There is almost no local cut flower supply in the Maldives. Everything worth having is flown in, and we fly it in from Holland.
Most destinations have some local flower supply and the question is whether it is good enough. The Maldives does not really have that question. There is almost no domestic cut flower production, the resorts fly in what they use, and a yacht competing with the resorts for the leftovers of a resort order is not a plan.
So the honest position is this: if you want proper flowers on a yacht in the Maldives, they are coming off an aircraft. The only decision is whether they come off an aircraft with a cold chain and paperwork that works, or whether they arrive warm and half of them go over the side.
The Maldives requires a phytosanitary import permit for plants and plant products, and the agent must also report the arrival of the shipment to the plant quarantine inspector at the port of entry. Goods without a permit can be quarantined or destroyed. That is not a formality to leave until the last week.
The permit fixes the species list, which is why the useful conversation is never about when you want the flowers. It is which port and what date. Answer that and the rest is our problem.
Bought at the Aalsmeer auction in the morning against the approved list. Packed cold, inspected and certified on site the same day. Out of Schiphol as perishable cargo, consigned to your yacht as ship's stores in transit. Four documents to the agent in Malé 48 hours before the flight lands. Cleared, and delivered to the passerelle cold.
If the boat is not in Malé, the last leg is a seaplane or a speedboat. Allow a day for it, and know that it has its own weight limits. It is entirely doable and we have done it, but it wants planning at the point of ordering rather than discovering on the day. Tell us where the boat actually is, not just which country.
The same planning applies to the Seychelles, where the permit number has to appear on the plant health certificate issued in Holland, so the permit must be in hand before anything is packed. The full winter list is here.
Yes. Bought at the Dutch auction, flown out of Schiphol as perishable cargo, cleared in Malé by the agent and delivered to the passerelle cold.
Effectively none. There is almost no domestic cut flower production and the resorts fly in what they use. Anything worth having on a yacht here came off an aircraft.
Yes. The Maldives requires a phytosanitary import permit, and the agent must also report the shipment's arrival to the inspector at the port of entry. The permit takes one to two weeks, so plan it before your first order. It then covers the rest of the season. Flying time to Malé is about 20 hours. We arrange all of it.
48 hours’ notice once the permit is granted, then about 20 hours in the air, so roughly three days to Malé. Add a day if the boat is on an outer island. The permit is the part that needs planning: allow one to two weeks, so tell us the port and the date as early as you can.
Then the last leg is a seaplane or a speedboat. Allow a day for it on top of the three, and know it has its own weight limits. Tell us where the boat actually is when you order rather than on the day.
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