Tiny resort island set in a turquoise lagoon in the Indian Ocean. The island's tropical vegetation harbours thatched beach bungalows, set a few paces back from the beach and mostly with private plunge pools and outdoor showers, as well as vast beds surrounded by billowing mosquito nets. Not that there are any mosquitoes, mind; the powers that be at the Four Seasons spray the island twice weekly to make sure the little pests can't survive. There are also water villas built on stilts in the lagoon itself. Wandering around the island, especially on a moonlit night, is probably the epitome of romance - hence all the honeymooners. The island boasts three very different and all very good restaurants as well as an infinity pool seeming to drift into the sea. The Fitness Centre, well-stocked shop and water sports centre will entertain the restless, while the well-equipped dive centre is PADI certified and caters to all diving tastes, from snorkelling trips to deep-sea dives. And if you must keep in touch with the office, there's a library with internet access as well as faxing facilities.
It's hard to know where to start. From the moment you are met at Male
airport you are pampered and cosseted and looked after. The staff are well trained, young and very friendly while at the same time ensuring that your privacy is complete. The standard of cuisine is also very good, whether you order room service or eat at one of the three restaurants. Best of all is the fabulous Baraabaru restaurant serves delicious Indian and Maldivian fare. Swimming up to the poolside bar to drink a long fruit cocktail, gazing out at the lagoon, must be one of life's greater pleasures. And then there's the spa. Brand new and set on a separate island, the experience starts with the boat ride over in a traditional dhoni. The treatment villas are set over the ocean and there are strategic windows in the floor where you can watch the water flow under the bungalow as you are massaged. The treatments have all been especially designed for Kuda Huraa, the products individually made, all the therapists seem very gifted and the setting is just unbeatable. This has to be one of the most relaxing experiences there is. You should go there for the spa alone.
The Maldives is comprised of over a thousand islands scattered jewel-like in the clear Indian Ocean, each surrounded by their own lagoon and grouped in atolls. There are 26 coral atolls stretching down almost to the Equator. The sea life is staggering, making the diving here some of the best in the world. Coral gardens are only bettered by the colours and patterns of the wide variety of fish that you see. Learning to dive here will make sure you are hooked.
John Weich
For many, the sunken infinity pool bar at the Four Seasons Kuda Huraa resort in the Maldives is the epicentre of cool, the equatorial equivalent to a central sitting at The Ivy. Between the months of December and April anyone who can finagle a beach bungalow is privy to the spectacle of champagne sipping celebrities and taut glamour gals sheathed (nonchalantly of course) in Gucci Reptiles and who, admittedly, have a cute way of sashaying in their Burberry bikinis to the submerged octagonal bar chairs at the bar without compromising their composure. It’s all recherché and carefree, but it’s a scene we have witnessed before in Barbados and Bali. That palpable air of affluence that goes hand in hand with exotic, up-scale resorts.
The desire to break mould was undoubtedly the logic behind the Four Seasons’s decision to launch a 128-foot luxury catamaran from its Maldivian resort. Unlike the plethora of sometimes tacky, sometimes tasteful cruisers, gulags, schooners and
super yachts that are moored off the coastlines of Resortville the world over, the Island Explorer is as much a private yacht as it is a luxury hotel without leaning too far to either side. Its 10 staterooms and single suite offer room for 22 passengers and 25 staff, including three chefs, a marine biologist, a masseur and a covey of diving instructors in addition to the requisite captain and crew. It is quite likely the first of a new breed of luxury catamaran cruisers coming to a
Tony resort town near you.
While the Island Explorer has been trolling about the Maldivian archipelago since January, PR has come only by word of mouth, the hotel’s website and the glass-encased model in the lobby of the Kuda Huraa resort. Which is why I found myself on board with just three couples: French, Swiss and English, the latter a well-known British funny girl and her honeymooning husband. Hardly a propitious beginning for someone going it alone, but I quickly found my cabin, secured a lounge chair on the third deck, ordered a cocktail and acclimatized to the 80 degree temperature and unadulterated vistas of a sea with eight shades of azure. A slight breeze drowned out the monotone voices of the crew preparing to lift anchor down below. A school of dolphins nosed curiously around the boat’s stern before quickly skirting away. A group of pampered European children loitered at the end of the resort stage, sunburnt and world-weary, to watch the launch. I sipped my colada and waved, thinking bye-bye to you and you and you.
I was not without scepticism. An inescapable certitude about travelling on a boat with limited real estate is that you’ve got to establish peaceful coexistence with your neighbours. Fortunately, the Four Seasons attracts two types of travellers: the most polished and those aspiring to, or affecting, a similar courtly pedigree. Which is essential as the Island Explorer’s lounge, bar, decks and Jacuzzi are all communal and the thrice-daily menu epicurean on all counts. The 25-square-meter rooms-en-suite, each with diminutive couch, desk and king-sized beds, offer enough space for brief, air conditioned fits of solitude, but the only room on board that guarantees complete sequestration is the 45-square-meter Explorer Suite. Situated at the boat’s bow, it has two entrances, a private patio and enough space to hole up comfortably for a fortnight’s stay.
