ITHAA – Underwater Restaurant
Dear friends,
One of my students just shared with me this beautiful underwater restaurant in the Maldives. The restaurant is called ‘Ithaa’, and it is built 5 meters (16 feet) below sea level making it completely submerged in the sea. The acrylic view allows the restaurant diners to have a 180-degree panoramic view of the sea.
This is the world’s first underwater restaurant. It is highly popular but is only able to host 14 people at one time, so diners are advised to make a booking 14 days in advance. Too bad it cannot fit many others at the same time.
I really like the concept and thought I’d share it with everyone here. The structure was conceptualized in New Zealand, and built in Singapore. After construction, it was shipped over to Maldives where the restaurant currently is. It really is amazing how engineers and architects can create such magnificent structures. There really are no limitations to creating something from our imagination… Do have a look at the beautiful pictures of the underwater restaurant.
Would you like to dine in this restaurant if given the chance? I wouldn’t mind visiting at all especially if they can cook vegetarian food. I only eat vegetarian.
Tsem Rinpoche
Beautiful underwater view… diners can see the fishes and corals from here
Entrance to the restaurant
At 5 meters width, the restaurant is quite spacious to walk around in. What an unusual idea and very unique
How creative…
Underwater hotel rooms which will be available for visitors in the future at Conrad Maldives
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As I’m typing this, the restaurant is still operating and Maldives has become a place where dream comes true for many . Yes, I’m intrigue by its design too, Rinpoche.
However, I’ve such a sly thought right now. What if, you’re eating their species (eg. Shark) and this has caught their attention. Will they be calm or……? ? ? ?
What an adventure then!
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this.
This underwater restaurant is really very creative and very beautiful. how great if we have this in Malaysia. Gives me a great sense of peace eating with the underwater world environment. Would really love this kinda place if i have the chance. Thank you very much Rinpoche for sharing this beautiful place.
This is pretty neat! I wonder what is it like to fall asleep under that ambiance, it must feel really special and weird… I must say that it’s very creatively done, but what will make it better is if they serve vegetarian foods.
It must have undergone a lot of work to get this done, it’s a super huge project when they had to ship a ready built structure to it’s destination, I am amazed but I don’t really support this kind of concept, too me it’s an disruption to the see world.
this is so creative and amazing, some people are so creative and produce things like this. i would love to stay in one of these rooms and eat at the restaurants, but only if they have vegetarian!!!!! :p
This is just so cool. I had never knew that even buildings can be transported from a country to another country.
I just love the look and feel of both the restaurant and hotel room. It is just so pretty and beautiful. I would definitely love to visit this place one day.
OMB! This underwater restaurant is so nice, I love the atmosphere very much! I think the plan of having underwater hotel rooms is brilliant! Every night before going to bed, people can count fishes to help themselves fall asleep( just kidding, but seriously it would be a very nice view!
What an innovative construction! Dining and resting under the ocean. This is very much for Little Mermaid or Spongebob fans! lol
I find it a little nauseating that people dine there to watch the fishes as they admire them, but at the same time they eat the very fishes that they admire.
If we look at it a little deeper, it’s quite morbid! A bit like eating the family members of those on the other side of the glass.
GAH!
Dear Rinpoche,
First things first, Thank you for sharing this wonderful article.
Wow!!! Never thought that somebody in this whole world would have designed and built such an amazing piece of architectural art.
What makes it so special?
1. You get a all round view of all marine life underwater.
2. Through this i hope that people who would to this restaurant will
start to understand the freedom and peace for all the marine life away from all the nets and hooks waiting for them to fall for the trap.
3.In my point of view This Underwater Restaurant might show as an example for people to become vegetarian and cherish all life.
Love
Jutika
Dear Tsem Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing such an amazing post. I am very amaze and proud with the builders creativity. It will be a memorable dining if we have the chance to try it out.
Regards,
Venix
Amazing, i Love this place. That is great if can built in Malaysia.
Simply beautiful & amazing! It’s awesome to dine and at the same time be with the fishes and sea creatures.
It is the results of making dreams a reality. There really are no limitations to creating something from our imagination… all we need to do is to be in action to work on it, try and try and try again and again to improve it and make it a reality.
This is very beautiful place for visiting. It is a nice change of perspective. Instead of looking down, we look up from. How does the fish view from below water?
