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ASK A LOCAL
Dive into the Maldives We checked in with our local expert to discover must-see marine-life spots and underwater dining in this Indian Ocean paradise.
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What’s your favorite thing to do in the Maldives? This country is made up of about 1,200 coral islands, and around 200 are inhabited. Hotels will take you out to uninhabited islands by boat. You can snorkel through the morning and then have a barbecue on a beach with the world’s softest sand — all you have is time.
Are there any standout places to stay? On Baa Atoll, there’s the luxury Amilla Maldives resort with all kinds of accommodation options, from treetop villas with private pools to glamping bubbles on a secluded beach where you can see the stars. The resort also offers sunset cruises, if you want to drink champagne as bottlenose and spinner dolphins jump out of the surrounding waters.
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Where’s the best spot to go snorkeling? Everyone comes here thinking they’ll see marine life, and they still get their minds blown. The Maldives has 26 atolls, or island clusters. The biodiversity is huge among them, with thousands of fish and sea turtles. But on South Ari Atoll, you can see whale sharks, and Baa Atoll has the largest manta ray congregation in the world.
Where would you send someone for a one-of-a-kind dining experience? 5.8 Undersea Restaurant is the world’s largest all-glass underwater dining room. My advice is to go for an evening meal, to see day change to night. First, you’ll spot anemones and clownfish, and then the bigger stuff comes out later. The restaurant is known for upscale seafood, like scallops, toothfish and clams.
Craig Barnett C E O O F K O V E L I T R A V E L Barnett founded Koveli Travel — a Maldives-focused platform for travel agents — in 2020. Around that time, he also left his fixed address behind, traveling the world and making the South Asian archipelago a frequent stop.
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RANGE BY ENSEMBLE
ABOVE Dinner and a show: At 5.8 Undersea Restaurant, located 5.8 meters below the surface, you’ll see coral, tropical fish and maybe even a passing snorkeler.
PHOTO: JESPER ANHEDE (5.8 UNDERSEA RESTAURANT).
By Caitlin Stall-Paquet
