Drawn from the same coral-fringed sandbank that gave ancient Maldivian dhoni builders their timber, Cocoa Island was reimagined by Christina Ong's COMO Hotels as a direct homage to the traditional fishing vessel — each of its 33 overwater villas built in the silhouette of a dhoni hull, their dark-thatched roofs arcing low over the lagoon in South Malé Atoll. The concept, developed with Singapore-based designers working closely to COMO's characteristic restraint, makes the property one of the few in the Maldives where the architectural conceit has genuine cultural grounding rather than generic tropical pastiche. The interiors carry that same discipline. White-painted shiplap walls and steeply pitched woven-rattan ceilings give the villas a compressed, boat-like intimacy, while dark hardwood floors and charcoal-lacquered furniture — low platform beds, clean-lined credenzas with circular rattan mirrors — keep the palette anchored without competing with the turquoise lagoon framed beyond navy-painted bifold doors. The contrast between the deep indigo joinery and the bleached-white structural frame is a detail that recurs across the property, appearing again in the main restaurant, where woven rattan pendant lanterns hang over teak tables paired with rope-and-timber chairs upholstered in navy cushions, the whole room sitting on a striped teak deck that echoes the dhoni's timber planking. The central pool pavilion, set on white sand and shaded by mature takamaka trees, completes a resort that has kept its original idea intact.

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