Welcome to Paradise :o)

This is the most amazing place I have ever been in my life. It's like the best of all the islands and best marine parks I have ever seen (and that's quite a few) but with the poshest hotel with five star services to make you think you're inhabiting someone else's world for a while (sort of like The Grove but Maldivian stylie). Lee was worried it would be a bit too sanitised but this place is unbelievable. They have built the resort with as little encroachment on the natural environment as possible so the island is as beautiful as any I have seen (and that's quite a few). When people pay as much as they do to stay here, it means the best of everything in how it's been done from the extent of solar energy used to the pristine reefs. I almost don't know where to start.

We are snorkelling in an aquarium of tropical fish, with such a multitude of types it likes flashes of colours all around you; shoals of butterfly fish swimming against the current so they stay in the same place, big spotty box fish hiding uder the shelves, sleek baby sharks, lemon and black tip reef, gliding in the shadows. I try not to worry about where their parents might be! The coral is bleached from el nino, but none the less the fauna is thriving. We saw eagle rays and we're told there are mantas and turtles. We sea kayaked around the island and saw dolphins, in the evening watched reef sharks and sting rays circling under the bar & restaurant jetties. Totally mesmorizing!

At breakfast today, we watched the passing dolpins and turtles. It's like a nature wonderland set against a collection of every shade of blue that can be seen, so many shades of turquoise and aquamarine and azure that it dazzles you constantly. It's truly a place to marvel at. Will try to load some pictures up.

We're staying in a Jasmine Garden Villa at the Island Hideaway on Dhonakulu island in one of the most northernly and undeveloped atolls in Maldives. The island is shaped a bit like a whale's tail and Lee & I kayaked around it in about 40 minutes. The north side has a huge blue lagoon and the south side is fringed with a beautiful reef. The villa is stunning. We have our own pool, a roof terrace, two huge bedrooms and lots of little places to sit and stare, as well as our own bit of beach. We also have a lovely butler, Habeeb, who picks us up in a golf buggy and delivers us to anywhere we want to go; the several foodie heaven restaurants (although I cannot bring myself to eat reef fish catch of the day), the over water spa, tennis (bit too hot for that) or a multitude of watersports (today we may take out a catamaran). He's our very own fixer. Whatever we want, he can sort. He's the man who can, and he's getting on great with the kids. So much so that tonight he is taking them to dinner on their own, while Lee and I enjoy a romantic dinner for two at the island's pan asian restaurant.

Will definitely upload some pics when we reach Bangkok as this place has to be seen to be believed. I'm off for a snorkel now....