As I've said I wasn't sure about taking the boat to the airport at midnight, but there was nothing I could do about it although I was nervous all day about it.

We did very little other than finish packing...I wasn't feeling great so I went for a nap and when I woke up we ordered some dinner from room service. We did sit out for a little while although the wind was getting quite fierce which didn't make me look forward to the boat trip anymore! It's not that I get seasick, I just don't like not feeling entirely safe!

We really enjoyed our time at Reethi Rah, it's just a shame the weather wasn't better, but there's nothing we or anyone else could have done about it so there's no point moaning about it. There was enough else to do...be it read or go to the spa or just chill out that we couldn't complain. For me just having free time to read when I want and doze off to sleep if I needed to was one of the best things about the trip (I work odd and long hours, so my sleep pattern is usually shot to pieces)!

We headed round to reception in our buggy at 11.40pm, settled up and said goodbye to our villa host (who's name totally escapes me, but he was lovely), jumped on the boat and headed for Male. I admit I slept most of the way and from what I hear I was glad I did...it was pretty choppy and Mark said he didn't feel totally secure on a number of occasions.

Collected my bottle of gin from customs at the airport and we were off once more...Dubai bound, and this time we were stopping! Yay!

Although this was officially our last day, we were actually staying on Reethi Rah until midnight the next day. Fortunately, the manager - Knut - had let us stay in the villa until we had to leave for the boat which was great, otherwise we would have had to check out at midday and use a courtesy villa to shower and change.

We had a lovely lazy day...the weather was glorious and we just baked ourselves (bad I know but I feel so much better bronzed). We started to pack and ended up watching the film 'Derailed' with Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen...excellent! We had to push our dinner reservation back an hour because we were enjoying it so much. Din-Dins were taken at Reethi and we ended up having a really early night because we'd been out in the sun so much and I find that always makes me tired.

Tonight was one of the three nights out of ten we had a decent enough sunset to take pictures...it's a habit I've inherited from my Dad, who hardly takes any photos of people on holiday (at least not family members!) and mostly shoots sunsets and landscapes. Perhaps he doesn't want to be reminded who he's with...the cheek of it! Anyway, hope you like the sunset shots! :D

Clearly I'm taking my inspiration for titles from songs, but that's kind of logical because Mark's a music teacher/ trained opera singer...so I never get peace and quiet! :D

Anyway, another wonderful day which we spent at Breakfast, at the beach and then we went for afternoon tea at around 4.30pm, which consisted of freshly made mini-donuts, fruit cake and iced tea, and if I'm honest, was one of the most disappointing things about the whole time in the Maldives. We've stayed at Reethi Rah's sister hotel, the Royal Mirage in Dubai, and afternoon tea there (which is also complimentary) is outstanding...fresh chocolates, sandwiches, tea, coffee, soft drinks, gateaux’s, etc, etc. But that's one of the few things we weren't happy with and we raised it with the Food & Beverage Manager (who'd come to RR from the Royal Mirage) and he said it was on his list of things to improve.

As a result, we were a bit peckish and ordered a pizza between us and I had a French Martini...it very nearly blew my head off! It was fantastic but between us we were both rather tipsy and our driving back to the villa was perhaps a bit erratic!

Dinner tonight was our candlelit meal in Reethi...we were pretty disappointed when we saw the menu was set, and Mark isn't keen on seafood and the starter and main were both fishy. So we spoke to our friend the F&B manager and he took us on a tour of the kitchen and let us pick out whatever we wanted from the storeroom! We both had a Wagyu Fillet steak which was superb! The only complaint I have about the food at RR is that the main restaurant menu is a bit restricted and although there's daily specials, some were very fussy and odd...one more restaurant wouldn't go amiss on the island, especially when the weather's not so good during July/ August, i.e., Monsoon season.

We had an amazing meal and a lovely complimentary bottle of wine which is always nice! Tomorrow is our last full day on the island, although our boat transfer to the airport doesn't leave 'til midnight, tomorrow will be the last time we go to bed here. Ah well...I wasn't altogether convinced that the yacht would make it to the airport in the pitch black but we've been assured it does the run at all hours.

I'm a really keen scuba diver, and the last time I was in the Maldives (with my parents in 2004) I did 3 dives, the last a drift dive along a reef which teemed with sharks chasing tuna...it was fantastic!

This time I knew I probably wouldn't do as many dives...mark isn't a diver and he's also not the best on choppy seas and today was a bit more overcast (but still dry, that's the main thing) so I booked in for one dive to see what things were like, although I knew I had to do my last dive 'tomorrow' before we flew.

