Our pilot cut the seaplane’s engine as a pod of dolphins surfaced beside the floating plane, as if they had come to welcome us. Our pilot smiled. “More likely to spot dolphins than other guests here," he said. On a small speck of an island with just 14 villas, two of them accessible only by boat, he wasn't exaggerating.
At Soneva Secret, its just you and the horizon.
By the time we touched down, it felt as if we’d left the Maldives behind entirely. Seventy-five minutes from Malé, Soneva Secret, the newest and most exclusive property from barefoot luxury pioneers Sonu and Eva Shivdasani, sits so far west in the Makunudhoo Atoll that it keeps its own time zone. Looking northwest, the next land mass is Oman - more than 3,000 kilometres of open ocean away.
The silence hits first. Even at high-end Maldives resorts there’s a subtle soundtrack; the hum of seaplanes arriving and departing, guests at neighbouring villas, the quiet ping of a notification. Here, it's just you and the horizon - water like glass and sand soft enough to swallow each step.
Photo credit: Stevie Mann.
Our Barefoot Guardians, Ruhusha and Muslim, greeted us at the Living Room, the island’s central hub framed by a view so perfect it looked edited. They would be our dedicated team for the entire stay, handling everything from housekeeping to dining, ensuring complete privacy. “Most guests hardly leave their villas,” Ruhusha said as they walked us to ours. As someone who usually sprints through destinations doing everything, everywhere, all at once, it sounded impossible. I didn’t believe her - but she was right.
A Castaway-chic dream
When we walked through the wooden gate to Beachfront Villa #6, it clicked. Soneva Secret is designed to feel like its own self-contained world - home, but impossibly better. The villa had its own gym, spa treatment room tucked upstairs, and kitchen where chefs would later cook for us. A sunken dining area led to a pool that flowed toward the beach, with a swinging daybed positioned to catch the best light, and the master bedroom’s roof retracted for stargazing.
Everything was open-plan, designed to let the breeze move through freely, yet each space could be sealed off when you wanted refuge. Glass doors for the bedroom, wooden panels for the living room, toggling between barefoot castaway and climate-controlled luxury depending on the hour. The villa melted into its surroundings, framed by jungle greenery so dense it created complete privacy. If Tom Hanks' character in Castaway had known this version of island living existed, he might not have fought so hard to return to civilisation.
Chef Carlotta's Italian spread
If the villa made staying in appealing, the dining sealed the deal. Fourteen chefs live on the island, each specialising in a different cuisine. Our first meal came from Vietnamese chef Quy Vo Van - a bright papaya prawn salad, rich pork with pineapple, and the next morning, a banh mi crafted exactly as his family makes it, accompanied by Vietnamese coffee so strong it came with a warning. Later, an Italian chef, Carlotta, served a pistachio-crusted lamb rack that still lingers in my mind. The intimacy of it - the cooking, the conversations, the effortless ease - felt more like being welcomed into a home than staying at a resort.
The view from Out of This World
One evening we ziplined over the shore to Out of This World - an ocean-suspended dining tower and observatory that lives up to its name. There, Chef Daniella Abriam serves a nine-course Filipino-Peruvian menu on glassware hand-blown at Soneva Fushi’s studio - playful, personal, and full of technique.
The next morning, our barefoot guardian Muslim led us out for a snorkel with marine biologist Tom Brown. The water was impossibly clear, revealing a reef system unlike I'd ever seen: coral in full bloom, schools of fish moving in perfect sync. Incredibly, another pod of dolphins appeared while we swam, hovering as if they were checking in on our stay. Tom explained that sightings like this are common, along with turtles, manta rays, and occasionally, blue whales and sperm whales.
Soneva Secret Beach Hideaway Villa #6
Back at the villa, I found myself spending my stay exactly how Ruhusha had predicted. Messages arrived suggesting snorkels, boat trips, sunset plans - I kept postponing. Instead, we drifted between the pool, the daybed and the beach, letting the light and the tide set the pace.
Dinner was cooked quietly in our kitchen for us while we floated in the pool, the sky deepening to indigo above. Later, the bedroom roof slid open and the stars spilled across the room, sharper and brighter than I'd expected. There was no plan for the morning, no sense of time beyond the ebb and flow of the water.
The Shivdasanis built Soneva Secret to recreate the raw, untouched Maldives they first discovered in the 1980s. We had that same feeling - the island, the water, the sky entirely ours, as if no one else existed. Ruhusha was right. Most guests don't leave their villas. After three days, I didn't want to either.
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