A few days in paradise – Veligandu Island Resort, Maldives

While we generally travel on a budget of $ 70 – $ 100/day and stay in less expensive guesthouses and small hotels, as it was Akhona’s birthday on 10 July I decided to spoil her and splash out with two days at the 5 star Veligandu Island Resort and Spa in an over-the-water villa. As it is low season, the all-inclusive cost with the massive 22% government tax was $535/night (R 7 250), which is about 30% cheaper than their high season rate. A lot of money for independent travellers, but a once-in-a-lifetime experience…

We took a local ferry from Male to the small island of Rasdhoo, which is a few km away from the resort. The cost for this 3hr trip was $3.50/person :). After staying on Rasdhoo in a local guesthouse for four days we took a private speedboat to the resort at a cost of $50 for the 10min trip. We began to realize that transport costs in the Maldives are just hard to comprehend.

Upon arrival at Veligandu it was obvious we were in a top class 5 star resort. Service was as expected in a resort of this stature, and the over-the-water villa was impressive, with an outdoor private jacuzzi and stairs down into the dazzling aquamarine water. As the weather was good we immediately started shooting some cool photo’s as the island provided so many photo opportunities.

I chose Veligandu for several reasons…It has a long sandbank on one tip of the island which is quite unusual and very beautiful…It is close to two of the better local islands in Maldives which we could reach by inexpensive local ferries and a short speedboat ride…and as 5 star resorts go in Maldives the offer was actually reasonable. We had to receive special permission to fly our drone over the resort for privacy reasons, as the open air jacuzzi’s are popular with honeymooners 🙂

We enjoyed a complimentary massage on the morning of Akhona’s birthday, after an amazing buffet breakfast. The food was of course of the highest quantity, and we were both like kids in a candy store. I must have had three plates of food at our first supper at the resort. After months of struggling with poor quality food and a generally unhealthy diet, it was such a treat to have access to such a wide range of food at every meal…

We had a really relaxing, enjoyable stay at the resort, and enjoyed chilling on the deck overlooking the reef and watching fish swim around our villa. I can understand why people see the Maldives as a dream location if the use their expectations on the facilities and setting of a luxury resort.

The sea around the water villa was teaming with fish and a 10m swim away was the house reef. Sadly the coral in many parts of the Maldives was badly bleached a few years ago, and is slowly recovering, so there was not any amazing coral to see, but there were lots of big fish, including several reef sharks.

We frolicked in the water like newly-weds and shot a few obligatory selfies before I convinced Akhona to float next to the deck so that I could shoot some cool shots of her in the swimsuit she bought in Bali and had been saving for the resort. The color of the water in the Maldives is something to behold, as is its clarity when the weather is good.

I had arranged with the resort for a few birthday surprises on Akhona’s birthday, which included a personalized birthday cake complete with candles and a bottle of Moet champagne. They went well together and Akhona ended up eating most of the chocolate cake, a favorite of hers 🙂

After a great day of enjoying the various areas around the resort and making full use of the good weather to shoot some really cool pics of Akhona in a variety of ‘resort’ outfits we had found in Bangkok and Bali, the cherry on the top was saved for later on in the day…

At around 5.30pm we set off on a sunset cruise which, if we were lucky, would include some dolphin spotting along the way. We were given drinks and relaxed on the deck to enjoy the sensation of gliding along over the thankfully calm sea. It was very romantic and we both enjoyed just holding each other and gazing out to sea…

Suddenly we heard shouts and squeals of excitement from our fellow guests at the front of the boat. They had spotted a large pod of at least 50 dolphins up ahead. We had hit the jackpot and scrambled to get a good spot to view these sleek, beautiful creatures from. There were so many of them at it was hard to photograph them as they were popping up everywhere around the boat.

Dolphins seem to be natural showmen, and soon many of them began performing acrobatics clearly intended to elicit a response from their audience on the boat. Multiple somersaults, small groups jumping out of the water in unison…it was just amazing, and a perfect birthday surprise for Akhona…

We arrived back at the resort exhilarated and on a dolphin high 🙂 These are the experiences that make traveling so worthwhile, as the memories linger for a lifetime. The themed supper that evening was “Italian” which was so appropriate. We dug into lasagne, pasta and Italian deserts with great enthusiasm. We both must have added at least a kg to our body mass in the two days we spent at Veligandu feasting on the vast array of foods.

On our final morning at the resort there was time for another quick photoshoot in a pink crocket bikini bought in Bali…The sea was again that magical blue and Akhona pulled out all the stops on the villa’s wooden stairway to get this cool shot. Then there was some time to laze on the sun loungers on the deck before we had to pack and check out at 12h00, ready for our speedboat trip back to Rasdhoo.

So, was it worth spending over $1000 on two nights at a luxury resort in the Maldives? Most definitely, as it gives one a glimpse of what has made Maldives one of the most famous luxury destinations on earth. Even if you are a budget traveller, I would suggest saving up the money to spend even two days at one of the 150 luxury resorts in the Maldives. The rest of our stay will be on local islands at $65/night, but we are glad we had this experience, especially as it was a dream of ours for so long.

Visit: www.veligandu.com for more info on the resort.