Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen spent the New Year holidays onboard his luxury yacht “Octopus” which sailed to the Maldives and was anchored in Addu Atoll.

While his private jet landed in Gan International Airport, he was flown to his private luxury yacht via helicopter.

The Octopus, built by Lürssen in 2003, is currently ranked as the world’s 12th largest yacht, just behind the Emir of Qatar’s 436-ft. Al Mirqab.

Encircled by clear blue waters of one of the largest lagoons of the Maldives, the Taj Exotica Resort & Spa is an eclusive and private retreat.

The resort seamlessly extends the magic of the island’s blessed natural beauty in its design even as it offers the finest in contemporary luxuries and services.

Each of the resort’s luxuriously designed 64 villas boast crisp linens, warm wooden patios, and private infinity pools.

Jumeirah has opened a new cluster of ‘water villas’, dubbed ‘Ocean Pearls’, at its all-suite Jumeirah Dhevanafushi hotel in the Maldives.

Designed to make visitors feel as if they are in the middle of the ocean, the new villas sit on platforms suspended directly above the water, nearly a kilometer offshore from the main resort.

The cluster of villas is connected by a decking walkway, which allows residents to easily access the shared infinity pool, bar, seafood restaurant, elevated library and spa treatment rooms, which are also suspended above the water.

The island nation of the Maldives is poised to build a floating golf course and convention centre in what could be the first of a series of futuristic off-shore developments designed to confront the threat of global warming.

The government has asked a Dutch firm to investigate the feasibility of developing a number of facilities that would be located among the 26 main atolls.

The artificial floating islands will incorporate technologies such as water cooling, water desalination, and the use of floating solar blanket fields.

Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, will open Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa Male, Maldives, on July 26, 2009.

Located in Addu Atoll, the resort is surrounded by nearly 2 kilometres of beautiful white-sandy beach and more than 6 kilometres of breathtaking white sandy beach.

The landscape of Villingili is dominated by 17,000 coconut trees and 45 plant species, including the noni plant.

Set on the idyllic 35-acre island of Manafaru, The Beach House sits at the most northerly tip of the Maldives, in the pristine, lagoon-ringed Haa Alifu Atoll, little explored by foreigners and totally un-polluted by the noise of passing speedboats.

The Beach House offers unparalleled luxury to the discerning few :

Each of the 68 villas and suites offer a private pool, complete privacy and a personal butler to pre-empt and exceed your expectations.