- You will love it!
- It's beautiful!
- It's a place you only see in movies!
- You will never want to vacation anywhere else!
- Best scuba diving in the world!
These are all comments we heard when we mentioned that we were heading to the Maldives for spring break. We were excited but the anticipation didn't compare to the awe we felt upon arriving to Maafushivaru Island in the Maldives. I think it was best 5 days of vacation we've ever experienced. John is not much of a beach person but even he said that he would go back. So here is the scoop on some of the things we did. This is one location where I will honestly say the pictures fail to truly capture the beauty and elegance we experienced!
Day 1: Arrived to Male and took a sea plane to Maafushivaru Island. Upon arrival, we were greeted at the dock and escorted to the registration desk. One of the first things we were told is that no shoes are required anywhere on the island so naturally we removed our shoes. Then we were handed fresh squeezed pineapple juice and the greeter sat with us and explained all the options of activities available on the island which included everything from snorkeling to scuba diving to sailing to kayaking to fishing to going to Lonubu which is a small island available for guests to visit.
Once we were done with orientation, she escorted us
to our water villa where we left our stuff and headed to lunch.
After lunch we quickly unpacked then tried out our snorkeling abilities!
The fish were amazing! It was almost like swimming in an aquarium! At first it was a bit intimidating because there were fish and other marine life all around and it was difficult to comprehend everything. Sensory overload is the best way to describe the initial experience. I couldn't take pictures fast enough to capture everything! It was at the end of the experience that we saw our first white tipped reef shark! It was a good distance off but reality does set in that you are now in their territory! John did get a picture but it was really far off. We were able to get better shark pictures later in the week!
Day 2: After breakfast, we prepared for our first scuba diving adventure. We had already made plans with a dive master to go out at 10:30 and start with a fairly easy dive at "Boli Thila". During the boat ride to the dive spot, the dive master gave us a personalized orientation about what we would see, how deep we would go and so forth. He was truly awesome and patient about answering our questions and setting expectations since this was our first truly open water dive. Once we were in the water, all anxiety dissipated and we were off! The dive lasted about 40 minutes and our max depth was 19.3 meters (63 ft) but we were only at that depth for a very short time. Visibility was around 20 meters and we saw all varieties of coral and marine life including several moray eels which still creep me out since they remind me of snakes! Overall, we could not have asked for a better first dive experience. We even got a picture with our TAMU flag underwater. The one downside was that my camera was only rated for a depth of 10 meters so once we passed 10 meters, it completely stopped working! I did get a few pictures and we will be making a camera purchase before we head to our next diving destination which is yet to be determined!
After we finished our dive, we had lunch and then rested for a little while. That afternoon we decided to venture over to the sister island called Lonubu and snorkel there for a short while. The visibility wasn't as good but we truly had the whole island to ourselves. We could have rented a bungalow for the night and made a romantic evening of the experience! They even offered packaged deals where a gourmet chef would cook a candlelight dinner and then disappear! Talk about romantic but due to the cost, we decided not to pursue it since we were already in a water villa and the whole experience offered everything we needed already!
After visiting Lonubu, we returned for dinner and met up with a couple from the UK. As the week progressed, we got to know this couple along with a second English couple quite well and each evening, we met up for drinks and general conversation. They were so fun to get to know and we hope to someday visit them in the UK.
Day 3: We were supposed to go fishing but there was a communication issue and the boat was scheduled to go to another island so we planned to go the next day. Since we didn't have anything else on the agenda, we decided to snorkel during low tide and then do a second dive in the afternoon. With the low tide, the snorkeling was even better than it was the first couple of days. We were so close to the reef and schools of fish were everywhere. We also had a close encounter with a pretty good sized shark. We had several individuals look at the picture and tell us that he was not a baby shark and was at least 5 to 6 foot long. From a personal experience, I can tell you that you tend to get a little nervous when one of these guys swim by! From day one, we knew that the reef sharks were fairly common for the area but they tend to keep their distance and no one has been harmed by them at this destination. Needless to say, I kept John in between me and the shark at all times! Looking back, this was the best snorkeling experience of the trip. The visibility was great and the marine life was abundant. We had several laughs because it seemed like some of the fish were just as curious about us as we were about them! For a little while, we had a following of fish that just seemed to hang around us! It was quite unexpected and almost seemed like a welcoming committee. I don't know, maybe they were just hoping we would give them some food but I don't think so since we never saw anyone feeding the fish. I think this is strictly prohibited plus there really isn't a need to feed them. They have plenty of natural food all around! Either way, we felt at ease the entire time and it was like a whole new world had been opened up to us!
