It takes most people a lifetime to reach paradise but it took me three days. We stopped in Tokyo for a couple of delicious days on the way and ended up in Male 72 hours after our departure. A Hyatt agent greeted us at the Male airport, and informed us that our transfer to the Park Hyatt Hadahaa had been postponed until morning, as the seas were too rough to make the journey at night. Bummer, I was really looking forward to waking up in my private villa in the morning. That should have been our warning.
Accommodations were provided for us at the Trader’s Hotel in Male for that evening and we were assured that it was a five star hotel, but it seemed more like a three star hotel to us. Nevertheless, we all had a good night’s sleep. The next morning, another Hyatt person met us at the airport and revealed our itinerary that would eventually get us to the Park Hyatt; a one-hour flight from Male to Kaadedhdhoo, followed by another hour speedboat ride that would take us to Hadahaa.
The journey was very smooth and we were warmly greeted at the Park Hyatt Hadahaa dock by an army of staff bearing oshibori and golf carts to transport us to our villas. I remembered that our guide had tagged our bags to be delivered to Villa 48 and didn’t think much of it until we passed villa number 37 and kept driving onto the boardwalk that led to the water villas. We were dropped off at the third to last water villa, number 48. I asked Mr. M and Ms. W to pinch me because I couldn’t believe our good fortune. Inside the villa, a bottle of Moet champagne, three coconuts, and various fruits and snacks awaited us. The sun was shining and the sea was clear, I was in heaven.
The next day I awoke to ominous skies but assumed that the clouds would clear for a couple of hours like the previous day and that we would take advantage of that to get some much needed color. I went for a morning run around the island and logged-in exactly 1 mile from our front door and back. My iPod insisted on shuffling songs from my French music collection, leading me to believe that the name of these islands is decidedly pronounced MALL-deevz. As predicted, the clouds cleared and we decided to sunbath on a rather windy beach after breakfast. None of us used sunscreen, as we did not think the sun would be out very long. An hour later, all three of us were sunburned to a crisp.
That evening we were invited to the Dhoni for Bodu Beru, a traditional Maldavian ceremony. I am convinced that it was a rain dance, because that evening it poured rain and the waves were so strong that they shook our water villa throughout the night. None of us had a very restful sleep. Hell bound?
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