Hawksey’s 50th Birthday – Baros, Maldives

I cannot speak highly enough of Baros – the island itself and the incredible staff. And yes – from me, that is high praise indeed.

But they helped me pull off THE most spectacular day for Hawksey's actual 50th birthday – and it will be one to stay in our memories forever. all the months of planning, cajoling friends for help, liaising with the Baros guys were SO worth it, when I saw the look on his face all day long, and the sore jaw from too much smiling that he still had the next day.. We started with:

1. Breakfast on the Piano deck – a stunning isolated deck out in the ocean, billowing with white sheets and groaning with the amount of food. ranging from salmon and giant prawns, cold meats, yoghurt and pastries to a full English cooked breakfast – oh and a cheese board to polish it off. I'd mentioned that H really likes black pudding – and the chef had even flown one in specially from Germany for the event, amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. From there we headed to the Dive Centre, ostensibly to borrow a face mask as mine had been fogging up the day before. Imagine our surprise (more so his than mine!) when a boat awaited us, taking us to a far away reef for a spanking scuba dive. Just the two of us – first time we've dived in three years and the Maldives is SO the place to do it – cue the perfect turtle awaiting us, as we descended into the deep..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. And thence to the Spa, for an hour and a half of pamper-tastic massaging, interspersed with some gentle snoring.. First time I've had the hot stone thing done (always thought it was a bit too Zen for me) but actually – bloody lovely.

4. Followed by the big event itself. Starting off by luring H to the boat deck as the general Manager had asked us to come for a celebratory drink – actually just a ruse to get us on board yet another boat, being drowned in champagne as we whisked round the ocean chasing dolphins. Who kindly obliged by coming out, chasing our wake and generally being their silky gorgeous selves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there, onto the piece de resistance – what Baros call the Sandbank. Because that's what it is – a 40m long white sand sandbank, a mile out to sea. sometimes submerged when the tides are against you, but luckily for us – out in its perfect fettle for our big night.

Three staff – the chef, the waiter and the drinks chap – a table set for two among oil lamps, a double seater sofa for pre-dinner drinks (and the later surprise…) – and even the most practical of practical things (when its dark enough you can walk to the end and wee without being seen!)

We had A BALL.

And when, after dinner, we were then offered a choice of 6 videos to watch on the specially-erected cinema screen, Mr H did as predicted and chose Skyfall. Lucky that I had put the credits of this at the start of his secret video as the look on his face was priceless when Adele singing over Daniel Craig being swept away in a river was suddenly replaced by me, in our lounge, delivering the opening clip. Ta da!

50 messages, for the big birthday – just went down a storm. One very happy husband and one very chuffed wife!