Welcome To Paradise

Sometimes all the stars seem to be aligned and something wonderful happens. After a hideous 12 months of deaths, illness, care homes, (not me thankfully) I was offered a press trip to report on THE MALDIVES!!!

I haven’t done a lot of long distance travel, and this isn’t somewhere I would ordinarily be able to

afford to visit but, it was AMAZING……... White sand beaches, the clearest blue seas imaginable and blue, blue skies. We landed on the main island, Male, waited in an air- conditioned lounge before boarding our sea-plane, yes sea-plane! It was a bit rickety but what a way to get to our destination island of Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu, even though the pilot had flip-flops on!

The flight was fantastic, you are able to see all of the islands spread out underneath you, not all are inhabited, in fact some don’t even rise above the surface but it’s a great way to see the geography. We were greeted by the hotel manager, in bare feet (you get the idea) and taken to the main building before being shown our cabins, very luxurious, with the obligatory reed roof, an outdoor loo, shower and bath! The Coco Palm is all about relaxing and unwinding.

The food is first class and there is a beach barbeque twice a week with fresh seafood (obvs) warm winds and candlelight. Sigh. Trips include dolphin, turtle and manta-ray watching, scuba diving and

snorkeling, the Maldives has some of the best diving in the world. It may have only been for 4 days, but it really felt like I had been taken to paradise