To build such a structure it takes ingenuity because there is so much water to be displaced to put the structure in place.
A brilliant concept! I would love to experience it one day – waking up and seeing marine life all around you.
I have always wished I could eat underwater since I was 5 years old. It would be so cool to dine in this restaurant. However, I am worried that they most probably serve seafood, which kinda destroys the cool atmosphere of eating under the ocean when you are eating it’s inhabitants. I hope they have lots of vegetarian options 😀
This underwater restaurant is so unique. But I would feel squirmy if having a fish dish with these fishes swimming above me. Hope they serve vegetarian dishes in their menu. Would love to try out this new dining experience if I have the chance.
The first thing attract me is the decoration of this underwater restaurant. The design is simple, very high tech. I like the design very simple and practical. Second, read through the post I knew this is the first underwater restaurant in the world. Haha…my evil thought is human really know how to use the earth…even submerge space in the sea also not escape by us.
However I too agreed what Rinpoche said the imagination of human is unlimited. Then I also believed human can explore their hidden talent is incredible. If we want to do something, your mindset fix on it then you can go to apply it. Everything is play by our mind! Nothing is impossible; on the hands everything is possible if you really want to do it.
This underwater restaurant is a real example for us to contemplate it.
Actually I am very curious how much for one dish in the menu? Is it possible one dish equal with my one month salary?
And, honestly I don’t mind go to have a diner although need to booking may be more than one or two months. But I have phobia of underwater, because of my phobia may be I will not enjoy all the foods in the restaurant.
However if I got the chance go to this underwater restaurant, I will go even though I got phobia!!!
Thanks for sharing this Rinpoche. It’s very creative and amazing what the human mind can achieve.
Recently, eDivision has done up a website for an upcoming hotel which is estimated to complete by 2014. They will have the first underwater restaurant in Malaysia. Malaysians can visit here in future since it’s only an hour away by flight and I hope it will turn out as nice as ITHAA’s.
Here’s the direct link to an architect’s drawing of the picture —> http://www.alorielepalepa.com/dining/
The restaurant is so beautiful. You can see everything so clearly. I wish that one day Kechara can be successful like this.XD
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing this article. Is an “eye opener” for me how much science has progress.
This 1st underworld hotel name Ithaa, which means mother-of-pearl in Dhivehi (Maldivian language), was opened on April 15, 2005, is part of the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island.
Food served in the restaurant has evolved over the years and is now best described as contemporary European with Asian influences.
(menu: malossol oscletra caviar, sour cream, potato blinis, raw yellow fin tuna, lime & sesame oil, cripsy wanton, rock lobster…) well definitely is not vegetarian.A lunch for two will set you back around US$120.
I think this is cruel to have dine in this restaurant while letting the “fish” look at their kind been killed and serve on plate.
Ithaa’s entrance is a spiral staircase in a thatched pavilion at the end of a jetty. The tsunami which followed the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake topped at 0.31 metres (1 ft 0 in) below the staircase entrance, and caused no damage to the restaurant.
This innovative restaurant is the first of its kind in the world, and is part of a US $5 million re-build of Rangalifinolhu Island, one of the twin islands that make up Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. This re-build includes the construction of 79 of the most luxurious beach villas in the country as well as the Spa Village, a self-contained, over-water “resort-within-a-resort” consisting of a spa, restaurant and 21 villas. In May 2004, its construction began in Singapore. In October 2004, the construction work was completed including the installation of 5-metre (16 ft) wide acrylic arches, air conditioning and electrical ducts. On November 1, 2004, Ithaa was lifted onto an ocean-going barge to be transported to the Maldives, which took 16 days to arrive. At this point, Ithaa weighed 175 tonnes.
On November 19, 2004 Ithaa was “sunk” with the help of 85 tonnes of sand ballast loaded into its belly. It was precisely maneuvered onto four steel piles which had been vibro-hammered 4 to 5 metres (13 to 16 ft) into the seabed. It was then secured to the steel piles with concrete.
The estimated life span of the restaurant is 20 years.
(source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaa)
Would like to give pay a visit to this restaurant one day.. ( If have chance ), love the environment, Peace and Calm. 🙂 Thank You Rinpoche for sharing this to us. :)0
Wow it’s not an easy task to build a underwater restaurant and I wonder how the guests get into the restaurant without getting wet:)It is nice to have dinner there with all the underwater creatures swimming. It is a nice dinning experience but I hope they don’t serve fish.
