Maldives: Day 1
Trip Start
Nov 22, 2009
1
4
Trip End
Dec 08, 2009
Where I stayed
Maldives, Maldives
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Upon checking in the general manager of the hotel, Sangiv, comes over and greets us. We visit for about 10 minutes and he invites us to a cocktail party he is throwing later on that night. We are then escorted to a golf cart and taken to our room. I want to quickly note that this island is very small, as are all the islands in the Maldives. The Four Seasons takes up the entire island. It is so small they have to have their employees stay on a neighboring island. There are also no cars allowed so the only modes of transportation are by foot, bike or golf cart. So, we arrive at our room and drop off our stuff. The room is an amazing over-water bungalow decked out in the most luxurious manner with an entire wall of windows that look out to the ocean. We have both an indoor and outdoor shower as well as another shower head next to the ocean platform in case we want to rinse off after snorkeling next to our bungalow. The bedroom ceiling is an open thatched roof that goes up maybe fifteen feet.
After dropping our luggage off we walked down the boardwalk to The Reef Club to get lunch. The Reef Club is separate from the other two restaurants on the island and is located just at the end of the bungalows boardwalk. It is the resort's Italian Restaurant but that is not what attracted us to it. The restaurant also looks out over a sandy part of the lagoon that is home to a number of li’l baby reef sharks swimming around looking for little critters. They are little and cute. Before our meal we are brought a cool towel to wash our hands and face before eating. We had an assortment of bread as well as an antipasto sampler plate of prosciutto e melone and seafood to snack on. We had a lot to do so we didn’t linger. With the check, came another round of cool damp towels to freshen up.
Our next stop was the infinity pool which seamlessly blended with the ocean in the distance. There were people there to guide us to our lounge chair and put the towel cover on it before we sat down. They kept us stocked with fresh ice water and again the cool towels come out. There was a menu in case we got hungry and big umbrellas in case we were over-sunned. After a few hours at the pool we headed back to the room and got ready for Sangiv’s happy hour party.
As we walked up to the reception area and the Sunset Lounge Bar there were drinks being handed out to everyone who came. There were probably about five other couples/families as well as all the staff from the hotel. It was here that we met David the head of activities and others. Everyone was exceedingly friendly. Pretty soon it was time for our 8 o’clock reservation at Café Huraa. We had the first of what would be many amazing meals. My memory fails me on exactly which delectable Asian dishes we had possibly because of my delay in writing and possibly because of Sangiv’s cocktails and the bottle of wine we killed at dinner. At the end of the meal we met Pompi who became our friend. After talking to him for about 30 minutes he set up a private Thanksgiving dinner for us for the following night.
***Before going into Day 2 I would like to provide a list of all the Four Seasons Staff that we encountered who made an impression on us.***
Sangiv – General Manager:
Canadian/UK dual passports. Lived in Damascus, Syria for a while. Has two kids. Knows the owner of Aman Resorts.
David – Head of Activities:
From Clearlake, went to UT. Worked at the Austin Four Seasons. About two years older than us. Likes Tiger Beer. Dating a marine biologist/nurse from UK.
Mohammad (Pompi) - Head of food services:
From Maldives. Worked in Las Colinas Four Seasons for 2 years in 2004 when the tsunami hit Maldives. He went to the Byron this year to visit friends.
Binet – Assistant Manager in food services:
Waiter during dinner. From Indonesia.
Sean – Sailboat Instructor. Claims he has been to Nepal and Bhutan yet never to the Himalayan Mountains. He also told us he met a real pirate once. I told him about my supermodel girlfriend from France I met on the internet. All indications point towards compulsive liar.
James – Intern:
From Singapore doing exchange program. Super nice.
Ali – Dive instructor:
From Maldives. Also dressed as the fish during the ceremony
Gabriel – Dive instructor:
Probably from South America. Really happy guy
Wally – Friend from Dive boat:
Lives in India on 2 year contract. Supposedly sending me pictures from dive. Went to Bhutan 4 years ago with wife and friends. Has done the Four Seasons Explorer multiple times and loved it. Born in San Francisco. We had a bromance on the boat.