Day 4: We went fishing! Yes, at 5:30am, we were boarding a boat with Tony (our friend from the UK) and off we went in search of the ultimate catch. Everyone told us the fishing could be good or it could be bad! As we left, we quickly learned that we would be using artificial lures and the lines would be set and we would wait for a hit as the boat trolls. This was similar to how we fished in Hawaii. The difference was that the boat was not equipped with any sort of fish finding technology so we were literally relying on the captain to know the waters and find the fish! To me it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack but we dropped the first line around 6:10 and we had our first fish by 6:30 so we thought, this could be a really good morning! By 7:15, we had caught our second fish and were really hopeful that it was going to be a good day!
Unfortunately, that's were our luck ended and we spent the rest of the morning just taking in the scenery and boating between islands which was not a bad way to spend the morning. It was quite relaxing and the ride was incredibly smooth so no one got seasick and we did come up on some dolphins that enjoyed providing us with some entertainment. Plus, John reported seeing a sail fish jump out of the water! Unfortunately, I didn't catch that in a picture but I did get a dolphin! As it turned out, the 2 fish we did get was quite the catch. John's fish was a wahoo weighing in at about 15 lbs. Tony's fish was a bonito and weighed in at about 20lbs or so. The agreement was that if you caught fish, the chef would "put them on the barbie" that evening for dinner.
Upon talking with the head chef, he informed us that both fish were valuable on the fish market and would be a great treat that evening! I'll admit, they were delicious and truly had different flavors which was a bit surprising to me. John isn't a big fish person so I helped consume his portion and then everyone at dinner enjoyed the fish with us! The fishermen were truly the talk of the evening!
So not only did we fish but in the evening we did a sunset cruise! We had the opportunity to go with Jackie and Colin from the UK where, once again, we had the best time talking and learning about life in the UK. We enjoyed champagne and a beautiful sunset!
Day 5: Departure day. Unfortunately, it was time to return to reality but we postponed it as long as possible. Our flight back to Doha wasn't until 7:40pm so the resort granted us a 2:30 checkout time which was very accommodating. We were able to get in one more round of snorkeling and then we leisurely had lunch, packed and said our goodbyes to our friends from the UK. It was somewhat sad. We boarded our sea plane at 3:00 and arrived back in Male around 3:45. We were at the airport in plenty of time and the departure out of Male was uneventful which is always good with international travel. We arrived back in Doha around 10:30 pm and was home by 11:30pm. It was truly an amazing trip and one we will never forget. My next goal is to put together a memory book with all the amazing pictures and the great stories that we have. We will never forget the friends we made, our first scuba dives in open water, the new drinks we tried (Maldivian Lady & the B-52 Bomber which you have to ask John about the next time you see him), our time on an island all to ourselves and the bungalow over the water. It truly was a dream vacation!
While we were visiting the second fort, one of the bushes caught the attention of John and Michael. Upon closer inspection, we saw that the branches were covered in very long and sharp thorns. As I was looking at the bush, the first thing that came to mind was the crown of thorns that Jesus wore during His crucifixion. The thorns that we have at home are minor compared to these so if the crown of thorns that Jesus wore were anything like this, it is hard to imagine the pain and agony that He experienced just from these much less the beatings and torture that He endured. Given that Easter weekend is coming up, seeing these thorns really brought the sacrifice Jesus made closer to home. Being in the Middle East really brings the Bible to life and the readings become more real. I pray that with Easter coming up that we all remember the ultimate sacrifice that was made and accept the gift of salvation and promise offered through Jesus' death and resurrection. I know for us, Easter will be quite different this year and will be much more humbling. May everyone have a very blessed Easter.
On a different note, I'm proud to report that John and Lou played their first men's doubles match in the tennis tournament hosted here in the compound. Neither person got hurt and for not having played together much, they did well although they were not able to pull out a victory. They will play again next Friday so we will see if the outcome is any different.
Finally, John and I participated in the Qatar Foundation Golf Tournament today! Unfortunately, we were not on the same team so I really had to guess as to what club to use and where to hit the ball. I will proudly admit that on hole #8, I hit a 240 yard drive from the women's tee box straight up the fairway. I don't play golf much but I will say, it was beautiful! The downside is that this hole was for the longest drive but only for men. Hole #9 was for the women's longest drive and I'm ashamed to say that I completely shanked that one! Needless to say, it was very frustrating. That's why I don't play golf!! I can totally sympathize with Tin Cup when he broke every club in his bag except for the 7 iron. I really felt like doing the same thing on hole #9! Irregardless, John had a good day and his team won 3rd place out of 16 teams with a 33 (one under par). It was enjoyable getting to know individuals from other components within Education City.
