Day 482 Merry Christmas from the Maldives! Day 5 of vacay

Merry Christmas from Maafushi, Maldives!
We missed our early morning ride to our day at the
five start resort, so....

...we paid for a private go-fast boat to take us to Vadoo :)

And any day on the ocean, in a boat-
sailboat, powerboat, ferry, cruise ship-
it's going to be a VERY GOOD day!!!

The Maldives are dotted with exclusive resorts, with huts over
the water, off of private islands, that can be as much as
$25,000/night- for the Beckham's and Cruise's of the world.
Adaaran Prestige Resort was a mere $500/night- still
beyond my budget- but for $100/day we had the full
use of the resort, all the water sports, meals, and an
UNLIMITED BAR.  Remember, we got to the Maldives
not realizing that there was not a margarita or beer to
be found anywhere in this Muslim country!
But here, at Adaaran, it was worth $100 to eat
delicious food, drink delicious foo-foo drinks, and
wear a bikini without getting dinged by the local police.
It was our Christmas gift to each other :)

It was a gorgeous resort, with 'rooms' that were huts
out over the water....so beautiful :)

The island was all resort, and it was beautifully landscaped.

I swam in my first ever infinity pool :)

This was my 'spot' for the day...with a cabana boy at my
service, for drinks, mask, fins, and snorkel, fresh towels,
whatever my need...

...and this was my view.  Heavenly.

When I built my 'sand' snow(o)man as an ode to Christmas
Day, and I needed some sticks for her arms,
cabana boy went and cut some for me :)

And when this Sri Lankan cutie asked if she could help, I
could not resist.  Children are beautiful, all the world over.
When she decided our snowman was a snow(o)man,
and she needed a dress, cabana boy said he had an idea.
He came back with leaves and little sticks to fancy her a skirt :)

And this was "our" view the rest of the day!

Somebody enjoyed his fill of free beer....

Until he didn't.

So I took a walk about the island for awhile.

I snorkeled an incredible reef, that had an amazing wall dive.
I wish I had been on scuba.  Even at that though, I
probably saw twenty species of fish I have never seen before.
It was so beautiful, and freaking amazing!  

It was not a traditional Christmas dinner,
but it was delicious nonetheless :)

I needed a break from the sun, so I
treated myself to a two hour body massage.
Merry Christmas to me :)

Following afternoon tea, the resort did a
shark feeding off the docks.

After the shark feeding, the tide was receding, and the sun
was starting to go down.

It was a beautiful end to the day...

With the sun down, the twinkly lights came on, and
for a minute it started to feel like Christmas, after all.

We had a warm, breezy boat
ride back to Maafushi by
the light of a full moon :)

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Day 481 Merry Christmas Eve- with the WHALE SHARKS!!!!!

I came.

I saw. 

I conquered.

and I crossed one off the bucket list.

Happiest girl in China (or the Maldives) such as it was!!!

Christmas Eve dawned early...we had a nearly three hour boat
ride out to the atoll where we hoped to see some whale sharks.
There were the newlyweds from Sri Lanka, a German couple,
a Russian couple who took more selfies than I have ever seen,
two Japanese girls who were delightful, and Len and I.

...and one of the dive masters we affectionately
called "Jack Sparrow."  The two dive masters
were free divers with these HUGE blades.
They were all legs and lungs in the water!

After a nearly three hour boat ride down to the Ari and Baa
atolls area (where whale sharks are found from December
to May about 50% of the time) we spent an hour and a
half with the boat captain driving a grid pattern and
talking with other boat captains in the area who
were also in on the search.  It was not looking good.

Everybody was taking turns trying to help
spot a big dark shadow in the water...

Other dive boats started converging on the area, and just when
it seemed like the captain was about to give up and call it a
 day, (they were skunked the last two times they went out)...

Jack Sparrow got animated, yelled at the boat captain,
he throttled down, and everybody started scrambling
to get in their gear as he yelled, "JUMP IN! JUMP IN NOW!!!"

Suddenly, there it was!  MY FIRST EVER WHALE SHARK!!!!

