Engaged Me: If there was a paradise on earth...

...this would be it.

Our late night MAS flight from KL to Male was uneventful but I remember being so exhausted I passed out for most of it. Upon arrival to Male, we checked into Relax Inn Hotel, really close to the airport jetty. This was convenient as we had to catch the seaplane transfer to Mirihi the next morning. The strange smell in the room was off-putting but we went to sleep straight after checking in and woke up the next morning at 6am.

I wasn't feeling "honeymooney" yet but when we were shown into the Mirihi private lounge at the seaplane transfer area, that's when things started to change. Ahmed, the caretaker at the lounge showed us into a lovely quiet area overlooking the seaplanes.There was a shower and private toilet facilities as well as a plasma screen tv (really?!) and tonnes of (German) magazines. We got treated to coconut cookies and mocktails while waiting.

Hubby enjoying coconut cookies and his drink.

I guess it was all the nicer as we were the only ones there!

Weather looked ominous.

We finally set off on our seaplane, a first for us. Now a seaplane is relatively small and can only take about 19 passengers. The freaky thing is you can see right into the captain's cockpit. The pilot "flew" using some handle thing that was stuck to the ceiling of the cockpit which I found fascinating. Take off was the scariest - the co-pilot and the pilot had to hold the handle thing TOGETHER, pushing it upwards. Whoa.

Anyway, we arrived on a floating platform only to be greeted by a beautiful Mirihi speedboat. Once onboard, it was a 2 minute trip to the island itself and the lady who greeted us handed out cold towels for us to freshen up. On the jetty itself, we were given our welcome coconuts! Immediately, our shoes and luggage were taken from us as we were ushered around the island resort.

Welcome coconuts!

A bottle of champagne waiting for us in our room. Too bad we're non alcoholics. We did have a glass each though!

Yay!

We had 5 wonderful days on this tiny island. Most of the time, we felt totally isolated from the world and surrounded by just sand, sea and corals. The service was impeccable, the food excellent, the snorkelling the best I've experienced. I enjoyed the outdoor dining tremendously as well. Here are some photos of the food and out outdoor dining experience.

Loved the pappadums and Sri Lankan curries!

Our first lunch outside. Yumm...

Hubs enjoying some salad before heading for the mains.

The beach is just two steps away. Sometimes we got to see coral reef sharks eating little fishes just right by the shore. Amazing.

The best mango sorbet I've ever had. All the ice-creams, sorbets and abundance of desserts were homemade.

Aaah...

Never felt overcrowded at any point. As you can see!

Table placements changed everyday, red, green, yellow, blue...

Our favourite outdoor table.

So you can tell that the (German) chef took good care of our tastebuds daily. Yes, we did more than just EAT. We managed quite a bit of snorkelling and kayaking and even a spot at the gym on our first day (as it was raining). Mirihi has a house reef of its own therefore, once outside our water villa, there are corals all around. We saw sharks, sting rays, weird eels, families of squids and tonnes and tonnes of colourful fishes. On our last day when it was less windy, we even played a game of ping pong outdoors (which for the record, I won, hehe). Ooh we also went for a massage on the first day which my husband thoroughly enjoyed (he fell asleep and snored haha).

Weather was sunny and lovely except for the day we arrived. The sunsets were amazing plus we caught the eclipse of the moon one of the nights (the moon turned an interesting shade of red and the stars were so bright in the sky). Our water villa afforded us with many beautiful views of the sea and we really felt sad when leaving.