Let's Go East (and Back): The Maldives

Hey ya'll! As I mentioned in my last post, Michael and I jetted off to the Maldives for Part II of our 'delayed honeymoon' adventure. Our six days in the island nation were a jumble of sun, rum, sharks, swimming, snorkeling and relaxing. A photo recap below:

Coming from Sri Lanka, the flight from Colombo to the capital city, Male, was only about 1.5 hours. From there we took 20min puddle jumper flight and a short speed boat to our destination resort: LUX* Maldives. A sea plane is another popular option to get to many of the island resorts, but for this trip we didn't necessarily feel like it saved us a significant amount of time. Like many of the destinations in the Maldives, each small island is its own private resort. We stayed on Dhidhoofinolhu Island, which is only 1.8km from end to end.

The Republic of Maldives is located smack in the middle of the India Ocean and is made up of 26 atolls and hundreds of small islands (about 90% of them uninhabited). It is frequently referred to as one of the top beach destinations in the world, and almost as often is noted for becoming highly vulnerable to rising sea levels. To put it in perspective, I read a stat that said no island is more than 6ft above sea level. I would actually describe many of these 'islands' as no more than small sandbars. In other words, it's disappearing, people!

The flight in did not disappoint. Vintage Maldivian views.

In classic honeymoon fashion, we opted for a water villa, obvi. I had visions of waking up and diving from the bed to the water. If only the water wasn't knee deep...

Biker gang.

Water villas from the front.

The much talked about bone white sand and clear blue water certainly lived up to the hype.

The incredible amount of marine life right outside our back door surpassed even my wildest expectations. There were blacktip sharks, sting rays, manta rays and a kaleidoscope of tropical fish at every turn. One of our favorite things to do after dinner each night was to walk to the end of the jetty and check out the giant manta ray that visited the dock like clockwork. With a 12+ ft wingspan it was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Someone we were sitting with perfectly described it as 'prehistoric'. Do yourself a favor and google image 'giant manta ray'.

Every night served up epic sunsets.

When in the Maldives one must take advantage of the amazing snorkeling. (We unfortunately didn't end up getting our dive certification before our trip). Side note: we also need to get an underwater camera.

Meanwhile back on land... the island also offered up an array of lizards, camelians and fruit bats the size of eagles. (MD on nature photography duty)

The Sarong Song

Near the end of our stay, we excitedly signed up for a whale shark spotting excursion. Oh cool - like dolphin spotting right? ...No? Oh, you get into the water with them? Okay...

Whale sharks are the biggest known fish in the ocean and well known to frequent the Maldives. They are also slow moving filter-feeders and do not pose a threat to humans. The first shark I had ever seen was a 12 inch reef shark about 5min ago, so sure why not jump into the water with a 20 ft'er (they can get as big as 50ft!). YOLO?

Our first stop was to a small local island and home to a whale shark research base. (Side note: it was nice to see some local life. In the Maldives you are pretty much contained to one tiny resort island so you are not necessarily exposed to really any Maldivian culture and cuisine. Something to note if you are traveling a huge distance to get there).

Local mosque. Outside of all the tourists, the Maldives is an extremely conservative Islamic nation (with a strongly authoritarian government).

Keeping our eyes peeled for 20ft spotted shadows!

We were super lucky and saw 2(!) whale sharks on our excursion. We were even more lucky to be the only boat in the area at the time. The sharks were actually just along the other side of the reef near our villa. They are cold-blooded so they come near the surface for warmth during the day, then travel very deep at night.

We were dying laughing at how it all goes down. Everyone on the boat is silently scanning the water, then all of the sudden our guide yells, WHALE SHARK-WHALE SHARK-WHALE SHARK!!! and, no-holds-barred, everyone starts yelling and haphazardly throwing on their snorkel gear and jumping, cartwheeling and belly flopping off the side of the boat into the water, tripping over 12 sets of fins, still half dressed. It was a ton of fun and I can say I have swam just over the top of a massive whale shark. Sorry - why don't we have an underwater camera again?