We arrived at the gorgeous Finolhu resort after a 40 minute sea plane ride from Male International Airport. The short flight over found us unable to tear our eyes away from the scenery below as we flew over dark turquoise waters covered in a multitude of lighter turquoise rings, many of them also home to other luxury resorts. It was so exciting when we spotted our little piece of Paradise below us!
We were greeted with a cold face towel and drink to refresh us before being driven in a little golf buggy to our overwater bungalow - our home for the next 7 nights. Finolhu is a new resort having only been open for a year, they have done an amazing job of styling the resort. Everything is cool, funky and retro, being on Baa Atoll they have capitalised on the name and have little sheep ornaments dotted all over the place. 
Our villa was pure luxury with His and Hers wardrobes and sinks, a huge comfortable bed, 3 showers (indoor, outdoor and one on the deck to rinse off after swimming in the sea), a huge deck with chairs, loungers and a sofa - all beautifully styled and with the most amazing view of the turquoise lagoon.
We had left Male just before 11am but landed at 1.30pm as Finolhu operates on it's own time zone, 2 hours ahead of Male making sunrise around 8am and sunset at 8pm.
Finolhu is a place where you can do as much or as little as you wish. We took up the offer of many activities but still had plenty of relaxation time. As part of the 'package' that we got through Luxury Escapes (highly recommended) we had all our meals included and could visit any of the restaurants on offer. Fish and Crab Shack & Kanusan became firm favourites of ours. The Crab Shack is at the end of the sand spit and we made several journeys there for lunch. The king crab spaghetti in truffle cream sauce was divine as was the view. 
We also received 2 complimentary sessions at the spa, our first was a whole body 'jet lag' massage that we had on our second day and then just before we left we each had a rejuvenating facial, utter bliss! The spa area is made up of lots of little luxury spas each named after a musical diva, all very fitting with the general decor of Finolhu.
Each day different complimentary activities are put on for guests ranging from yoga to TRX Training. Over the week we took part in Sunrise Yoga on the sand spit and a Romantic Stretch session which had us in fits of giggles for a lot of it! I tried Stand Up Paddleboarding for the first time and quite enjoyed it.
Gerald took part in the Feel The Sand Island Jog which had him run almost 5km along the sand spit in the 30 degree heat, I am not sure how much he enjoyed that!
Guests are also invited to have a one hour photo shoot done around the island and receive one complimentary print, we ended up buying a further 5 photos as we wanted to have a nice memento of our time in the Maldives. 
We also did a couple of paid excursions, the first was a trip to snorkel with Manta Rays and although expensive it really was a fantastic experience swimming alongside these magnificent, gentle, graceful giants. I will let the photos tell the story....
Our second trip was a morning dive at a coral reef nearby to our island. We hadn't been diving for 2 1/2 years so we were both feeling a little anxious and had to do some refresher exercises before leaving on the boat to the dive site. As we arrived at the dive site a pod of dolphins swam past leaping out of the water but by the time we got in they were long gone.
We did a 50 minute dive along a wall full of coral and colourful fish (which never photograph very well with our amateur equipment!). We also saw a moray eel, puffer fish and a turtle that swam off before we had chance to take a photo.
Finolhu put on entertainment each afternoon and night with silks, fire shows and they even have a resident mermaid that frequents the pool!
We had a few wildlife encounters on the island, each day as we walked along the boardwalk to our villa we would keep our eyes on the water. We saw little sharks, a variety of rays and many different fish. In other parts of the island we saw hermit crabs in abundance, the odd lizard and every evening the bats would fly above our heads.
Much of the time we chose to relax at the beach swimming, sunbathing and reading. Being 'off season' we were often the only guests there and could have our pick of sun loungers! We never tired of the view.
We really enjoyed our stay at Finolhu with it's laid back feel despite being a luxury resort. Our only regret is that we couldn't stay for another week!
This featured blog entry was written by bumblebum from the blog Migrating South.
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