Vakarufalhi Island Resort, Maldives

...to either Velavaru Island or Vakarufalhi Island, which were part of the same hotel chain. The deal was that you transferred and no extra cost for the remaining duration of your holiday. This sounded so tempting, but we had thoroughly researched our honeymoon destinations and had fallen in love with Meeru. We had a fantastic water bungalow, which we didn’t want to give up. However, the thought of trying a different island was still on our minds. Meeru ...
...was lively by Maldivian standards. It had plenty of facilities and stunning tropical surroundings. A day or two later, we were walking through reception when we noticed a change to the details for the transfer to Vakaru. If you had longer than a week of your holiday left, you could transfer to Vakaru for one week then come back to Meeru for the remainder of your holiday. This sounded ideal. We could sample a different island and it didn’t matter ... more

Vakarufalhi, or Vakaru as it is more commonly known, is a tiny Maldivian island situated in the South Ari Atoll. It is almost circular in shape and measures about 250 metres in diameter. There is a well-known saying on Vakaru, “No news, no shoes” and that exactly what it is like.

We spent week three of our four week honeymoon on Vakaru. We spent week one in Dubai, with a few days touring the UAE and moved on to the Maldives for the following three weeks. Our time in the Maldives should have been spent entirely on the island of Meerufenfushi (or Meeru) in the North Male Atoll. In the middle of our first week on Meeru, a notice went up in reception offering a limited number of guests the chance to transfer to either Velavaru Island or Vakarufalhi Island, which were part of the same hotel chain. The deal was that you transferred and no extra cost for the remaining duration of your holiday. This sounded so tempting, but we had thoroughly researched our honeymoon destinations and had fallen in love with Meeru. We had a fantastic water bungalow, which we didn’t want to give up. However, the thought of trying a different island was still on our minds. Meeru was one of the largest islands in the Maldives and was lively by Maldivian standards. It had plenty of facilities and stunning tropical surroundings. A day or two later, we were walking through reception when we noticed a change to the details for the transfer to Vakaru. If you had longer than a week of your holiday left, you could transfer to Vakaru for one week then come back to Meeru for the remainder of your holiday. This sounded ideal. We could sample a different island and it didn’t matter if we didn’t like it as much as Meeru because we would still get to spend the last week of our honeymoon back on Meeru. We put our names down straight away!

At the end of our first week on Meeru, we made the 45-minute speedboat trip back to the international airport near the capital, Male. On arrival, we were taken to the seaplane terminal where we caught our flight to Vakaru. That 35-minute transfer was the most breathtaking flight ever. We flew over the most beautiful coral reefs, atolls and lush islands. The plane landed in the middle of the sea and docked against a pontoon where donhi boats waited to take guests to their chosen islands in the South Ari Atoll.

It only took about 15 minutes to get to Vakaru from the pontoon. The donhi boat docked at the end of the pier and we began our walk onto the most tiny paradise island we had ever seen. On arriving in reception we immediately felt a million miles from anywhere. The pace of life there was the perfectly defined the phrase “laid back”. It almost made Meeru seem as lively as the Spanish Costa’s by comparison! From that point onwards we didn’t wear shoes again for the rest of the week. The only people we saw were the waiters in the bar and restaurant and occasionally, there would be someone else in the restaurant at the same time as us (the food was fabulous, the chef was of 5* international class), plus the few who went on the two excursions that we booked up for. There was no TV and we didn’t see a newspaper all week. It was almost as though we were the only people on earth. I had always imagined that on an island of that size and in those circumstances, I would feel completely trapped, isolated, bored and lonely. However, I discovered a whole new side to myself. It was the most relaxing experience of my life. Never before and never again since have I been able to sit without a single worry in the world. I somehow felt closer to nature and really at peace. My husband and I would sit on the beach, looking out at the stunning coral reef. Occasionally, a donhi boat would pass on the horizon. Dolphins would come very close into the shore and would stay there if we got into the sea with them. Tropical fish would swim with us and follow us. Stingray and reef sharks (which are only about 2 feet long) would come up for a close look at us. And all the while, there was nobody else in sight. We would walk all the way around the island, a task that took 10 minutes if we did it at normal walking pace or 20 minutes if we simply strolled. We would walk to the bar for a few drinks and the bar man and waiter were the only other people there. Lively activities on Vakaru consisted of going diving of snorkelling, playing board games, reading, playing cards, and the ultimate in a lively night out was crab racing!

It is illegal in the Maldives to gamble, so the rules for crab racing were that you bought your crab in an auction and paid in beers, which were charged to your room bill. If your crab won the race, you won the number of beers that everyone else had bought their crabs with. E.g. you might but your crab for 5 beers. Another contestant may buy their crab for 7 beers, and another for 4 beers (faster crabs tend to be worth more beers!). If your crab won, you would win 16 beers and the other two contestants would foot the bill.

We went on a couple of excursions from Vakaru. The first was to Dhangethi, a local inhabited island. The second was a sunset cruise to see dolphins. We counted 42 dolphins on that trip! Towards the end of the week on Vakaru, we decided that we would like to stay on in Vakaru for the final week of our honeymoon, rather than returning to Meeru. However, the resort was fully booked for the following week so we had to make the donhi, seaplane and speedboat transfer back to Meeru and leave our tiny piece of paradise behind.

When we arrived back at Meeru, we were actually glad that we did go back. It was nice to spend the final week of our honeymoon in the place that we had planned for years to spend it.
Meeru is the sort of island where we could have spend all three weeks without getting bored. But I suspect that we would have been bored after another week in Vakaru. Saying that, we would love to go back for a week. However, I don’t think we ever will go back to Vakaru or Meeru because its nice to know that all the memories we have of them were from our honeymoon!
 

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