So, after a lovely day lounging on the beach in the sun, I headed round to the dive centre, which was right beside reception. I was on a boat with the hotel manager and some other guests, and was buddied with one of the dive masters, which I was quite pleased with...I'm never too confident just swimming off with another non-local diver!

We zoomed out to the reef on one of the centre's boats, and jumped in. I just about toppled over the edge of the boat...I've never been very good at staggering around with the tank and fins on! We dropped down to about 10metres and drifted along on a bit of a current. We saw one shark pretty far off in the distance and a mean looking Moray Eel peered out at us from a rock, but other than that, it wasn't the most exciting of dives...the water was chilly and with bad visibility, and I was quite glad to get back to the surface if I'm honest. I was cold and bored...so no more dives this holiday. Mark also panics when I do daft things like diving, so I think he was glad I was back on land in one piece and not wanting to go out again. I'm just glad he wasn't with me when I bungee jumped in 2001!

So we had another yummy dinner to look forward to...I had fabulous fresh pasta with prawn and salmon, cherry tomatoes and capers, and my favourite Caprese salad to start with lots of balsamic vinegar on it!

We'd booked our Candlelit Dinner for tomorrow night, which is part of the hotel's 'treats' for honeymooners.

And so to bed...

Yaay...this was the day the weather turned for the better! We were so pleased we rushed breakfast and headed straight back to the villa to catch some rays at long last.

I know some people would find this kind of holiday boring, but after all the rushing around and organisation for the wedding, we were so glad to just sit back and take it easy, enjoy the glorious surroundings and make the most of some time together, just the two of us.

We had lunch at our outdoor dining area, I had my favourite pasta bolognaise and mark had fried local fish, although I'll admit we both stole bits of each other's meal.

And back to the beach, although Mark crashed out on the day bed for an hour...he's always so sleepy after eating, typical man. We were also really looking forward to dinner tonight, as we were going back to Tapasake, and I'd planned what I'd wanted to eat already.

The resort also had another restaurant, called Fanditha which offered Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, which is something we'd usually go for but the restaurant was set out on the beach, and with the weather being so unpredictable, and the staff telling us that if the rain came on during the meal, we'd be buggied back to the Reethi restaurant to finish our meals, but we weren't sure if that meant our food would come with us or if we'd have to re-order. The two nights we provisionally booked for Fanditha it rained so we decided not to risk it.

A lovely day, lovely food (gin fried chicken - oooooooooooooh!) and lovely weather, at last!

The day started ominously...there were seriously dark foreboding clouds on the horizon. The sea was getting choppy as we ate breakfast and I did my utmost to avoid one of the scavenging cranes which was flitting around Reethi Restaurant.
I'm phobic about birds...was chased by a swan when I was 3, it was bigger than me and ever since then I've not been comfortable around any feathered creature. They're too unpredictable...with cats and dogs you know they can only jump so high...birds fly for Pete’s sake, they can catch up with you and peck your eyes out (been watching Omen 2 and The Birds recently...)!

Anyway, we scurried back from breakfast in our buggy and settled in for the day. Slept through lunchtime and after another quick jaunt around the island on the buggy, headed for our honeymoon couples treatment at the Spa which was outstanding. We got foot massages while sipping fresh fruit smoothies, then Mark had a hot stone back massage (he's had major problems with his back in the past few years, including surgery) and I had a full body relaxing treatment, but the Thai therapist whacked some hot stones on too for good luck! We finished off the session in a lovely flower bath overlooking the ocean.

We floated back to the room and another lovely dinner completed the day.

There's totally a pattern emerging here...sleep, eat, sun (where possible), sleep, eat, sleep...not a bad life all in all!

At last...a bright dawn, clear skies and the possibility of sunbathing!

We set off in the buggy, and I became Morven Schumacher...it was a running battle for the rest of our time at Reethi Rah who got to drive. Needless to say it was mostly me as we had a rule that he who has the key drives, so I would hide it every night...only problem was the morning I couldn't remember where I'd stashed it!

After breakfast we drove around the island. We'd had a buggy tour with a member of staff on day two when the rain stopped a bit, but it was nice tooting about on our own. We met a number of the resort's cranes en route and most of the hotel's gardeners, who all wear cute straw hats and put their hand to their hearts and smile when you go past.

Our whistle-stop tour eventually got us back to the villa, although we did get lost...Mark was driving! A quick change and we were out at the pool, cracking open our champagne and enjoying what we'd come to the Maldives for...peace, quiet, each other's company and the sun!

The pool was freezing! It did warm up as the day went on and we had a lovely day.

