The sky was just beginning to light up in golds and pinks as we stepped out onto the deck of our overwater bungalow. Jimmy popped the cork on a bottle of Prosecco and poured the bubbly nectar into our champagne flutes with a splash of OJ.
A few crabs scuttled out from underfoot as I walked down the ladder to dip my feet in the crystal clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean.
Billowy clouds on the horizon were creating a dramatic sunrise. Jimmy joined me on the bottom step with the mimosas. Cheers!!
With feet in the water, a crystal clear lagoon surrounding us, the sun making a glorious entrance, a mimosa in one hand, and Jimmy by my side, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my birthday.
Having a birthday the day before Christmas Eve can be a blessing and a curse. I’ve never been able to have a birthday party with friends actually on my birthday. However, I also never had to go to school or work on my birthday and usually got to spend the day with my family. This year, Jimmy and I decided to spend Christmas in the Maldives. We wanted to do something special because we knew it would be hard to be away from the US and not able to celebrate the season with family and friends. In addition, after 6 months of travel and trying to always do, see, and eat everything, we needed a “break” to just relax and not feel like we had to do anything. And that is exactly what we did! We had 5 glorious days of lounging in the sunshine, relaxing by the infinity pool, napping in the hammock on the beach, and unwinding in the hot tub on the deck of our overwater bungalow.
After watching the sunrise on the morning of my birthday, we relaxed in the hot tub for a while soaking it all in.
As the sun got higher in the sky, the brilliant blues and greens of the lagoon began to really pop out and sparkle. Inspired by the idyllic setting, I led Jimmy through a few rounds of sun salutations and ended with Warrior III pose. I’m terrible at yoga and wished I could have done a cool handstand pose, but a weak Warrior III is the best I got.
After a leisurely morning, we indulged in the breakfast buffet that had everything imaginable from a typical American breakfast to European style breakfast and all sorts of Asian specialties like sushi and dim sum. After being outside the US for 6 months, bacon, pancakes, fried eggs, and hash browns had never tasted so good!! And it tastes even better with your feet in the sand sitting under palm trees on the beach.
Our overwater bungalow and the views of the lagoon from our deck were so magical that we spent the whole afternoon just lounging and napping in luxury. Seriously, would you ever leave this place?
Our bungalow even had a special room just for massages, so we had a couple ladies from the spa stop in for a couple’s massage overlooking the lagoon.
The only thing that was able to tear us away from our bungalow was that just a few steps away was an overwater restaurant serving a traditional afternoon tea. So we traded one beautiful view for another with the addition of scones, clotted cream, jams, cakes, mini-sandwiches, and tea.
This restaurant also does a fish feeding which brought all kinds of sea life up-close including a manta ray and reef sharks.
My birthday was already shaping up to be, in the words of Barney Stinson, legen….wait for it…dary. However, we still had the big finale…dinner at the world’s first underwater restaurant, Ithaa. The restaurant was located at the end of a wooden walkway with a small bungalow over the water and the famous dining room beneath.
The excitement was palpable as we walked with our welcome champagne drink and the other 10 guests that would be dining that night down the stairs and into the dining room engulfed in the brilliant blue waters. How cool!
Hundreds of fish were swimming overhead, and we were escorted to our private table on one side with a special “happy birthday” message.
Of course, when we got the server to take our picture, all the fish got camera shy and swam away!
Dinner consisted of a seven-course tasting menu, so we had plenty of time to look around and see all the fish and sharks that came to visit us. Once the sun went down, the sharks became more active…always around 9pm our waitress told us.
We felt that each course got consecutively better with the main course being a succulent sous vide lobster and octopus with preserved lemon polenta and a gingerbread reduction for me and, for Jimmy, a juicy Wagyu beef tenderloin with an amazing (I wanted to steal all of it) morel mushroom risotto with parmesan crisp and truffle foam.
Dessert, a dark Bolivian chocolate torte with caramelito mousse and kaffir lime ice cream, was the showstopper.
We didn’t think that lime ice cream would work with a chocolate dessert, but we were so impressed with how perfect the pairing was. And speaking of chocolate, the staff wanted to make sure my birthday was extra special, so our two servers and the manager sang happy birthday to me and gave us a giant chocolate cake as second dessert.
We were stuffed at this point but had to put away a couple pieces of cake to finish off my birthday properly.
This was most definitely a birthday to remember. With both our 40th birthdays coming up in the next two years, I’m not quite sure how we could ever top this….unless we can convince our friends and family to join us. (Hint, hint)
Christmas Eve turned out to be another wonderful day in paradise. I started with an early morning barefoot run on the beach. Our resort, Conrad Rangali, consisted of two small islands connected by a walking bridge. I could do a lap around the main island in just 10 min. I believe Maldives is unique in this way, at least compared to all the tropical places we have been previously including the Tahitian Islands that also showcase overwater bungalows. With 1200 islands making up the Maldives, there is a one island, one resort policy. This makes for an extremely quiet and secluded environment. During my entire morning run, I only saw one family out snorkeling, an elderly Asian couple relaxing in a hammock, one other runner, and a couple people walking to breakfast. I had stretches of pristine white sand beach all to myself.