How architecture and engineering have improved thus far to bring us this concept of underwater dining. How wonderful it will be to sit there to admire the fantastic view and watch the sea-life go swimming by.
Wow, this restaurant is so amazing. Our taste bugs will very extreme active when din din in here. Lets visualize our coming new KO in this style, the funny will be super duper yummy with the awesome scene…
**typo error**
* Lets visualize our coming new KO in this style, the foods will be super duper yummy with the awesome scene…
A great architectural feat, a creative dream come true! It must have taken someone with a great love of the sea and the ocean to have created this underwater restaurant.
Like what Nadia said, we need to wow the world in similar fashion with KWPC.
I’m also wondering, like Sock Wan, how people can sit in this lovely underwater restaurant and gaze in amazing wonder at the fish swimming freely and joyfully around them outside, while inside they’re digging ‘unmindfully’ into the flesh of a fish! The best way to enjoy the scenes and sights of marine life is to view them unreservedly while enjoying a tasty vegetarian meal.
WOW is an understatement. So amazing. I wonder if the fishes can see in too? Would be nice to have a Buddha statue in the restaurant so that the underwater beings can have an imprint.
Nothing is impossible, as long as you have the wish, you’ll get the will and you’ll find the way. many years ago, when you talk about staying and eating under the water, people will say you crazy, but look, it is reality now, as the Buddha say, things are impermanence, nothing stay the same forever, as time goes by, the impossible will become Im-possible…
How creative is this to have restaurant under the sea… you can enjoy the sea wild life while enjoying your food, like when people ask where you stay? In the SEA… hehe
Such an amazing piece of art with a combination of architectural and nature. Anything is achievable if one mind is persistence. Would love to go there and have spend a night, imagine sleeping under the water with all the fishes swim by. Scary but exciting!
Thank you Rinpoche.
Having meal at such environment is like in the dream. Of course i will definably love to eat at such beautiful restaurant. Is good concept maybe we can building something like this at KFR land under the lake.
What a great experience to dine in and have our sea creature friends company. What a great under water view!. What could make it better if they serve vegetarian food….It will be much meaningful with of fellow friends.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.
Wow…. dining underwater and see the fishes swimming around. Must be so beautiful to be in there. Maldives is a country which consists of many islands but because of global warming, the islands are submerging into the ocean very slowly. MAybe this is an intro to what it would be like one day when the whole country is in water. Hopefully, it does not occur. But, this is the technology that is created to have the ability to be underwater and being dry. Maybe one day we will see a whole underwater city!
Marvellous, you can even spot sharks, sting-rays, groupers, turtles and all types of tropical fishes in this very first undersea restuarant in the world. After sometime, it is not hard to feel like a marine creature yourself. The view of fishes is surreal – so much so that that diners don’t pay much attention to what’s on the plate. Everyone’s too captivated by the acrylic view of the crystal clear blue water and exotic marine life of the sea. As Rinpoche remarked,”Its really amazing how engineers and architects can create such magnificent structures. There really are no limitations to creating something from our imagination….” It is really a masterpiece of creativity, though it is estimated that the lifespan of the restuarant is 20years only. Thanks for the sharing, Rinpoche.
Oh My…its simply mind blowing to have a view like that for a restaurant. Indeed a 5-star restaurant. 14 seats are too few indeed. Kecharians will need to wait for a very long time in queue before being able to dine in there by looking at the number of Kecharians that we have.
The view is fabulous! But it is kind of ironic when the diners are eating fish and there are fishes swimming around them. When we are looking at the fish, enjoying the view; I think the fishes would be curious to see human beings sitting and eating. I wonder what would they think! hehe..
Lovely place surrounded by all the sea life. Conrad is a very nice hotel I went to a Conrad in Bangkok years back good service.
It’s really amazing to construct the restaurant under water. I really would like to experience dining underwater. I like fishes but i don’t eat fish.
实在是让人叹为观止的海底餐厅，有这样概念的人想必一定是保育动物者之一或是喜欢大自然的人。在那里的酒店里住上一晚肯定是毕生难忘！
马来西亚暂时没有海底餐厅但是克切拉将会有禅修林，那也是接近大自然的一个好地方。：）
This is so interesting. It reminds me of being in an underwater park. All the people who came up with the idea and made it into a reality are certainly very extra ordinary. I am not so keen to dine at the restaurant though, as it seem very closed up and confined. I prefer to be in a wide open space.
