“WHEN you see the manta ray, you need to jump off the boat and swim really fast behind me,” the guide explained, to my two wide-eyed daughters.
“I am a very quick swimmer, so you’ll just have to keep up,” he added, before turning his attention to the ocean’s horizon.
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I couldn’t work out if he was joking or not.
But while I was inwardly panicking, my daughters weren’t scared in the slightest and before I knew it they were in, paddling around and in awe of the majestic creatures.
This certainly wasn’t the first “pinch me” moment of the week.
We were in the Maldives on a holiday of a lifetime and from the moment we stepped foot on Villa Park Sun Island resort we were mesmerised.
With water bungalows overlooking a crystal clear ocean teeming with fish, and villas plonked on pure white sands, you could see why many honeymooners jet off to these Indian Ocean islands for some romance.
But how would we fare as a family with two youngsters under the age of ten in tow?
Luckily, our beach bungalow had plenty of space with two double beds and a private pool – not that we needed another place to swim with the large resort lagoon pool and the whole of the Indian Ocean at our fingertips.
Although, parents should be warned that the currents can be strong.
Elsewhere on the resort are two beautiful, beachside restaurants dishing up cuisine from all over the world — and they play a very strong curry game.
One day I had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner – just because I could!
The only means of travel around the island, with its banana grove and lush green gardens, is by foot, bike or golf buggy.
And even as one of the biggest resort islands on the South Ari Atoll, with 462 villas, it still only took me 50 minutes to march around the edge one morning — and I wondered how we would keep the kids entertained for a whole week in such a small space.
The good news is, the resort has a kids’ club every other night, and regular entertainment, ranging from crab racing to musical performances, plus a disco most evenings.
But that wasn’t what made Sun Island worth flying all this way for.
What made this spot unique against other kid-friendly resorts was the location itself.
After all, where else in the world can you swim alongside whale sharks, turtles and manta rays with almost guaranteed sightings year round?
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And as well as some fantastic snorkelling with shoals of colourful fish, every day at 6pm the resort has manta ray feeding sessions on the beach, and you can also watch a shiver of friendly whale sharks thrashing over food at the end of the pontoon.
If the parents fancy a bit of downtime, there’s a beautiful spa with a blissful “signature experience”, combining massages, coconut milk foot rubs and breathing exercises to bring a sense of calm to mind and body.
But even with an all-inclusive package, this does come at an additional cost.
Most romantic place in the world
What all-inclusive guests do get though (on top of food and drink), is free snorkel hire for the trip, windsurfing and canoeing, access to sports facilities and one special night-time fishing excursion per stay.
So can you bring your kids on holiday to the most romantic place in the world?
Simply put, yes. But it’s only worth doing so if they can swim.
You can guarantee they’ll be boasting about those manta rays for years to come.
GO: Maldives
GETTING/STAYING THERE: Six nights’ all-inclusive at the 4H Sun Island Resort is from £1,487pp based on two adults and two children sharing a two-bedroom family beach villa and including flights from Heathrow on May 6 2025.
See travelrepublic.co.uk.