Oh, and a few baby sharks that I discovered hanging out a few feet from the edge of the beach under a beautiful low-hanging palm tree.
We spent the afternoon on the smaller island to check out the adults-only cabanas and infinity pool area.
Of course we did more relaxing and enjoyed poolside beverage service to indulge in a couple fruity cocktails. The day past surprisingly quick, and before we knew it, time came for our Christmas celebration dinner.
Before the sun set, we enjoyed a cocktail hour on the beach with all the “special” guests and select staff. (Thanks to Jimmy for being a frequent business traveler and having status at hotels and with airlines).
The champagne was flowing, and the conversation was lively. We met the director of the resort and his grandkids from the UK celebrating the holiday together. We also met another couple from the US who did a year of travel like us in the past, so we enjoyed swapping stories with them. We also got the opportunity to talk to one of the local staff who educated us on the Maldivian culture and way of life.
After multiple glasses of champagne, we headed just a few steps down the beach to our dinner spot. We had selected one of the other exclusive restaurants at the resort with seating for only 10 guests, Koko Grill. Guests here are treated to a Japanese ten-course tasting menu cooked right in front of them while on the beach under the stars and palm trees.
Fortuitously for us, a large party of eight mysteriously cancelled their reservation just a few hours before dinner, so we got a private Christmas dinner with the chef, sous chef, and server. This was hands-down the best dinner we had while at the resort, and that says a lot because this resort has multiple award winning restaurants and is known as a resort for foodies. The chef just kept placing delicious food in front of us.
A parade of some of the best seafood and sake….
Deep-fried snow crab roll with vanilla apples
Tuna kama with baek kimchi and kabayaki sauce
Our chefs preparing Teppanyaki style surf and turf
Maldivian lobster and Wagyu beef
We were pumped that they had a sake pairing to go with the dinner. We are huge fans of sake but actually drink it quite rarely and don’t know how to properly pair it with our meals. The sommelier’s choices perfectly matched the courses and greatly enhanced our experience. And just like the champagne at the happy hour, the sake was free flowing!! If we finished our glass before the next one was to be served, our server would keep topping off our glass.
One of the advantages of our private dinner on the beach was that we had more opportunities to talk to the chefs and our server. We loved hearing about their experiences working in the Maldives, or as they like to call it “Prison Paradise” or “Luxury Jail”. Everyone starts out excited to be working in one of the most beautiful places on earth, but they are essentially trapped on the resort island because of how secluded each island is and how difficult it is to travel anywhere else. We also thought it was a little ironic that our Maldivian server who was describing all the nuances of each sake had actually never tried any. He could only smell it because he was Muslim and not allowed to drink alcohol. But that didn’t stop him from taking and passing his wine class as his first step to becoming a sommelier. The world is full of so many cool people. The charming staff, delicious food, and well-paired sake made for quite an amazing Christmas Eve dining experience!
Christmas Day and the following day included more of the same. Lots of lounging around and enjoying breathtaking scenery, peace, and quiet. Barefoot walks on the beach.
Mimosas and sunrises. Wine and sunsets.
Although we could see all kinds of fish, sharks, and rays from our overwater bungalow and the restaurants, we took a snorkeling tour to the outer reef in hopes of seeing turtles and manta rays up-close. Unfortunately, we had no luck with the larger marine life but got to see even greater varieties of fish.
Eating such huge breakfasts and dinners motivated me to stay active this trip with another run around the islands, some stand-up paddle boarding, paddle boats, and a swim across the lagoon. Although I have been a competitive swimmer my whole life and have swum in large bodies of water for triathlons, being alone in the middle of the ocean still freaks me out. We were told that there is no dangerous marine life in Maldivian waters, but I still couldn’t handle the thought of running into one of the reef sharks or some other giant sea creature. I enjoyed the adventure and was happy to be swimming again, but my heart was racing the entire time.
With some activity amongst all the relax time, I was hoping to rev up the metabolism to “earn” our final dinner – a Maldivian feast on the beach. None of the restaurants actually serve traditional Maldivian food at the resort, so we were excited for this one opportunity to experience the local cuisine. Once a week, they bring in local woman to cook traditional dishes and men to demonstrate the Maldivian skills of net weaving and flower headband making. Our server from the Japanese night was there too and gave us tips on the top food to try on the buffet….the curries and the grilled tuna. He was spot-on!! The curries were all delicious, and the tuna melted in your mouth. The desserts were also interesting and different with several unique takes on custards and bread puddings. Watching the sun set with our feet in the sand while eating homemade Maldivian cuisine was the perfect end to our special birthday and Christmas celebration week.
Before we knew it, our time in paradise was over. We were escorted to the tiny seaplane that brought us to this unbelievable place and headed back to “reality.”
Looks like another incredible stop!!!
I had to wipe the drool from my cell phone….
It was an amazing place. Add it to your bucket list.