Day 1: Male to Centara Grand Island Resort

Transfer from Male International Airport to Centara

Arrival in Centara requires a compulsory seaplane taxi transfer and, as far as I can tell, this is the only way to arrive. Luckily it's a well run service and also quite good fun.

Once you've landed your operator rep should usher you to the desk of the seaplane company. The largest is the Maldivian Airtaxi Company and they run the world's largest fleet of seaplanes, in this case twin engined Otters.

As you may already have heard, there are some fairly stringent weight restrictions on luggage for these transfers. In short your allowance is this:

- 20kg max for one piece of regular luggage
- 5kg max for one piece of hand luggage

So that's one suitcase and one handbag/camera bag basically. Interestingly this is below a typical commercial airline allowance and BA, for example, allow their customers 23kg plus up to two pieces of hand luggage.

In theory any discrepancy over this limit attracts a $4USD charge per KG fee. However when we arrived there was general bedlam and so even though our suitcases were 22.7KG and 21.9KG respectively (it shows on your luggage tags), plus I had some extra hand luggage in the shape of our diving regulators, we weren't charged, although I would have been quite happy to pay. As always, your experience may differ.

After that your bags are put on a lorry and you get on a bus and you both drive around the perimeter or the airport, to get to the seaplane departure point.

And here's the BA plane (G-YMMF) as seen from the bus transfer.

Once, there electronic screens there indicate the next flight to Centara, 235 in our case, and if you have a long wait, there's a cafe to buy yourself a drink.

Once the flight is ready your bags are loaded on to the plane and you climb aboard, stowing your hand luggage away from the seat. The transfer isn't direct, since the plane calls at Lux* Maldives first (http://luxislandresorts.com/en/maldives.aspx). Getting there takes 25 minutes and on leaving Lux* it's a further 5 minutes to Centara.

On landing the plane taxis to a floating pontoon where a boat arrives to meet you. Your bags are transferred to the boat, you follow them and boat then gently carries you to the island.