Amazing! We often see futuristic conceptual cars or house on the magazines and now this innovative idea is actually realized by some expertise. Would really love to visit.
I’ve just come across this pretty cool Treehotel in Sweden on the magazine. The designer of this Treehotel is inspired by film “The Tree Lover”, a tale of three urbanites who hope to get back to their roots by building a tree house together, which is also a philosophic story about the significance of trees for human beings. This idea of building a house on the tree makes me wonder how nice if we could have one in KFR where we can truly experience the beautiful mother nature? hehehe..
The name means mother of pearl. Amazing what the human mind can do once it puts focus and energy to it. I wonder whether the sea creatures esp fishes would feel when they see their friends being served to the guests.
For a die hard underwater lover I am, I would definately dying to go for din din and stay at least a night one day hehehe…It is amazing! Imagine you sleep with the fishes, and you can breath normally without a regulator hahaha…wow wow wow!!!! Awesome!!
Very nice indeed…. But will this whole thing spoil the underwater environment??
Awesome! but I think some people may feel claustrophobic/ aquaphobic, due to the small space / being underwater.
It does however prove the fact that there truly is no limit to the imagination.
Fantastic place, hope we can have one in our country in the future.
for sure, I would like to dine here, and stay in the hotel as well!
这间餐厅是个很好的题材，如果在餐厅用餐的朋友们可以领悟到佛法上觉悟那有多好。
What a memorable experience to be able to dine amidst the fantastic view. Great engineering to hold water pressure and preventing leakage.
Great idea, great constructions!
People are just like fish when underwater.
Other than Maldives, Dubai also has quite few of these underwater hotels.
eg: http://travel.feedbox.info/atlantis-dubais-underwater-hotel
But of course, this place are very cosy!
Imagine when you are sleeping, all the fish are watching you! Lol!
Also, i’ve googled and found out that Kenya to build Africa’s first underwater museum
Construction on the museum, which will be dedicated to the study of marine life and shipwrecks, is set to begin soon!
That is so amazing! Imagine people can experience and studying by undergoing the real experiences by surrounded by dark blue water around, maybe a shark swimming besides you!
I just wanna go to these place one day…!
多么用心的餐厅与酒店！让我大开眼界！
看来， 说到， 做到！就是这一班人了！
Will feel so free when see the fish swin,feel good . when can i go this place ????
哇！海底世界，把梦想变成现实，没有什么是不可能的，把美丽的概念变成现实。
Oh my goodness! What a reality to eat underwater. Would love to go there one day…erhhh any vegetarian dishes?
Very interesting. Definitely visit when I have the money. It is amazing that is is built mostly acrylic structure and estimated life span of 20 years. It is really an amazing feat.
Beautiful concept made into reality. Anything we dream of is possible. Someone had the idea to dine underwater and to enjoy the amazing views that scuba divers get to enjoy.. Why not enjoy it whilst eating too? It must have taken a while to build and construct this, but it’s an experience many would want to enjoy, I’m sure.
I just hope that this restaurant doesn’t have any seafood on their menu. It’ll be weird watching them swim around you, and there’s one on your plate. I’d love to go, but definitely Vegetarian would be my choice on the menu for sure.
wow.. this hotel is stunning… i’d feel slightly worried about leaks though 😛 but since i’m not a diver, i would love to experience seeing the fishes in the sea in this way. Thanks for sharing this really innovative hotel.. will share it!
This incredibly amazing. I would like to visit one day.
If we also have a underwater Gompa, that would be nice! All the fishes will get the blessing from Lama Tsongkhapa, Vajra Yogini and Setrap and sure will get good rebirth in future.
Yesss,i agree to Hecelus Tan^_^ very good idea !! Peoples can enjoy the fantastic view and nice vegetarian foods,fishes get the blessing from the Buddhas—-“2 in 1”
who can do this project ^_^???
Wonderful and creative project!
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this amazing post!
To create such a beautiful hotel and dining restaurant underwater is so creative for we can observe nature in its own original state. For me, it is not only to sit there to enjoy the fantastic view but also to observe and admire how sea beings live. The architects and builders were not only creative but made the dream come into reality. I love these pictures. Makes me think “anything is possible.”
Whatta construction – great post !
amazing.