Maldives

After hearing about the Maldives, I had to get there. Like India, most of us Americans have trouble because it is about as far away from us as possible. It is Muslim country compromised of a set of islands southwest of India. Global warming is the talk of the town, as they will be among the first to go under if Al Gore is right… or just an excuse for policy makers to come on holiday.

Selecting and securing accommodation proved to be the toughest part of the trip. Each inhabited island has 1 resort on it with various value-adds: coral house reefs, water sports, restaurants/bars, exclusivity, distance from the airport and mode of transport (speedboat or sea plane). Stalling our decisions during peak season forced us to book at a budget hotel in Male, the capital, and relegate our fun to hopeful day-trips or maybe a safari to the islands. We ended up being reward by our indecision (a bad lesson) when we stumbled into a travel agent and locked up 3 nights at one of our top choices due to a cancellation (thanks Abbu!). It was pouring that day, so the first expensive, truncated day would’ve been a wash-out anyhow.

Male actually is pretty cool although marooned in the middle of the Indian Ocean. There is a café scene, futbol savvy, and an artificial beach that is lit up all night, just no bars (it’s a dry country but they make exceptions for the resorts). It’s got global insight from the booming tourism industry and the Internet with an obvious small town feel: our buddies said they knew of all the kids their age like you would know of all the kids in your town. They import everything from other countries except fish.

In regards to the resort aspect of the trip, any description would resemble the amenity selling points of paradise and be visualized by post cards or a Corona commercial. I spent basically the whole trip snorkeling around the house reef of the island of Lohifushi (Hudhuran Fushi) and taking advantage of our all inclusive status.

I got to complete my first night scuba dive as well! After reaching depth, you turn off your underwater torch so your eyes get used to the darkness (but mainly you can see from what is illuminated by your light). If you moved around quickly in the darkness, the polyps (the little guys that join together to make coral / fish food) would light up like fireflies. The activity at night is quite different. Some fish are sleeping, like the parrot fish that forms a protective film sphere around it while it tucks away in a coral pocket, and some are prowling, like the majestic lobster that showed me his wingspan.