A paradise almost too good to be true
The Nautilus Maldives
When I heard that Wuhan was locking down because of the coronavirus, I was producing a travel show with a Turkish film crew in the royal suite of a palace hotel in my adopted hometown of Lisbon. After nearly 20 years as a travel writer, my life had reached a point where this seemed like a normal Saturday.
Someone said, “This feels like the first scene in a horror film.” We went back to fluffing the pillows.
Three and some months later, I’m in a one-bedroom apartment in a sleepy beach town. I am beyond fortunate that these days aren’t a horror for me. I have good health, comfortable accommodation, good company and a contract that still lets me write things like this.
But it’s still deeply weird. For the first time since university, my calendar is blank. Now I’m reflecting on my journey around and around the world. I’m especially savoring my last hurrah of the before times. Whether it’s the end of an act or the end of the whole crazy show, I went out on a high note.
I’ve always detested the bucket list. Travel isn’t about ticking off items before I die—seriously, what’s the point? But the otherworldly islands of the Maldives have topped my wish list for years. I wanted to see that unreal, luminous crazy-blue water.
Sunset by the pool
The Nautilus Maldives
My chance came between Wuhan’s lockdown and my own. I was invited to visit the Nautilus, a yearling private island that is the only Relais & Châteaux hotel in the archipelago. And so, in the last weeks that travel felt rational, I finally made it to the Maldives.
Or, rather, the most Maldives-ish island in the Maldives. Owned by a Maldivian entrepreneur who was an early pioneer of tourism in the islands, the Nautilus is above and beyond anything else in a country that is above and beyond anyplace else. The 26 beach and ocean houses are dotted around a postcard-gorgeous island with powdered-sugar beaches and surreally blue water.
The craftsmanship is outstanding. The place has no corners. Everything is a celebration of nature’s geometry, engineering and artistry. The staircases in the 4,500-square-foot, two-bedroom Beach Residences are perfect nautiluses when viewed from above.
A beach house
The Nautilus Maldives
It’s also as sumptuous as can be, with inviting fabrics, sherbet colors and tactile handmade objects. Even the entry-level Ocean Houses are an impressive 3,000 square feet—on stilts above the water—of livable luxury. They also have private pools, ladders straight into the ocean and large glass panels for watching the parrotfish and nurse sharks below. I’ve slept in overwater bungalows before but never one like this—the sea life was so close and the glass was so clear that I found myself walking around it for fear of falling in.
The main thing to do at the Nautilus is nothing. There is plenty of space for that in the houses, as well as several beaches and, come sunset, at the Naiboli poolside bar, where musicians perform nightly and fairy lights inside the pool come on in the shape of a nautilus.
The overwater spa
The Nautilus Maldives
If doing nothing gets boring, in the spa’s glass-floored over-water pavilions, massages are done with organic products from Maison Caulières and Omorovicza. If the complimentary yoga class each morning isn’t a good enough reason to get out of bed, yoga teachers are on call to give private lessons on the mat or on aerial silks.
And then there is also that ethereal aquamarine water, which happens to be full of healthy coral reefs and endless colorful fish. I snorkeled and dived with a wonderfully patient dive master, who led me through seascapes straight out of Blue Planet. I watched a pod of dolphins leap and play during a sunset cruise.
There are three restaurants, each with very long menus—and if you want something else, they promise to get it for you in a day or two. Thyme has an extensive breakfast buffet and made-to-order morning options from avocado toast to congee, plus many yummy choices for lunch and dinner. At the fine-dining restaurant, Zeytoun, the best ingredients are imported from the Mediterranean and served on a deck above the lagoon. Ocaso serves sushi, Peruvian-Japanese dishes and various Asian curries, and it has a live-cooking teppanyaki grill—the night I tried it, a chef named Supaman put on an impressive show of knife juggling as he prepared the meal.
Zeytoun
The Nautilus Maldives
Much of the Maldives is equally super. What sets the Nautilus apart is its “world of your own making” philosophy. There are no clocks. Why should a luxury traveller have to worry about waking up in time for breakfast? At the Nautilus, they don’t. The hotel has served breakfast at 4 pm and dinner at 3 am. It has organized spontaneous night dives and relaxing spa treatments in the wee hours.
The Nautilus pulls this off by having a large, supremely capable staff. Unusually and commendably, most of the management team is Maldivian, while others come from around Asia. In normal times, there are some 140 people on the island, filling many roles. In the chef category alone, there are 17 people—partly to give the restaurants’ pan-Asian menus authenticity but also to be on call as private chefs for guests who want to hole up in their houses.
Which brings me to another reason to love the Nautilus. Privacy is paramount. During my stay, I barely saw any of the other guests that were on the island.
The Maldives is the romantic dream of the world. No sane person takes a vacation there alone. But as I wandered dreamily around on my honeymoon for one, I occasionally felt opposite of claustrophobia—like the lack of other humans and the vastness of the sky and sea would somehow swallow me up. Now, of course, this space and solitude feel less like an indulgence and more like prudence.
Ocean houses
The Nautilus Maldives
The Nautilus closed on April 1 for three months. Most of the staff returned home to spend time with their families, while those who remained are working on a beach and lagoon replenishment program and an expansion of the Ocaso dining area. The chefs are working on more a la carte options for private dining, and the communications team is sharing virtual experiences such as cooking demonstrations, snorkelling trips and virtual tours on its social media channels.
And here I am, grounded. After years of sashaying from one trip of a lifetime to the next, I can finally reflect. My absurd life has given me rich memories of places from Patagonia to Iceland, Kilimanjaro to Kyoto. I’m soaking in them.
But my dreamlike days in the Maldives were unlike anything else. The Nautilus would have been a tough act to follow. What could compare to the floor show in my ocean house? To Supaman with his flying knives? To stretch out in aerial silks with the waves crashing below?
I won’t be finding out anytime soon. That’s okay. I have some beautiful memories.
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