Maldives
Flying into the islands doesn't get much better. We could see the crystal clear water, with 100 shades of blue waiting for us to put our feet in the sand. After about a 30 hour journey we finally made it to the island of Rasdhoo. The entire island has about 1200 locals with only 4 restaurants. Something that neither of us were really aware of was that in the Maldives the primary religion is Islam. Women are dressed head to toe and it is considered disrespectful for a women including tourists to show shoulders or knees, which can be a bit difficult when you are there for a bit of beach time. On each island they did have a part of the beach for tourists where you can show off a bit more skin. The bigger resort islands are considered private so they do not follow the Muslim customs as closely, but since we were on local islands we experienced more of the local traditions. And much to our surprise since it is Muslim community they do not sell alcohol.
Our first day was spent lounging by the beach. A local cat was living the dream and sat with us each day. During low tide you can walk quite a ways and were able to see stingrays, black tip sharks and many species of fish. Just seeing the sharks off the shore gave me a bit of panic knowing I was diving the next day.
The second day Jesse went out for his first two dives and I did a quick refresher. Yaante and Salty were my instructors. When I asked them if we would see sharks they laughed and said, "yes there is about a 90% chance we will see a shark". Of course in my nightmares I pictured Jaws eating away at me, but they really didn't seem to mind us. After the first dive, success! I felt much better with a little time in between my last course.
On our 3rd dive Jesse and I were able to go together and this is when it really clicked. It felt amazing. We have seen a lot of different places thus far, but the underwater world is like no other. As if you were sucked into a National Geographic show through the TV and it is all right in front of you. Everything is calm and you're just living in their world. We saw reef sharks, eagle rays, thousands of fish, stingrays, turtles, eels. When I came up I had the same feeling that Jesse did after his first dive. I was like a little kid. I couldn't focus on one thing, you look in one direction and blink and see 10 new things to look at. It was pure magic.
We had the later ferry so I figured I would sign up for one more dive since they were heading to the Manta point. It was memorizing. He loved the bubbles from us breathing below so he just sat above us for 20 minutes. Needless to say after that experience we were very sad to leave the island.
Our second island Hangnamedhoo, has a population of 700 with 4 restaurants as well. We are starting to get used to a lot of tuna sandwiches and rice. Didn't think it could happen, but the beach was even better here. Since we were not diving on this island we spent the 2 full days here lounging on the beach and snorkeling. The island seemed a bit more quiet than the last. It was hard to find a store with what were looking for, much less open. We ran out of sunscreen thinking someone would sell it, but no luck. And when you are looking for a meal know that it will take a while. We sat down at a restaurant and the chef had to leave, go get the ingredients from a buddies house come back and took an hour to get our food. Island time!
Many think that the Maldives are resort islands and pricey, but there are plenty of local islands that are in the budget. If you stay on the local islands the cost isn't any different than what you see back at home. There are small boutique hotels and although the power will go out twice a day all in all it is the way to go.
The Maldives are a must and were such a treat from the busy streets in Asia.
Our first day was spent lounging by the beach. A local cat was living the dream and sat with us each day. During low tide you can walk quite a ways and were able to see stingrays, black tip sharks and many species of fish. Just seeing the sharks off the shore gave me a bit of panic knowing I was diving the next day.
The second day Jesse went out for his first two dives and I did a quick refresher. Yaante and Salty were my instructors. When I asked them if we would see sharks they laughed and said, "yes there is about a 90% chance we will see a shark". Of course in my nightmares I pictured Jaws eating away at me, but they really didn't seem to mind us. After the first dive, success! I felt much better with a little time in between my last course.
We had the later ferry so I figured I would sign up for one more dive since they were heading to the Manta point. It was memorizing. He loved the bubbles from us breathing below so he just sat above us for 20 minutes. Needless to say after that experience we were very sad to leave the island.
Our second island Hangnamedhoo, has a population of 700 with 4 restaurants as well. We are starting to get used to a lot of tuna sandwiches and rice. Didn't think it could happen, but the beach was even better here. Since we were not diving on this island we spent the 2 full days here lounging on the beach and snorkeling. The island seemed a bit more quiet than the last. It was hard to find a store with what were looking for, much less open. We ran out of sunscreen thinking someone would sell it, but no luck. And when you are looking for a meal know that it will take a while. We sat down at a restaurant and the chef had to leave, go get the ingredients from a buddies house come back and took an hour to get our food. Island time!
Many think that the Maldives are resort islands and pricey, but there are plenty of local islands that are in the budget. If you stay on the local islands the cost isn't any different than what you see back at home. There are small boutique hotels and although the power will go out twice a day all in all it is the way to go.
The Maldives are a must and were such a treat from the busy streets in Asia.
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