In three days on Taj Exotica’s sweeping lagoon, Robyn Foyster discovers that its true spectacle lies not on the horizon but beneath the waterline, where reef sharks, eagle rays and mantas glide through water of neon blue-to-green tourmaline.
A flock of white birds fall like confetti from the sky, darting in and out of the water in a furious feeding frenzy. I’m watching it all from the deck of Villa 205, an open-air overwater villa at Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Maldives. The view is a living tapestry, and it feels like a privilege to watch nature unfold so primally, right in front of me.
I’m 61, well travelled, and somehow I’ve never made it to the Maldives. Within an hour of arriving, I understand what I’ve been missing: water so clear it seems to have no surface, and a horizon where sea and sky melt into one.
The Maldives has long been seen as a honeymooners’ paradise. But that’s now changing. More and more travellers are realising it’s just as special for time with family, a trip with girlfriends or, like me, time for the solace of ‘me time’.
I’ve arrived straight from a 14-day Ayurvedic detox program in Kerala, and there’s no gentler way to ease back into the world. The flight from the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram to Malé takes about 90 minutes. I land at Velana International Airport’s gleaming new passenger terminal, which opened in July 2025. Within ten minutes I’m escorted across the road to a waiting speedboat, and fifteen minutes later I arrive at Taj Exotica on Emboodhu Finolhu island, set on the largest natural lagoon in the country.
Music and smiling Maldivian faces greet me at the jetty before I’m whisked to my villa. It’s my first time in the Maldives and also my first time in an overwater villa, and this one is impressively large. Looking out over my very own infinity pool to the clear blue water and the stillness of the open sea, I’m already lapping it up.
The magic below
My Exotica Butler, Aalif, has worked at the resort for eight years. He tells me the magic of the Maldives isn’t above the water but below it. He proves it within minutes.
While he’s driving me around in the buggy so I can get my bearings, he suddenly stops. “Look, look, there’s a shark,” he says. I jump out, and there, beneath the wooden walkway, a blacktip reef shark is gliding through glassy water. I follow its every movement in absolute awe.
Seconds later, Aalif spots an eagle ray, its broad wings patterned with white diamonds as it sweeps majestically below the surface. Sharks and rays are common here, he tells me, but eagle rays are a rarer sight. I feel even luckier.
Brunch, served afloat
Soon after, a floating basket arrives at my villa and is set down in my private pool. It holds a Mediterranean brunch of prawns, fruit and the signature broccoli Caesar salad of Luke Borg, the resort’s Director of Food & Beverage and Culinary, with far more than one person could eat. I dine half-submerged in the water, feeling utterly spoilt.
Golden hour at sea
As the afternoon softens, I set sail into the Maldivian sunset with a glass of bubbles in hand. Then the sea comes alive. Hundreds of dolphins break the surface around us, leaping and spinning in every direction, as if staging a show for our benefit alone. I barely know where to look. Ahead, the sun sinks into the Indian Ocean in a blaze of gold and tangerine, laying a shimmering path across the water towards a lone island on the horizon. It’s the kind of moment you try to hold on to, knowing no photograph will ever quite do it justice.
Sinking into a bubble bath, I gaze out to sea. A blue heron lands on the edge of the neighbouring villa. I resist the urge to reach for my camera and simply savour the moment. A second long-legged wader joins it, and still I stay put. Then a third, sharp-billed bird arrives, and it’s simply too much. I leap from the bath, grab my camera and capture them for posterity. From then on, my heron friends visit me every day.
Dinner is at Mediterraneo by Jeffrey Vella, the resort’s overwater signature restaurant, freshly relaunched in July 2026 after a renovation led by Luke. Vella is a Maltese chef who holds a Michelin star at Cap Aureo in Rovinj, Croatia, and has cooked with Gordon Ramsay, the Alain Ducasse group and Jean-Christophe Novelli. The room has a magnificent chandelier and a sunken circular area at its centre where you can watch the fish below as you dine. Before long, an enormous shark slides into view. Luke explains it’s one of three regular dorsal-finned visitors at this hour, drawn by the lights that attract the smaller fish they feed on.
It’s dinner time for everyone.
Facing my fear
The next morning begins with Hatha yoga at J Wellness Circle in the early light, with blue sea and sky stretching out behind me. It’s a peaceful start to a big day.
After another floating basket, this time overflowing with pastries, fruit, potatoes and an omelette, a speedboat takes me five minutes out to deeper waters to swim with sharks.
I grew up in a small land-locked country town in NSW, Australia, and I’ve had a long-standing fear of sharks combined with a wild imagination. But I want to do something daring, something I’d never normally do. I dive in and find myself gliding among graceful four-metre wide manta rays. It feels ever so peaceful and the water is warm and visibility is incredible. Then, I spot a shark looming in the distance.
I don’t stay in the water long. From the boat, though, I watch more and more sharks gather around us. Locals call them sleeping sharks, and we know them as nurse sharks. I know intrinsically I would have been safe but equally I’m glad not to be submerged in the Indian ocean with them. From the boat, I reach out and touch the top of one, and its skin feels like sandpaper. I am content in knowing that this feat alone was daring enough, for me at least.
The dreamless sleep
After the adrenaline comes the antidote. At J Wellness Circle, therapist Benny guides me through Sushupti, a two-hour ritual named for the Sanskrit state of dreamless sleep. It begins with a herbal body wrap and a gentle head massage. Then comes a warm milk bath scattered with rose petals, overlooking the sea. It finishes with an Indian Ayurvedic massage using warm water packs, so soothing I practically float back to my villa.
That night, I dine privately beneath the stars, with only the sound of the water for company. Seared scallops to start are followed by BBQ lobster with a rich, velvety lobster bisque, then miso banana and coconut ice-cream. Every course is delicious.
Last light
Today, on my final day, I slow right down and spend the hours watching marine life play out before me like a film in a private cinema.
What will stay with me most is the people: the warm, smiling Maldivians who share their culture so generously, and Luke Borg himself. He is remarkably humble for a chef who was named European Chef of the Year by the World Association of Chefs’ Societies two years running and has a string of culinary gold medals to his name. Before joining Taj Exotica in August 2025, he was executive chef at The Ritz-Carlton, Langkawi, and at NIYAMA Private Islands, Maldives. At NIYAMA he oversaw 14 dining experiences, launched the country’s first garden-to-table restaurant and helped it win Best Culinary Resort in the Maldives for 2022. He also helped open Six Senses La Sagesse in Grenada. This year he’s bringing two-Michelin-star chef Yannick Noack to the island as part of the resort’s 2026 food program. Tonight, though, he’s preparing a Mongolian grill at 24 Degrees, and I already know it will be one more evening in the Maldives I won’t forget.
Fact file: Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Maldives
Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Maldives is on Emboodhu Finolhu in South Malé Atoll, about 15 minutes by speedboat from Velana International Airport. It has 64 villas, three restaurants, a bar and J Wellness Circle spa. Book at tajhotels.com.
Robyn Foyster was a guest of Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Maldives.