POSTCARDS FROM TINA LLC

That “one day” happened spontaneously. We just came back from our Europe trip and couldn’t stop talking about the amazing experiences during that trip. One thing led to another, back to the amazing time when we were in the Maldives. And next thing you know, we were like, “What if we go back this year?”

And then it happened. Just like that, we booked tickets and a few months later, we met up in the Maldives.

Baros had been on my list of Maldivian resorts for quite a while, as I’ve stumbled their Instagram one day from looking at hashtags of #maldives. Curiously stalking their Instagram, I couldn’t help feeling excited about visiting their resort from their pictures as well as other guest’s pictures. Baros was also 25 minutes away from Male by boat, and given that we had about 3 days here, it seemed practical to choose this resort. We didn’t want to waste time waiting for a sea plane at a set time to visit further islands.

I arrived in Male from Australia the night before my boyfriend did. Male is an island in the Maldives with the international airport, and a developing strip of hotels for guests NOT meant to stay there for more than a night. Believe me, there isn’t anything to do in Male, except to sit by the beach for a tan and watch that amazing Maldivian sunset. My boyfriend landed in Male the following night after me and we were transported to the airport early next morning by our hotel.

We arrived at the boat transfer stand specifically for Baros inside Male Airport that early morning, where a Baros hostess took care of our luggage and directed us to our boat. Because Baros Maldives offers a 24-hour boat transfer from Male to its island, I was able to arrange with the resort prior via email to be on the earliest boat transfer that morning, as well as the latest boat transfer right before our flight. From there, off to the resort!

When we arrived, the resort was at 70% capacity. We saw a lot more people than we did compare to our previous Maldives’s trip. It’s no surprise a resort with several winning awards would be busy. However, this did not take away our experience here as most of our activities were private.

I thought I met all the guests throughout the day on the island. I was wrong. You literally see all the guests during breakfast. It’s a good thing we’re early risers since breakfast gets busy quickly. Breakfast is served in a buffet style and also a la carte from the menu. I always end up over eating when there’s a buffet so this was always my fullest meal.

We decided to do the Sand Bank Dining for lunch on our second day there and it was definitely one in the books. Just imagine eating a 7-course meal in the middle of the Indian Ocean, with water surrounding in all areas, while digging your toes in the sand. Our server was so wonderful and watched over us as we spent a few hours relaxing in the water. It was definitely amazing and a must-try.

We had a hard time choosing between which dining experience we wanted to do. While others only choose one experience on their trip, we figured we wouldn’t be back to the Maldives for a while (or not at all), so we also did the Piano Deck Dining. This one was personally my favorite, as we met with the chef the day before to customized our meal courses before with all my favorite island food I’ve tried here. On this day particular, the weather was perfect. The water was so calm and blue, the sun was out with no clouds, which made everything so picturesque. Then a storm suddenly came and we ended up enjoying the rest of our meals in our room.

By the time dinner came around, we were both exhausted from our island activities. Even though there were many restaurants to choose from, we ate at Lime Restaurant (which is the same restaurant we ate for lunch on the first day, and breakfast every morning) for the first night. We were just comfortable with the restaurant and the selection it offered. On the 2nd night, we ordered in room service since we were too exhausted.

There were tons of activities and excursions to choose from here, but we spent most of our time either walking around the island or in our villa. I did manage to try out kayaking for a bit, only because they had a transparent kayak and that was something I just wanted to try out for the experience. However, I’m deeply terrified of the water and don’t know how to swim. It was super fun at first and I was getting the hang of paddling left and right up until a storm started to come through and the waves became super choppy.

My favorite and free activity on this island was definitely sunset watching. Apparently it seemed to be everyone’s else favorite activity on the island. As soon as the sun started touching the horizon, there were so many guest who have already claimed their spot in different corners of the island. Nevertheless, we were able to find our own spot, which was at the jetty. We were also fortunate to have the sunset on our side of the villa, which we enjoyed, so much, we watched the sunset from our villa for 2 sunsets.

Luckily sunrise watching wasn’t as popular as sunset watching, and we were able to walk all over the empty island at 5 am on our second day there. On our last day there, it was raining throughout the night and into the morning so we weren’t able to catch a bright sunrise. We did, however, watched a glimpse of daylight come out from between the clouds in front of our villa.

Our time there was exceptional and definitely too short. However, our hostess admitted we did quite a bit for such a short time, compared to other guests whose spent a longer period of time on the island.

I’d recommend this resort for anyone who’s trying to fit the Maldives into their short schedule, as this resort basically has all the necessities and activities that gives the general idea of what the Maldives has to offer. And also the fact that it’s very close to the airport by boat. However. I’d definitely advise to always do research for whatever places you go, rather than relying on another person.