Most days that are sunny are set to follow this routine: get up, shower, breakfast, pool, sunbathe, pool, sunbathe, shower, get ready for dinner, have dinner, admire scenery and back to villa. Rain days are much the same but without pool and sunbathe, and DVD and lunch fit in instead!

Yup, we woke up to more gale force winds and menacing seas. To be honest, neither of us had slept well at all during the night because it had been so windy and we could hear the trees rustling and the wind whistling round the villa.

But, regardless of the weather, today was the day we got to test drive the golf buggy! Fortunately, it had a rain cape we could roll down all around it so we theoretically didn't get wet, but the velcro that held them on wasn't strong when it was wet and the driver's 'door' flapped in the wind. Ah well. Still, had eggs benedict at breakfast...I love asparagus, hollandaise and parma ham so this was perfect for me. I'm not so keen on poached eggs though, but these were SUPERB!

And so it was back to the villa to dream of being out in the pool, catching some rays just a few steps from the villa, eating lunch at our outside dining area, but for now, it was read my book, watch some TV and DVDs (I disovered Animal Planet and National Geographic channels, they're awesome!) and snooze a bit. We were still pretty tired from all the excitement of the wedding and getting away on honeymoon so a bit of sleep was welcome! I also managed to get to the Spa for a manicure...I'd had acrylic nails put on for the wedding and they'd looked great - until I started biting them! I'd bitten them all off during the night and my own nails really needed some intensive care! I got quite a row from my manicurist, who said I was a very naughty girl!

Also, I'd got a tad burned on our day at the main pool the day before...see red shoulders! When will I learn you should wear sun cream on your first day in the sun! I should have listened to Mummy all those years ago.

Super dinner again at Reethi: they did amazing pasta dishes, so I was happy. Off to bed, fingers crossed for a better day tomorrow.

The 16th was a different story from the day before.

The sun was shining, it was warm, there wasn't a breath of wind, and the sea was relatively calm, with breakers spraying over the reef. But...Mark discovered an air-con unit INSIDE the wardrobe (why it was there we're not sure) had leaked through the night and soaked the bag he used for hand luggage, and because it was mostly leather, it had warped and stained because the water had been sitting on it all night. Another call to the villa host and he turned up along with the Villa Manager, and we were told we'd be moved to another villa. Jeff our host offered to pack for us, but I'm sorry - there's being helpful and there's feeling invaded! Not that he was in any way unpleasant or suspicious, but I'll pack my own undies thank you very much! Another bottle of champagne also appeared for our troubles...although these crazy blue pills meant I couldn't have any for another couple of days!

So we went to the pool, being told all the hangers in the wardrobe would be transferred to the new room while we were at dinner that evening. We were about the only people sitting around the pool - most other people were on the beach in front of the pool. The sand was lovely and soft and clean, but I don't like lying on sand, even on a sunbed - it blows about too much! We had a lovely time, but just as we were heading over to the bar for lunch, the heavens opened and we had to sit in the Rah bar for about an hour before it went off.

And so it was back to the room, shower and change for dinner, as well as packing up all the bits and pieces of toiletries and books and cameras and battery chargers and iPods we'd scattered around the room!

We had dinner at Tapasake restaurant, which is Japanese style food served like Tapas - an interesting concept but it was yummy food and the restaurant was built out over the sea so we could hear the waves lapping as we ate.

We were collected by the Villa manager who drove us to our new 'home' - the Grand Beach Villa with Pool on Reef Beach! We were gob smacked - we got our own golf buggy to trail about in so we didn't have to wait for the buggies to come and get us when we needed to get around, there was a sitting room, the bedroom and the bathroom, and it was WAY bigger than our flat at home! There was also another bottle of Champagne, so we couldn't complain.

Although it was still raining a bit, we managed to duck outside and have a quick look at our pool, which was a square 'C' shape with a day bed on a podium filling the middle of the shape, i.e., making the whole thing square. There was also a water bed with bubble jets, and it was all lit with underwater lights, and looked sensational!

We went to bed hoping we'd be able to use it!

The 15th of July dawned and the rain was lashing down, the wind was howling and the sea was rough and covered in white horses.
We had to wait for AGES for a golf buggy to take us to breakfast - fortunately, by the time we got back to our villa after a WONDERFUL breakfast (fresh squeezed fruit juice, some fruits I'd never heard of!), the room had been made up and we called our villa host Jeff, who was from Kenya, and he brought us some DVDs so we had a day in the room just chilling out. I know it's not the most exciting this to do on the honeymoon, but the spa was fully booked (typical on a rain day apparently) and we certainly couldn't go outside!