As it turned out, the tight proximity and pared-down setting created a spirit of camaraderie and not of angst. The French couple were darling and the British honeymooners a gas, and by Day 2 we were dining, diving and drinking together. While each passenger is left to his or her own devices, more often than not we were sharing water ski boats and pointing out the same Moorish Idols underwater. Because the price of a stateroom includes meals, two daily dives, island excursions and water sports, economics only became an issue at the gift shop and the bar. It also lent a welcomed dose of spontaneity to the trip. I took most of my meals alone and found plenty of solitude to read my book, but the implicit line was that group activities are more interesting when they involve a group. And they were.
Each morning I took my banana pancakes and fruit muesli on the deck barefoot. More than once I joined the British couple as we lunched on freshly caught fish and Indian-inspired cuisine in our swim trunks or derivatives thereof. In fact, I don’t remember even wearing a collared shirt to dinner, not once, and not even for lobster. Unlike the Four Seasons Kuda Huraa resort, where glimpses of haute couture can turn up somewhat expectantly in the evening hours, the disinclination to put on airs is a distinct characteristic of the Island Explorer. You could even say it is principally casual, so save yourself the trouble and leave your stilettos at home because on this boat you check your shoes in at the door, literally.
A quick note on the casual rapport that extends from passenger to passenger but also from passenger to crew and vice-versa. This might be a bit of a put-off to some, but the cruise director told me that the crew is quick to gauge the type of crowd they’ve got on board and adapt their behaviour accordingly. I didn’t mind the friendly badinage. But then again, I was alone. I ended up tossing Frisbees on a stretch of triturated coral with the same bloke who made sure my island bliss was also an entirely caffeinated one.
The Island Explorer differs from other luxury boats of its kind in many ways, not least of all with its facilities. The catamaran was designed from keel up in Australia at an estimated cost of GBP4.4 million. According to the boat’s captain and former Australian Naval Commander Chris Ellis, the specific design was necessary to support the catamaran’s diving programme, the nub of every maritime operation in the Maldives. The Four Seasons too wants to cash in on discerning divers, but once past the stern the suspended wetsuits and scuba gear give way to the luxury and tasteful decor meant to appeal to the diver’s non-diving partner. The catamaran may be an unexpected oddity in the Toronto-based hotelier’s business model, but it strays neither in service nor style.
The catamaran’s lobby is kitted out with comfortable furnishings in safe hues of brown, a large screen TV, a library and a bar. Each room has a CD/DVD player, a television, laundry service, nightly bed turndowns and room service. ‘If someone calls up for a sandwich at 2 a.m., I can assure you he’ll get it,” says Cruise Director Charlie Parker. There’s a full commercial kitchen, two desalination plants for high-pressure showers, electronic stabilizers to counter the ocean’s modest sway and satellite Internet; the latter an expensive lagniappe as the system bills by the megabytes and not by the minute.
The Island Explorer’s most manifest improvement over the area’s resorts is its instantaneous access to the oft-overlooked Maldivian cultural heritage and, perhaps more importantly, water sport activities. The cruising pace is slow and distances covered modest to allow time to utilize the boat’s four tenders, single Boston Whaler and indigenous dhoni for fishing and snorkelling. With so many boats and such a large staff, passengers determine the agenda. Even a full ship boasts just 22 passengers, making diving trips to precipitous reefs and excursions to local islands like Gaarfu easy to organize and hassle-free. When I indicated I wanted to go water skiing, a crewmember
walkie-talked to the boat and had the Boston Whaler hitched up and on the beach within ten minutes. The same was true for a Balinese rubdown; within a half-hour the boat’s full-time masseur had pitched a nylon pavilion on an isolated stretch of beach and had me boated over. If anything, I spent too much time on sea and too little time on the ergonomic Hugonet lounge chairs on the third deck.
The few days I spent on board the Island Explorer have since been added to my personal travel iconography. When the amphibious Maldives Air Taxi swooped down on the fourth day to fly me and four other guests back to the Four Seasons
Kuda Huraa resort, none of us were even close to being ready to leave. Least of all me.
Qatar Airways flies from London Heathrow to Doha International (Qatar) seven days a week and from Doha to
Male (Maldives) four days a week, departing 7.30 am. Qatar Airways, tel: 44 207 896 3636, www.qatarair.com
The Four Seasons Island Explorer offers three-, four- and seven-night cruises ranging from $340-470 p.p. for a State Room and $700-950 p.p. for the Explorer Suite. The prices include two dives daily plus occasional night and sunrise dives as well as thrice-daily meals, warm beverages, all water sports and excursions.
Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa
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