While they can get up to 12 meters in length, this one was only
about 6 meters.  Still a 20' fish is HUGE! 

They are so beautiful....a dark blue/grey with what looks like
neon polka dots!  They swim gracefully along, minding their own business.

That's ME!!!!!

Look how little I look next to him!

Naturally, I 'baby talked' him through my snorkel, until he dove deep, deep down.

In all, we saw five whale sharks altogether that day. Funny story about this photo is I was
furiously swimming trying to keep up with the crowd and the dive master who were
following a whale shark.  I turned around to see if Len was behind me, and I damn near
kicked the snout of another whale shark RIGHT BEHIND ME!!!  That's me you
see there, nearly curled up in a ball, trying to put some distance between me and the fella :)

Other people were ridiculously diving down and trying to repeatedly touch the whale
sharks, even though we were told to back off.  I didn't, but some people are just plain stupid
in the water.  On the fifth and last sighting, a crowd of people got way too close,
and the whale shark surfaced and began to thrash about and slap his tail in an effort to get
away.  At that point, I had my fill- I felt sorry for the whale shark. I swam back to the boat.

The dive master took some great photos.  It was a good thing
he did, as Len got me a new GoPro for Christmas, and I
sadly forgot to pack it.  It was still in Beijing.  Geesh....  :(

There is nothing to fear about a whale shark.  They are neither
a whale, nor a shark.  They are just a huge fish, and a plankton eater.
I love this photo- SAY CHEESE!!!!

It was so much fun; each time we came back to the
boat, everyone was excited and animated telling
stories about what we all saw.  We were truly
like excited little kids at Christmas!

 What a most awesome experience; I will NEVER forget!

G'nite, y'all!

Day 480 Maafushi, Maldives Day 4 of Christmas vacation

It was a day of leisurely travel on the water, my
kind of travel.  The ferry didn't leave Male until
3:00pm, and we scoped out the ferry terminal on
the opposite end of the island when we were in Male
the day before.  We didn't want to be rushed.  We
packed some avocado and cheese wraps, beef
jerky and chips for our lunch. We parked our
backpacks under an awning with the locals, and
after we finished eating, Len entertained them with
his guitar while we waited on our boat.  

We made it! (he barely tolerates selfies, lol).

This was our two hour boat ride, leaving one atoll and entering
another....

The water was absolutely gorgeous- the
pictures simply do not do it justice.

I was in my happy place up on the bow :)))

I love hanging my feet over the rail and watching the water :)

We passed many islands in the distance...

...and about two hours later, Maafushi came in to view.

We were greeted by this guy, 'Moon', from the Masaaree Boutique
Hotel.  We walked along a sandy road to our hotel and got checked
in.  We shared with Moon the things we'd like to see and do while
we are on Maafushi, and he set to work making some phone calls
for us (whale sharks, please!). We decided to take a quick walk
around the island before the sun went down.

Though the frame is made of rebar, these
swings are surprisingly comfortable :)

As we pulled up to Maafushi, Len remarked that it looked like there
was a prison on one end of the island.  I was like, "No, surely there
isn't a prison way out here!" Well, guess what we stumbled upon
as we made a lap around the island?  Maafushi has less than
2000 inhabitants, and that doesn't include the 800 prisoners on the
island.  In fact, it is the largest prison in all of the Maldives.
I guess I should have done my homework once again, and I
would have learned that their most famous prisoner was
incarcerated there about eight months ago- the former
President of the country who was overthrown in a coup.  We
noticed one guard tower looked bigger and newer than the
others- that one tower is the former president's cell. Wow.

As we circled around the back of the island, this group of locals
was playing a rousing game of cricket in the late afternoon sun.

We passed the only mosque 'in town', and
listened to the evening prayers over the loudspeaker.

The opposite end of the island is where the village is- a few
tourists shops, a handful of restaurants, dive shops and inns...
However, it also is the home to "Bikini Beach"- the only place
in all of the Maldives where you can wear a bikini publicly.
(Well, you can wear your bikini at the private resorts, but
many of those start at $5000USD a night- and even more.)
Still, no alcoholic beverages available, though Moon did offer
us one option.  There is an enterprising boat captain that has
his power yacht anchored off Maafushi.  For a 'fee', Moon
can call him up, and he'll send the dinghy to shore to
pick up folks who want to sit and drink on his boat.
We wanted to do it, just for the experience to say we did, but
we were afraid of the 'fees' and most likely the $20USD beers!

