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Even 007 Could Appreciate This Underwater Wood Floor

Doug Dalsing
Feb 2, 2012
photo of underwater restaurant with exotic wood flooring
photo of underwater restaurant with exotic wood flooring

It is the type of setting typically reserved for James Bond films-the kind rife with exotic, luxurious locales funded by deranged henchmen. But the underwater Ithaa restaurant at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is not a work of fiction, and you may have noticed its interior—complete with site-finished Malaysian teak flooring—gracing the cover of the February/March issue. The 484-square-foot structure was assembled on dry land and then submerged into the Indian Ocean. The total price tag for construction was $5 million, while lunch and dinner, respectively, cost patrons about $195 and $320 per person. But would these prices make the opulently living 007 cringe? Probably not.

 
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