Maldives is the lowest country in the world, at an average of only 1.5m elevation above sea level. Yet, the island we’re on is the LARGEST as well as OLDEST island of the 1,192 islands, measuring 3km long (I know, doesn’t seem big at all, but most of the other islands are just a few hundred metres across!)… and is also home to the highest elevation point. 17,000 coconut trees grow on the island, and it’s absolutely covered with beautiful flowers. It’s famous for snorkelling and scuba diving, with visibility of up to 30 metres and warm clear waters. Shangri-La was lucky enough to have scored this island, and it took the past 4.5 years to build the resort.. so its only opened a few weeks ago.

We arrived in the late-morning when the sun was high in the blue sky and the waters sparkled enticingly. Stepping off the speedboat was like stepping into freakin’ PARADISE. You know what you see in movies and in postcards? It felt EXACTLY like we were inside that postcard… and even better because we could feel the warmth of the sun and the cool breeze against our skin, and we could hear the lapping of the water and smell the salty ocean air. It’s things like that that you can never capture in a photo, no matter how many you take. My heart lurched with happiness at the thought we would be experiencing all this over the next week…. 🙂

Our speedboat approaching Shangri-La

The jetty and welcome area

Enjoying a cold towel and chilled welcome drink

The view

Chris is rather pleased 🙂

The honeymooners have arrived 😛

(NB: it needs to be said all photos are not colour-enhanced.
Everything really was the colour it looks in the pics!)