We went to dinner, (more delicious Indian food!) and I checked my phone on the wifi connection.  It turns out Beijing did make the right call with the Red Alert; the AQI was at 546 on December 23. That is nearly triple of what is considered seriously hazardous (AQI of 200).  I am so glad I got out of town early.  Some of my friends who did not change their tickets had difficulty getting out of Beijing. Some flights were cancelled and many, many more were seriously delayed, 12 hours or more. Several friends said you couldn't see across the street, and there was no way for pilots to see the runways. My original plan would have had me arriving in the Maldives just today, but instead, I have already had three days of R & R in the glorious sunshine and clean air.  I am so blessed :)

And the news just kept getting better....we got back from dinner, and Moon hurriedly escorted us down to a dive shop.  There was a dive master trying to get a group together to go see the whale sharks tomorrow, but he needed 10 passengers to make the trip go. I was so excited I could hardly contain myself....until I found out it was only a snorkel trip.  There was no shop on the island taking anyone out on scuba.  I wanted to DIVE with the whale sharks.  I am terrible on snorkel.  I can't get down but a few feet.  I have no wind, invariably I choke on salt water, and I can't clear my ears.  I just wanted to put a reg in my mouth and breathe....ugh.  I had a decision to make.  I looked at the expectant faces of the eight other people who were banking on us to make the trip, and I couldn't say no.  The dive master assured me that the whale sharks often come close to the surface, and that it isn't necessary to be on scuba to get a good look.  They offered to get me a weight belt if it would help me to stay down.

Ok, I'm in.  

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I came to the Maldives specifically to cross "Diving with a Whale Shark" off of my bucket list.  So let's do this thing!  

We've got an early morning start, as the whale sharks are a nearly 2.5-3 hour boat ride away, at the end of yet another atoll.  I was like a kid on Christmas Eve; I could hardly sleep that night for the excitement and anticipation.....

Stay tuned!

G'nite, y'all!

Day 479 Male, Maldives Day 3 of Christmas vacation

After spending the first two days on sleepy little
Hulhumale getting caught up on R & R, we
decided to hop the ferry over to the capital city, Male.

The short hop across the bay had me smiling, with the
sun on my face and the wind in my hair.  I just love boats :)

Ziad had warned us that Male was pure chaos.  It is the fifth
most densely populated island in the world.  The streets are
very narrow, most are one way, and they are filled with
scooters, scooters, and more scooters.  It was nuts.

Armed with a local map, we set out to find
Grand Friday Mosque, which was across the
street from Sultan Park.

 

This was the mosque, but at the time of day we were there,
no visitors were allowed.  It was a beautiful building and grounds.

We then got directions to the local fruit and vegetable
market which was along the waterfront.

The fruit and vegetable market also sold dried
fish which is very common in the local cuisine.
Um, no thank you. It was very stinky.

I also read on trip advisor that the local fish market
was not to be missed.  It was something else, alright.

Fish were simply laid out on the tile floors for the picking.

All along the side of the market walls were men
manning fish cleaning stations, like this guy.

It was interesting to walk around, but very slippery
when wet!  We saw many fish we have never seen before,
and Len knows a lot about salt water fish. 

While Male has been the sight of much political unrest in recent years (and even months), we did not witness any demonstrations or see an unusual police or military presence.  We had been warned before our trip, and I registered our vacation with the US State Department, just in case, but it really wasn't necessary.  We felt very safe, and the people were more than friendly.  I have to say though, after a full afternoon on the capital city, we were all too eager to get back to our quiet island for the last night.  Tomorrow we board another ferry to take us to one of the southern atolls, to the island of Maafushi, where we have three nights booked at the Masaaree Boutique hotel.  Whale sharks here I come!!!!

G'nite, y'all!