Day 16: The Grand Finale

January 4, 2025

Our last full day of the honeymoon was finally, finally, FINALLY sunny!!!! We woke up cautiously optimistic when we saw blue sky for the very first time since landing in the Maldives. And lucky for us, it was only up from there.

We were originally scheduled to do a fancy "beach bliss breakfast" but our attendant Afrah warned that it might be too windy, so we decided to skip it and head over to the regular breakfast buffet instead. While it actually was not windy at all, we were glad to have saved the $350 that the special breakfast would have cost. It was the first day they were able to open the doors to the outside deck for breakfast, and we were thrilled to be able to sit outside to eat and feel the sun on our faces.

Not wanting to waste a second of the glorious weather, we'd brought our pool stuff over with us so we wouldn't have to go all the way back to the villa after. As soon as we were done eating we found prime lounge seats and laid out. I was so ecstatic to see the sun that I definitely was not thorough enough with my sunscreen application, but it's all good.

After about an hour and a half of lounging and reading, it was time to head over to the spa for even more relaxation! What we thought would just be another massage was actually a special honeymoon experience including a massage, body scrub, and coconut oil hair treatment.

The spa time started off with iced tea and the masseuses had us select a special rock with a word written on it that would be our "intention" throughout the experience. Mine was gratitude and Max's was grace. I was definitely feeling grateful as we were led to the beautiful over-water spa room! We changed into our robes, posed for our mirror selfie as is tradition, and stepped out onto the scenic balcony overlooking the ocean.

Our experience continued with a very thorough foot scrub and then the massage itself. It was so cool that we could see into the ocean through the floor when our heads were down in the massage table! We were scrubbed from head to toe and I absolutely LOVED the head massage/hair treatment part. When we were all done we headed back to the lobby for some tea and cookies.

Feeling totally blissful and relieved that the sun was still shining, we meandered back to the villa for some snorkeling. Max somehow broke his snorkel goggles but luckily Afrah quickly brought a replacement. Max's goal the whole time had been to swim out to a buoy in the water, and this was finally our opportunity to do it. It was a pretty strenuous swim as the current was totally fighting against us but we saw tons of cool fish and coral and it was definitely worth it.

We had a couple more hours to hang in the sunshine before it was time for our final activity of the trip: the sunset dolphin cruise. We were SO glad that we had saved this excursion for our last night, not only because of the gorgeous weather but because it was such a great way to wrap up our time in the Maldives! We joined about 15 others from the resort on a boat and set off into the water in search of dolphins. We saw SO MANY!!!

Good thing we brought the camera for the boat ride! I have never seen so many dolphins at once. There were 2 different types: spinners and bottlenoses, and we couldn't believe how active they were. We took a million photos and videos. It was truly an amazing end to our time at Hurawalhi!

After the boat ride we headed over to the buffet restaurant for a drink and a casual last dinner. Then it was time to head back to the room to start packing :(

We are so incredibly lucky that the trip ended on such a high note, weather and experience wise. While there were a couple of semi-rough days we could not have been happier to have had such ample time for relaxation and rejuvenation in a gorgeous place!!!

We are soooo sad it's ending!!!!

With the trip coming to a close, we'll recap our journey home and then follow up with some overall reviews, takeaways, highlights, and tips for anyone else who might be considering a similar trip. Thanks for reading!

Xoxo Emily