. We were ushered into a beautifully furnished waiting room where we were greeted with fresh fruit juice and ice cold towels. We completed the check-in process whilst we waited for our seaplane transfer to Kanuhura.
The seaplanes in the Maldives are essentially a taxi service flitting between the islands. We had 1 stop on our flight to Kanuhura to drop off passengers at another resort and then a 1/2 hour flight on to One & Only.
On arrival we were greeted by name and introduced to our butler Hammed. He invited us to take our shoes off and then showed us to our Beach Villa just a few minutes walk down a sandy path.
Our room was stunning, huge double bed, open-air bathroom, cable TV, DVD player (a DVD library was just a speed-dial away to Hammed) and a patio leading onto the beach where we could sit and watch the sunset. Our bed was covered in flowers with 'Welcome' written in palm fronds!
We spent 10 days at One & Only Kanuhura and had an absolutely fantastic time. We were given aAttention to detail was second to none complimentary sunset fishing cruise which was most enjoyable. Competition between the men was fierce and many egos were dashed when Phil caught a shark! As you can see from the photo, he was pretty chuffed with himself. Laura nearly jumped out of the boat when the shark bit through the line and started thrashing around on the deck. The following night the chef had cooked our catch for us (sans the shark which was released back into the wild) which we enjoyed with another English couple we met on the trip - Tony & Tracy.
We read our way through more than a few books whilst lounging outside our villa listening to the waves lap gently on the shore - bliss! Inevitably Phil got a little bored with the lying about and took to canoeing around the island a couple of times a day. That lasted about 3 days before windsurfing took his fancy and he duly signed up for 3 one hour lessons.
The first hour was pretty disasterous and just standing up on the board proved to be quite challenging! Never fear, after 3 lessons, much cursing, bruised knees and ego, aching arms and back, he'dHeading out for a fishing trip advanced from a 4.2m sail to a 6.5m sail and was able to turn and tack quite well. Thank God the water in the UK is cold, otherwise there might be a new hobby in Phil's life!
We also went on a snorkelling trip which was very good :-)
The cost of the holiday was exhorbitant (US$8 for a bottle of water!) but the attention to detail was flawless and nothing was too much trouble. The food was excellent, with 3 a la carte restaurants and a buffet restaurant to choose from. If we could afford it we'd go back every year - what an awesome place! Laura has decided to start saving for our 25th Wedding anniversary ;-)
Thank you Karla Beard for story and photos !
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