Blogs from Maldives, Asia - page 18

Today was more of the same; sun, eat, swim, snorkel, eat again and this time with some added rain! In the morning Gail was going to head out snorkelling on her own while I stayed back to lie in the sun, but the weather was changing with big black ominous clouds coming towards us in the sky. The snorkelling trip was cancelled due to the weather in the morning and so we just lazed around until the sheets of rain stopped falling and then we sat in the sun. I felt a bit brazen and so sprayed tanning oil on and then sat out and fried like a sausage in a frying pan! A bad move as it made me feel ill. In the afternoon the 4pm trip was on, so Gail headed off as I ... read more

Turtle dive! Last night before we headed to bed, we asked our rep when she thought we would be heading out to turtle point to see the turtles and mantas. She thought today, and so told us to meet at 10am at the panorama jetty. Dutifully we were there, after a quick healthy breakfast of papaya and pineapple. We did grab a pasty as we left though, but really you need one those fatty things to give you good buoyancy in the water! That’s my excuse anyway. At the pier we discovered there were 14 others coming with us. What a shame! Particularly as there were a couple of yobs joining us. The boat ride would take an hour, passing several deserted atolls and sandbars along the way but this time we didn’t have any dolphins ... read more

This is our first day where we actually ate three meals out of a possible five! So far we’ve only managed breakfast and then dinner as the meal times are somewhat odd. Breakfast is from 8-1pm, Lunch 1-2pm and Dinner at 8:30-10pm. There is afternoon tea at 5-6pm but as of yet we haven’t made it. The food is pretty good, and seems mostly continental with a favouring towards Italian - could that be because most of the guests are Italian? The Italians do a good job of eating! They are like vacuums and eat about 4-5 ladened platefuls of food at each sitting and the annoying thing is they are all skinny!!! What gives? Gail and I just have our one plate and sometimes this is followed by dessert. The guests seem to be Italian, ... read more

This seems to be coming a habit! The day starts late, followed by a trot over to the breakfast pavilion on the sunset side of the island where today we indulged in a freshly made waffle topped with nutella, a pastry and fresh fruit. Our waffle chef brought us the waffles and then stayed to chat to us about his life working here. He is from Sri Lanka and has been here nearly 5 years. He told us about the Tsunami and how it hit this island. The resort was hit by two waves, the first one was large enough to swamp the island before retreating and then he said the water around the island drew out to over ½ a mile away before the second wave hit covering the island in over 4 foot of ... read more

With hasty goodbyes to Gail’s dad, the taxi took us to Gatwick Airport for the start of our journey to the Maldives. We were flying with Monarch Airlines and after some research online we discovered they were just a glorified sardine tin, so we spent a little extra and upgraded to Premium Class for more legroom and better service. After checking in we hastened to the executive waiting lounge, following our perfume purchases, so we could catch the beginning of the Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton was in the lead when we had to move along to board the plane, where we overheard a man on his mobile in stunned disappointment - the gist of the conversation was that Hamilton was out of the race! How disappointing! Our flight was uneventful, the food good, the seats narrow, ... read more