A number of resorts offer cooking classes that highlight the many regional cuisines that you will find in the Maldives, including Indian, Japanese and Thai. Quite a few them also take advantage of their chef’s herb and vegetable gardens and include wellness teachings.

The Maldives boasts some of the best scuba diving in the world, between coral reef gardens and the rare opportunity to dive with whale sharks and manta rays. Not surprisingly, every top resort has PADI certified instructors who can teach children as young as eight as well as offer advanced courses such as Rescue Dive training. Experienced divers should bring documentation of their ability. Beginners can often complete some training online in advance of their arrival so they can speed up certification. Check with your resort ahead of time. In busy periods, it is wise to book dive times, especially for special activities like night dives, in advance of arrival.

Many of the resorts offer dolphin cruises or safaris. The best of the programs work with resident marine biologists who give an educational briefing and then take guests out to try to see them. Some lagoons have large populations and when the spinners jump out of the sea or dive alongside the boats with their babies, it is quite thrilling.

Fishing is still one of the most important industries in Maldives and recreational fishing opportunities range from learning how to line fish in the traditional fashion to fly and deep-sea fishing.

The traditional Maldivian sailboat, dhoni, is rarely seen anymore but for centuries it was a vital means of transport and trade and cruising these waters under sail remains a mystical experience. All resorts offer windsurfing or small sail boats; some also have regular sunset cruises.

If you are staying at a resort within a speedboat trip of the airport, you should consider a seaplane excursion just to get an aerial view of the islands and lagoons, whose many shades of blue can best be appreciated from the sky on a sunny day.

With some of the richest marine life in the world, the Maldives must be viewed from within the water. If you don’t dive, you must snorkel. You will see tropical fish in the lagoons surrounding your resort from the beach and the overwater structures but nothing beats the experience of being in the water, especially on some of the lagoons and coral gardens that the resorts arrange daily excursions to. Sign up for a guided snorkel or shark safari and learn from passionate marine biologists who can read the sea scene as a safari guide does the savannah.

Just as every Maldivian resort has a dive center, they also have spas. Some specialize in Thai or Ayurvedic healing; and most offer daily yoga classes.

Champion surfers flock to the Maldives during the summer months (May to September) when the winds pick up and the swells in certain lagoons create legendary breaks. Two of the resorts located near good breaks, the Four Seasons Kuda Huraa and Anantara Dhigu, are home to outposts of the first-class Australian surf school Tropic Surf. Their excellent staff have perfected teaching techniques that are guaranteed to get beginners riding waves in one or two sessions. They are also happy to take advanced surfers out in search of the best waves. And for really avid surfers, Tropic Surf offers cruises around the Maldives, including a number of weeks on the Four Seasons Explorer.

A number of resorts do more than simply employ marine biologists but they let them work on marine conservation programs. The Four Seasons Kuda Huraa has launched a turtle rearing program, where they raise baby turtles to juvenile size and then release them with satellite trackers. The Four Seasons Landaa Giravaru, meanwhile, runs a turtle rescue center to rehabilitate injured turtles (most often those that have been caught in fishing nets or that have ingested plastic bags that they mistook for jelly fish). Both programs offer a great educational opportunity to learn more about the endangered creatures and see them up close.

Many visitors to the Maldives go directly to their luxury beach resort and never see a local village, which is a shame. This Sunni Muslim country of fishermen and traders has adapted to the international influx of tourists that are now so vital to its economy but their traditional way of life remains intact on local islands and is well worth exploring. Some resorts offer excursions to the capital of Malé, where you can visit the main mosque and vibrant fish market, or to neighboring islands, all of which have schools, mosques and clinics entirely funded by the government’s tourist tax.