Fifteen years ago, I wrote about what I thought was the best vacation we had ever had: Pulau Pangkil, a private island in Indonesia. Even today, we still think very fondly on Pulau Pangkil and would go back any time.

However, Michelle and I just came back from what we think is even a more epic and perfect vacation destination: Velaa Private Island in the Maldives (an atoll chain off the southern end of India in the Indian Ocean). Probably like most places in the Maldives, the location is lovely: crystal blue waters, white sand beaches, and perfect weather. However, based on our research, Velaa stands out even among all the great Maldivian resorts. The facilities, vegetation, service, and food are all meant to be a step up from others; it certainly seemed that way from our visit, although admittedly, we have not been to other resorts in the Maldives.

Since this was our first trip to the Maldives, we felt somewhat obliged to stay in one of the over-water villas. We chose a "sunset view" villa, which was lovely. It was amazing to be able to step off our deck right into the ocean. The villas were stunning: perfectly appointed and comfortable, with lots of great places inside and out to hang out. Next time, we might try a beach villa, just to provide a little more shade under the trees to stay out of the unforgiving sun and to be able to enjoy the sand.

Our villa front and back:

We were really blown away by the variety and quality of food. This is especially important because you really can only eat at the resort's restaurants since the resort takes up the entire island. It's not like in Hawaii where you can leave your resort to go to other restaurants. Their menus were extensive, covering various European, East Asian, South Asian, and Middle Eastern cuisines. Normally, big menus are a red flag since it's hard to do such a diverse menu well, but Velaa pulled it off. They apparently have chefs from fourteen different countries. One night, there was an international buffet with Italian, Uzbek, and Chinese stations. The Chinese station was authentic with good roasted Beijing duck. We enjoyed the Uzbek station too; our Kazakh waitress told us Kazakh food was almost identical and vouched that the plov (rice and lamb dish, sort of like biryani or pilaf) was legit and just like at home. I enjoyed the bit of Maldivian (also known as Dhivehi) cuisine they had available. In particular, I liked the mas huni (a breakfast dish made of shredded smoked tuna, grated coconut, onions, and chili - sort like a uplevelled tuna salad) and the Maldivian reef fish curry (coconut-based, more like Indian than, say, Thai.)

The GM advised us early in our stay to make sure we visited Faiy, their wellness restaurant. We gave him a questioning look, but he insisted it was fantastic. He was right; it was absolutely amazing. Aragu, their fine dining restaurant was also stunning as was Athiri, their all-day restaurant where we took most of our meals. The only restaurant that we thought was only OK was Tavaru, their teppanyaki restaurant. It was fine, but the set meal was just too much food, and it wasn't particularly memorable.

Amuse bouche at Faiy:

Perhaps more surprising, their cocktail program was really exceptional. The drinks were creative and well-balanced - simply delicious. It was hard to pick a favorite from their huge menu of house cocktails, but if I had to pick, the "Tokyo Glamour" was prob the top for me, described as "Rokku Japanese gin, fruity sake, lychee puree, lime juice, kaffir lime infusion, and a shot of Champagne on the side". They omitted the cool smoke-filled bubble on top.

The Tokyo Glamour:

There was no shortage of activities. During the trip, I took advantage of the spa, tried my hand at e-foiling (electric surfboard that gets up out of the water on a wing - I did manage to get the board out of the water and ride it. Fortunately, there are no known photos or videos of my attempts though), took two golf lessons at their slick little Troon-owned par 3 course, and did two SCUBA dives (the first in many years). One cool thing about Velaa is that they have a coral reef science program that is restoring their reefs. Michelle and I got a private talk from their marine biologist, and then I did a dive with the biologist to do some of the restoration work (mostly tying loose live coral onto their cool BioRock reef).

I also did a dive at the nearby "Ghost Island" where the 80% completed Mandarin Oriental resort has been abandoned for the last fifteen or so years after the local partner ran out of money. The staff told us that the villas have mattresses in bags and toiletries on the shelves already but the roofs and glass are broken on many of them. The economics of restoring the resort are apparently bad compared to the cost of just building a new island resort, so it seems unlikely they'll find a buyer. It did mean the reef was largely undisturbed, which made for good diving though, complete with white and black-tipped reef sharks, barracuda, and huge lobsters.

The resort buildings (left) and over-water villas of "Ghost Island" - note the collapsing roofs on the villas.

Service across the board was truly excellent, most notably from our butler, Yasir. He was always available, leaving thoughtful treats and doing nice things like drawing baths. Everywhere we went, we were greeted kindly and often met with cold towels and drinks (which were especially welcome on the golf course and after my e-foiling efforts). Yasir and some of the other staff mentioned how much they enjoyed working at Velaa relative to other resorts they have worked at. They live on the island in the village in the middle of the island for a few weeks (or months) at a time and then go home on vacation to the island (or country as appropriate) for vacation. It sounds like the owner really takes care of the staff well, which showed in how attentive and happy the staff seemed.

Meeting Yasir for the first time at the floatplane arrival dock, complete with Champagne welcome.

The rose-petal covered bubble bath that Yasir had drawn for us, ready for our arrival.

A few practical matters and observations: From Seattle, we flew fourteen hours to Doha, Qatar on Qatar Airlines. We stayed in Doha for a few days (which I'll write about later). We then took a four hour flight to Male, the capital of the Maldives. From there we waited a few hours in the seaplane terminal (Velaa and the other big resorts have club lounges) for a floatplane to take us the 45 minute flight to Velaa.

We were initially considering going to Tahiti or Fiji, but after some research we learned that while the resorts there lovely, the food is only OK in general. Maldives was generally considered to have better food all up, so we decided on Maldives. We normally lean toward great resort chains like Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, or Rosewood, but we thought their offerings mostly looked the same as their other properties anywhere in the world. It turns out that we really like these privately owned resorts where the founder's vision infuses the place. Velaa and Pulau Pangkil are both passion projects where the owners seem more interested in fulfilling their vision rather than reaping profits. We'll definitely seek other such resorts in the future - that is if we ever go anywhere else besides Velaa on future vacations. It's pretty amazing.