9th Anniversary Celebration - Maldives August 2011 Part II

Continued from Introduction

Male, Seaplane transfer, Land & Seascape of Hilton Iru Fushi

We took the morning flight from Singapore and landed at Male before noon. After exiting from the airport, with the help of a local guide, we proceeded to check in for our seaplane transfer. Thereafter, we boarded a mini van and headed towards the Seaplane Terminal which was just a short 8 min drive away.

Didn't have a chance to visit Male city at all as we didn't have time both to and fro journeys to make a tour. And we certainly didn't want to take a 45 min (one-way) seaplane journey just to take a look. If we choose an island that is nearer to Male, probably we could have spared some time.

Anyways, upon reaching the Seaplane (or Air Taxi) Terminal, we were ushered to a lounge to relax while waiting for our flight to Hilton Iru Fushi Resort & Spa.

Quite a spacious lounge with lots of comfy sofa for us to laze around.

Including a mini food and beverage corner. I took some fruits and juice.

Even an alfresco area.

The lounge overlooks the docking platforms for the seaplanes.

Soon it was time to board the plane and we were ushered to our ride. I was pretty excited, first seaplane ride of my life! And look at the pilots and co-pilots, they were either wearing slippers or none at all with casual bermudas. Must be the most relaxed pilots in the whole world :)

It was free seating, but we only managed to get the second row, not a good view coz blocked by the propeller. The seaplane is very small and non air-conditioned. I think seating capacity is less than 15 and seats are quite tight, so the ride wasn't really comfortable.

Here's our pilot, he's driving the plane barefooted, how cool is that? =D

The seaplane flew at quite a low altitude so we could have a bird's eye view of the islands. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and started rainy not long after, so we couldn't see much of the sights. Ride was also rather turbulent due to the heavy rain and wind. It was so boring that we fell asleep.

The following photos were taken during our return flight from Hilton Iru Fushi to Male. The skies were clear and we could then catch the breathtaking views of the atolls and islands. We took the seats at the second last row and could take better photos.

Beautiful and amazing wasn't it :)

This looked a little spooky like ghost, haha :)

This was the overview of Hilton Iru Fushi, quite a large island. In fact, one of the larger properties in the atolls.

The two photos below were taken when we were departing on the last day, that's our sea plane for the return flight.

Ok, we have landed on Hilton Maldives Iru Fushi Resort & Spa. All excited and raring to go!

We were requested to check our luggage, and found out that only one piece has arrived with us, the other would only arrive the next flight :(((( Why was it so? The concierge assured us that the luggage would reach us in an hour's time (but eventually we waited for two hours and had to call the concierge two times to check the whereabouts of our luggage). We realised the concierge/porters/management had a luggage problem as we had another nasty encounter two day's later (will talk about it in the accommodation post).

Anyway, our host brought us to the Water Edge's Bar for our check-in.

Our welcome drink, a Pineapple and Lime juice, quite refreshing after the boring and uncomfortable ride earlier on.

While waiting for our host to help us with the check-in procedures, we admired at the architecture of the buildings here, really like the dome-shaped ceiling, which makes the whole place look spacious and airy too.

After check-in, we were led to our Beach Villa. As mentioned, we would be staying two nights in a Beach Villa, and two nights in a Water Villa.

Will do a run-through of the land and seascape of the island here. The photos were taken over the few days whenever there was great sunshine. In fact, it rained quite a fair bit (apparently the rainy season, afternoons on first, third and fourth day, night on second day).

However, when there was sunshine, the whole island looked brilliant, just like what we saw on postcards and stock photos on the internet. And it was so glaring that we couldn't open our eyes!

Surprisingly the sand on some parts of the the sea are rather coarse, we would expect powdery sand, but apparently not.

Poor coconut trees almost bending over.

Lots of hammock around the island for people to laze around.

We walked around the whole island one of the days, along the long stretches of beach.

We swam in the sea quite a fair bit in the last two days as well.

Love the long stretches of wooden bridges.

The two retail boutiques on the island, Fire and Sand, selling ornaments, souvenirs, jewellery, clothing and accessories. Everything on the island is in US dollar and no cash transaction (charge to room only).

The Reflections Infinity Pool, which we didn't use at all. Heard that it's great to catch sunset here, but it was either raining or cloudy during the days we were there.

Ok, this concludes my post. Will touch on the accommodation, food, spa and diving in the next few posts. Stay tuned!