travel
Wedding Water Sports
Adventure Destination: Ozen Maldives
T
here are few places in the world that capture the imagination quite like the Maldives. This scintillating sea of a thousand islands encapsulates a mythical memory of a past Garden of Eden. The crystalline waters and sandy islands, festooned with palm trees, provide the ideal destination for those seeking the very best scenery and luxury. Average temperatures of 23º - 31ºC all year round, with only the occasional showers from May to October, assures great weather. Superior architecture in the form of the luxury beach and water villas, plus the provision of extensive water sports, make it the ultimate location for a wedding, honeymoon or anniversary.
We chose dive experts Dolphin Base, at Ozen Maadhoo in the Maldives, for an adventure anniversary holiday of epic proportions. This is the picture-perfect island for a wedding. Share your vows overlooking the Azur sea. After the ceremony pop off for a dive with whale shark, a luxury spa, or a Jet Ski safari. Friends and family will love you and the photographs will resonate forever.
On the first day, we registered with Dolphin Base who have a gorgeous dive centre that fits effortlessly into the surrounding palm trees. Your stay includes a weekly dive, windsurfing, dolphin trip and kayak. We started our adventure with a dive on the
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first day with instructor Shakoor. The Dhoni, a gorgeous traditional Maldivian fishing boat, picked us up at the jetty and sailed to the nearest reef just opposite the water villas. We aimed to find some manta and swim along taking photographs. Shakoor was not optimistic as he felt the water currents were not quite right, as they tend to feed in strong flows. We dived anyway, following the reef and within five minutes a vague outline appeared in the distance. Three flowing manta, gliding towards us from the murky shadows, flew right over our heads. Their movements are beautiful, the sinuous wings billow gently as they pass, impressive and incredibly graceful. The cephalic horns funnel water into the mouth for feeding and the gills flare gently as they swim.
We saw another pair again a little later and took more pictures. A magnificent experience as this was only our first dive. That afternoon I took the windsurf for around two hours, sailing up and the Northside of the island. The wind was ideal coming into shore at around 45°, which made it easy to tack right past the water villas at the East end of the island and back.
The very next day we took a Jet Ski safari to the surrounding islands. Our two Yamaha WaveRunners had a top speed of 70 mph and the sea was calm with just a light chop, so we hit 60 mph with ease. Our tour took us to the nearest island of Biyadhoo. We whizzed past this tiny verdant, palm- covered, circular islet towards the open sea.
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