However...we came back from dinner that night and I slipped in a large puddle of water that had seeped in under the patio doors opposite our bed, which open out onto the beach. The wind was blowing the rain in the way and there was a spread of about 4 feet of water in front of the doors. I've already got a bad knee and falling right onto didn't help. We'd to get the doctor out and he gave me some odd blue pills, which, combined with the glass of wine I'd had with dinner sent me straight off to sleep!

Needless to say, Mark wasn't impressed and I was kinda sore!

WOW!

That's the best way to describe Reethi Rah. First off, I'll admit the Maldives is a bit of a strange holiday destination - we were on the island for ten days, and that's what it's all about.

We were whisked from the plane to our villa by our villa host. The room was bigger than our flat at home! Huge bedroom, massive bathroom and a hammock slung between the trees outside as well as sun beds and a pagoda! We were so impressed. We had our feet and calves washed and massaged with relaxing aromatherapy oils by our villa host before we were allowed into the villa and shown how to work everything, from the myriad of light switches to the DVD player and iPod dock.

The hotel had left a bottle of champagne in the villa for us because it was our honeymoon, so we popped the bottle and sat outside on our day bed taking it all in - the sun, the sea, the sand, the plants, the birds, the whole atmosphere was magical. Truly an island paradise and we couldn't wait to see the rest of the resort.

The weather was stunning and we wandered along the beach after digging out some shorts. But, the jet lag, the bad night's sleep on the plane and Mark not feeling so good was catching up on us. We decided to have a lie down and a snooze for an hour, thinking we'd go for lunch at about 2.30pm...we didn't wake up 'til 6pm! Whoops.

After rooting through the cases again to find some smart clothes for dinner (we decided to unpack properly after we'd eaten because we didn't want to be eating too late either) we called for a golf buggy (the island's too big to walk round and it would have been a bit of a hike from the villa to the dining room) and went for dinner at the Reethi Restaurant. I had a wonderful Caprese Salad with lots of Balsamic vinegar, my favourite, and pasta with prawns, cherry tomatoes, salmon and capers, yum! Mark tried Reethi Dim Sum for a starter...he then had it every time we ate in Reethi Restaurant!!! He had a fabulous Black Angus steak for his entree too.

I'll admit it; we were shattered, but had such a wonderful start to the honeymoon. After dinner we walked around the beautiful infinity pool beside the main restaurant and went back to the villa and had more of our champagne!

Bliss!

