The Magnificent Maldives

Do you love vibrant reef life?  

Do you enjoy delicious curries?  

Have you always wanted to arrive to tropical paradise via sea plane?  

If you answered yes to all of these questions then book your trip to the Maldives now!  We couldn’t have gotten any luckier finding Filitheyo Island Resort amidst the hundreds of small island resorts, which was the most daunting part of the whole trip really.  The house reef was phenomenal, the food delicious, and the atmosphere was perfectly casual.  It was the first time we didn’t want to leave an island vacation and here is why.

Just a short flight away from Doha, Qatar (about 4 hours) into the middle of the Indian Ocean we landed on Male island and headed to the seaplane transfer desk.  For once in my life I was not afraid to board a plane since it was equipped for a water landing.  I know I know, it may not be the most sound logic.  After a 40ish minute ride above breathtaking atolls, we landed in the middle of ours as it had just began raining.  Apparently we bring rain with us wherever we travel.  

A short boat was there to deliver us to the island.  It didn’t rain too long and the following day we were told was the first completely sunny day in 6 months.  The rainy season was 1 month late this year so we hit the very tail end.  We got caught in a couple island showers a few times and I finally got to swim in the ocean during a rainstorm - check off the ‘ole bucket list.  

We rented snorkeling equipment from the dive center and went out 2 or 3 times a day.  I am proud to say I became a pretty good snorkeler and was ready to try the next step - scuba diving.  Ryan has been wanting to get certified for some time but it wasn’t on the top of my list.  Luckily the dive center supervisors offered a resort dive where they take you down uncertified and hold on to you the entire time.  Ryan was a natural, me not so much.  This picture represents exactly how I felt most of the time.

{don't you dare let go of me}

 

It was incredible and seeing the coral life in that way forced me to calm down. It was very difficult to take pictures of the fish but I was very happy to snap a few of the clownfish in their anemone. Of course I called each one Nemo!

The trip was really a one-of-a-kind adventure, which we hope to recreate very soon.  Here were some more of the highlights:

• swimming with sea turtles = AMAZING!
• binging on the Serial podcast while laying poolside (did I mention there was a swim-up bar?)
• feeding fish off out over-water balcony
• visiting the neighboring island and seeing how our resort helped support their economy
• Ryan catching a shark while fishing (I most certainly did not partake, but pretty crazy)
• being swept along by a crazy strong current on daily snorkels - it felt like I was flying
• walking around an entire island in 15 minutes
• saying hello to Sammy the reef shark every morning (quite possibly more than one Sammy out there)
• seeing so many different kinds of tropical fish for the first time, including ridiculously large eels and a 4 meter long shark
• eating my weight in Sri Lankan and Maldivian curries