Huvafen Fushi Resort is luxurious indulgence - I'm sure the white sand is even whiter there - and it was ours to enjoy for an afternoon.
We were welcomed like rock stars with a drink and a refresher towel on the jetty and then immersed into the land of spoiling.
We padded our way under the cool trees and over the squeaky sand paths
to the overwater, and underwater spa.
Yes. I did say overwater and underwater. We descended a long staircase to a spa in the sea which, like my arrival in Male a few days earlier,
was oh so very James Bond.
Though the photo just doesn't do it justice.
Four of the girls could choose the underwater spa massage, and four could have the overwater massage with a facial. I opted for the underwater experience, and I'm glad I did just for the uniqueness of it.
The massage table has a mirror under where your face lies, so you can see the fish swimming by while getting a massage. The fish are upside down. At least, I think they were. I was trying to work it out while I was lying there, but maybe I was upside down. I'm not the ultimate relaxer in a massage, often going over to do lists in my head in the 'down time' of it all, but during this massage I just kept chuckling to myself about how many fish pooed as they swam past my window... relax... relax... ooop, there's another one that pooed!
The head massage had me drifting in and out of consciousness though, I guess because they had put an eye mask on me by then, and I'd only been getting about four hours sleep each night due to my princess affliction.
It was so dreamy!
When our treatments were finished, we were usherd over to what looked like a giant, curtained bed (still in the underwater room) for some fruit and juice.
Ilaria, Mayra, and Maryele, the new Bond girls.
We surfaced in a daze, and slowly made our way around the island to the rest of the crew at the pool,
where we had to hang out and order cocktails, while the other girls had their overwater massage experience, and the boys headed back from snorkelling.
I hardly need to tell you how fantastic this all was, but it got even better when we were told that it was stingray feeding time...
Carlos, still with a cocktail in his hand, was first to get up close.
Maya got some great footage, which I put together in this little video.
Chris.
Simon
Sonny wanted to get in the water with them and try to get a ray to cuddle him, like they were with the guy from the resort.
Stingrays, while generally passive, can be quite dangerous, and I can personally attest to the fact that the sting is worse than childbirth, so it was a bold move on Sonny's part.
And this photo just makes me laugh when I see it, because he didn't get stung, but it bit him on the back!
Poor ray just wanted the fish, it didn't want to have to dance for it!
Ilaria didn't mind dancing for this bird, though. I think it's a crane?
We collected our belongings from around the pool lit with twinkly lights, next to the restaurant with most inviting smells and ambience, alongside the beautiful beach, and were (metaphorically) dragged kicking and screaming past the queen bed size canopied lounges set in private enclaves along the shoreline, to the twinkly lit boardwalk of the jetty,
and onto our dhoni.
We so badly wished we were staying the night. Not that our boat was not lovely.
Huvafen Fushi was just crazily beautiful.
Dear readers, the search is over.
I've found my rider.
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