Tag Archives: Velaa Private Island

Travel

Velaa Private Island | Day 3 | Maldives | Activities including the first golf course

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Many of my city friends like the idea of a beach holiday but they also can’t bear sitting around too long doing nothing either.  If you are not into diving, sitting by the pool and beach all day, there is a huge offering including the Maldives’ first golf course.

Golf

Velaa’s offering of activities is unbeatable especially with the creation of the Velaa Golf Academy, designed by Jose Maria Olazabal, renowned for his short game and managed by Troon, the leader in upscale golf course management. The current resident golf pro from Scotland can definitely help you improve your swing in just one hour.  The course is a little humid and definitely reminds me of playing in Singapore where you need to play first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid the mid-day sun.

Water activities and Diving

There is so much to choose from, fishing, paddle boarding, banana boats, sailings, wind surfing, private boat hire, jet ski, sea bob and any sport with no motorised vehicle is free.  The diving and snorkelling around the island is sensational with reef sharks and colourful aquatic life and corals.  On our first dive we saw incredible reefs with countless species of marine life including a large turtle and tuna.

Turtle Nursery and Sting Ray feeding

There is a permanent marine biologist living on the island.  She looks after baby turtles stranded on the island after they hatch to help improve their survival rate before releasing them.  Every day at 630pm she also feeds the sting rays who are so incredibly intelligent, that they will return to the same spot at the same time to wait for her.  When I asked why they do this, she said sadly not enough money has been spent on research on sting rays to know more about their them.

Other sports

The shaded tennis court can be used 24 hours.  It can be seen to be both indoor and outdoor with an industrial fan above the court named literally ‘the big ass fan’.  There is a squash court, pool tables, and ping pong tables plus a gym.  The facilities are pretty close to the children’s area which means while the children are busy, parents can use the gym or sit in the family area with pool and ping pong tables.

On Day 4,  we will check out the children’s zone.

Travel

Velaa Private Island | Maldives | Day 2

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Health & Wellness

The day begins with a well designed breakfast, and if you are into health and wellness, you will be delighted that the resort serves organic eggs.  They make delicious egg white omelettes, and they are to my delight cooked to perfection. If you are particular with your juicing, the F&B team work hard to concoct any juice to your taste, including my favourite pineapple with spirulina which is a micro algae, used by the Aztecs in the 16th Century, said to help with a range of health problems including certain emotional disorders and is also rich in nutrients as it contains significant amount of calcium, niacin, potassium, magnesium, B vitamins and iron.

Top tip: Lunch or breakfast can also be served on tables in shallow pools to keep your feet cool.

Next was a tour of the island, and we were surprised at the variety of villas available including water villas each with their own private pool, 2 bedroom beach villas with an additional children’s pool, 4 bedroom residences, and a romantic villa that is set out to sea on its own with its own gym and spa.  Escapism is a word to describe each villa that you enter.  In the case of Velaa’s room designs they are extremely practical as well as elegant and luxurious.

Other features

If you need a little retail therapy the island has its own gift store as well as jewellery stores.  The gold necklace in the picture is by Czech designers, Daniel Posta and Zdenek Vacek, who are behind the label, Zorya, from their Cocoon Collection.

The owner of the island, whilst building his dream island, is also into restoration and conservation of the island’s history and has successfully restored an old Maldivian house and turned it into a mini museum on the island to show how Maldivians traditionally lived.

Spa

Our favourite spot so far on the island has to be the spa, each treatment room looks out to sea, and the photo above of the strange white chair is actually a new treatment call 9 Clouds, named after the 9 different types of clouds seen in the Maldives.  It is to help you relax with different colour therapies and the chair vibrations according to your treatment.  If I have to be honest, Cloud 9 is not for me as I am claustrophobic, so I indulged in the Oriental Fusion with a therapist from India, which was a combination of a Swedish deep tissue massage and Thai stretching.  The therapists are incredible, hand picked by the owner himself, and the therapist are well-trained and experienced, with strong hands and knowledge – well worth the investment.  The couples room is a private room with complete sea view – just heavenly.

Activities

In general, one of the biggest complaint about the Maldives is often the lack of activities to do if you don’t dive.  Velaa works hard to provide a huge amount of activities so check out Day 3 when we look around the island’s offering of things to do.