Mark and I honeymooned for 10 nights at One&Only Reethi Rah in July 2007. We chose it partly because we love One&Only Royal Mirage in Dubai, partly because I'd previously been to what was One&Only Kanuhura with my parents and it was AMAZING and partly because my parents went the year before and said it was more spectacular than Kanuhura. We weren't let down. The resort is spectacular - MUCH bigger than Kanuhura, so you can't really walk right the way around. You could, but it would take ages! There are so many different types of villas. We'd opted for a standard beach villa and were thrilled with it. It was absolutely stunning. We think it may have had a square footage not much smaller than our flat! The bathroom was superb - it had a huge two person bath, his and hers sinks, and the shower was a walk in room! It was absolutely massive, overlooking the beach and with a bench if the need to sit down came about! We were met by our villa host, who washed and massaged our feet before we were allowed into the villa! The exterior of the villas is amazing too. The Beach Villa had sun beds, a hammock and a sheltered pagoda. But we didn't stay very long. Due to a series of unfortunate events (involving a bag spoiled by leaking air conditioning and a rather bruised knee caused by leaking patio doors) we were upgraded to the Grand Beach Villa with Pool after two nights! We thought the beach villa was perfection - the new one was out of this world! We had a huge square C shaped pool, complete with day bed, which had a canopied day bed which could easily have fitted four or five people on it, two sun beds on the deck outside the villa, two more on the beach. We had a hammock as well, and an outdoor dining area. And the best bit...OUR OWN GOLF BUGGY TO TOOTLE AROUND IN! That was such a boon - it meant we didn't have to wait if we wanted to go anywhere which made life a lot easier. Reethi Rah has 3 restaurants, Reethi Restaurant, Fanditha Lebanese beachfront, and Tapasake - a fusion of tapas and Japanese food. We didn't get the chance to eat at Fanditha though - we had about 5 out of the 10 days with inclement weather, and the night we were going to go to Fanditha it wasn't a menu we were enamoured with. Both Reethi and Tapasake are amazing - Wagyu Beef, Angus Black, Goats cheese: anything and everything you could want. Mark was particularly fond of Reethi's Dim Sum starter and had it at almost every meal and for lunch some days. We had room service a few times and the staff made a lovely setting at the table, especially at the Grand Beach Villa as we had an outdoor eating area. Tapasake was phenomenal - crispy fried chicken with a gin sauce, and lots of other imaginative combinations which meant we went three times. Each villa has its own villa host. Ours was wonderful - considering the weather was so bad we called him quite a lot to bring us drinks, snacks, DVDs, etc, but he always had a smile for us and was very efficient. He was also the villa cleaner, and it was amusing to see the team of hosts pedalling about on rickshaw-esque bikes with baskets on the back for all the linen and towels! The resort (you can't even really call it a hotel...) has a general store selling RR souvenirs, mainly things from the rooms, like soap dishes, candle holders, etc, but it also sold a small selection of snack food like Pringles (1/2 price of tubs in Mini Bar - beware!), Mars bars etc. There was also a boutique selling swimwear, jewellery, and accessories like bags and hats (almost came away with a Stetson and an Anya Hindmarch O&O designed bag featuring a map of the RR island!). The Spa....wow! We booked in for a couple’s treatment which was lovely. We both had hot stone massage, Mark's just on his back, me a full body. It was a wonderful experience, starting off with juices in a pavilion overlooking the spa pond, foot massages, then the massages and the whole experience was topped off with a relaxing milk bath in a bathing house above the ocean, looking out into the deep blue. It was EXTORTIONATE but lovely! I went out scuba diving once. I wasn't very impressed by what I saw, but the water had been very choppy for 4 days, it was an overcast day and to be honest I wasn't even too bothered about going, but thought I'd be as well to and see what it was like. I didn't dive again because I wasn't taken by the test dive, and we were close to flying out again anyway - the weather had been so bad I had to postpone twice! For rainy days: the hotel had a DVD library and we watched a few. It's pretty much a choice of films, sleeping, and reading, eating or working out in the gym. You could go the Spa too but as soon as people woke up and saw it was raining the spa was fully booked by 0900 (we were warned by the manager who drove us to our villa as we arrived)! I fell in the room and clattered my knee really badly and within five minutes the resort doctor and the duty manager were in the room with ice and odd looking blue painkillers. They checked on me the next day and made sure I was comfortable, and produced another bottle of champagne, adding to the one waiting for us when we arrived. On our first morning we asked to be shown around the island so we knew where everything was. This was very useful especially once we got our own buggy! We did have a bad habit of racing around at night and trying to avoid the puddles...thankfully we had no accidents. Reethi Rah is truly a One&Only experience. The chain's motto is: "There are moments when anything is possible. Where perfection is perfected. If you can dream it, you can do it. There are places where moments like this happen every day. One&Only. Live the moment." This pretty much sums up life at Reethi Rah. Anything can happen. As honeymooners we got a complimentary romantic dinner but because the set menu didn't appeal we were introduced to the executive chef, shown around the kitchens and told we could pick whatever we wanted to eat and it was cooked to order for us. That's service! The fact Mark picked something that wasn't even on the menu and there was no objection says something. The TVs in each room are set to the One&Only channel in the evening after turndown. The music which goes with the short film reminds me of so many happy times, and I've managed to upload it onto my iPod so I can Live the Moment wherever I am. Reethi Rah is extremely expensive...but I'd say it was worth it. My only suggestions for improvement would be it could benefit from another restaurant. If you're stuck there with resonably bad weather like we were, another eating option would have been good because we couldn't get to Fanditha. So going between Reethi and Tapasake got a bit boring, but the food was wonderful! The other suggestion would be that afternoon tea needs to be improved, although I know they're addressing this. The option was iced tea and freshly made donuts with a selection of sugar, icing and cocnut to dip them in. We expected afternoon tea to be like it is at The Palace....sandwiches, cakes, a selection of drinks (hot, cold and alcoholic), chocolates, fruit, etc. The new food and beverage manager at RR used to be at the Palace and was appauled when we told him at breakfast one morning when he asked what we thought about the afternoon tea that we had to pay for a coffee and a Diet Coke. He said he'll be overhauling how afternoon tea works so hopefully that's been done now. We'll certainly be back to One&Only resorts many times in the future. Hopefully we'll return to Reethi Rah at somepoint in the future too. Maybe not for 10 nights (perhaps if the weather had been better!) but it's a true experience, and has given us memories we'll treasure forever.

30 min ride by boat and you are on the island, it's small you can walk it in 20minutes, small cosy island and there are the little parot birds all over the place. the beach on the West side is perfect!!! north/east side is damaged by the tsunami. waterbungalows are great with your own stairs into the sea... restaurant and bar are together in 1 building, bar is nice and the restaurant offers just good food, not to much choice but it is really good!