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| Trip
to Maldives - Taj Lagoon |
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Pros:
great accommodation, heavenly place, stunning views, good facilities
Cons:
none
General info
In the summer of 1998 we left Holland for a 10 day holiday at the
Maldives. Maldives is an archipelago of about 1200 islands, situated
south of Sri Lanka. Flying above the archipelago is a wonderful
experience, tiny white pearls in emerald green water. Ones landed,
you will see that the islands are small paradises. Maldives capital
is male, the main island where you will arrive. From there you will
be transported by boat or water plane to the resort you have booked.
At the Maldives, locals and tourists are separated. So there are
no locals that live on the resort islands. There are about 80 resort
islands to choose from. We had booked a resort in the male Atoll,
the Taj Lagoon Resort, at a distance of 20 min. from the airport
(by speedboat).
Facilities
The main building of the resort houses the reception, lobby, bar,
restaurant, jeweler and a small gift shop. Also there is table tennis,
some board games and a TV set present. On other locations on this
very small (700 x 30 metre) island are a diving school and a water
sport rental place.
If you are on a diet, you really shouldn't visit Taj Lagoon ;-)
, the food that is served in the restaurant is excellent !! Three
times a day you find both international and local specialties at
the buffet. Every day fresh delicious cakes. The staff at this very
well managed resort is very friendly and their service is at a very
high standard, from waiter to receptionist.
The resort offers two types of accommodation, the beach bungalow
and the water bungalow. We booked a water bungalow. It had a airco,
fan, mini bar and bath, but the best part was the verandah and sun
deck. The sun deck had stairs going down in the sea, so that is
great to cool down after sunbathe.Excellent place to watch the sun
sets and in the late evening you can see rays and hear predatory
fish, e.g.
Beach & Sea
The beach at Taj Lagoon Resort is so white that is hurts your eyes
when the sun shines. Every day the beach is cleaned by the hotel
staff. If you decide to snorkle in the lagoon, you won't find living
corals, but there are some beautiful fish to see. A better place
to see corals is near the divers platform. A free boat will take
you there and bring you back when you're done snorkeling. A lot
to see there, but the current is strong. sharks getting their dinner.
Daytrips
Besides snorkeling you can scuba-dive or take lessons to get your
PADI. Get a suntan and relax, but there is not a lot more to do
on the island itself. However there are some daytrips available
at the reception, and these are the ones we did:
Visit
to Laguna Beach Resort:
Another beautiful resort island. Massive compared to Taj Lagoon
however. It has a lot of colorful flowers and several restaurants.
We didn't snorkle here, but we spend some time on the lovely beach.
Visit to Bolifushi:
Also a resort island. I think that this is a nice island, but I
can't tell for sure because a lot of (re)construction was going
on when we were visiting.
Snorkeling
at Emboodhu Village:
Emboodhu Village is the resort island next to Taj Lagoon at about
a half hour. It is crowded but the housereef is excellent. Some
small blacktip sharks have the reef as their home and they are easily
to spot.
Our opinion
The Maldives is a place for rest seekers. Do not go here if you
love to shop or want to party all night. But if you like to relax
and spend a lot of time in the sea and sun, this is your holiday.
No cars no rush no noise. Just the sound of the sea. We love the
Maldives and visited another island in February 2001. |
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