Maldives

I have a new favorite geographical formation--the atoll.  In April, when the in-law's were here for a visit, we spent some time over the Easter holiday in the Maldives.  A sprinkling of atolls out in the middle of nowhere Indian Ocean, southwest of the tip of India.  Atolls are sunken volcanoes with coral reefs built up around them, which form these rings of small islands.

 

The whole country is just these wisps of land peeking out of the water and shallow lagoons of white sand just below the surface.  The photo is of Male, the capital and where we flew into, and it just looks like the city is about to sink into the ocean.  Which it probably will due to global warming considering the highest point in the whole country is 8 feet above sea level.

Not my pic, the internet's.

The view out the window was amazing, though the wing blocking it was not.

We landed in Male (pronounced MA-lay and supposed to have an accent mark over it, but I don't know how to do that with this keyboard), and when you walk out the front door of the airport, instead of a taxi stand, there is a boat stand with boats waiting to take you out to your various islands.

 

It was a 45 minute ride out to paradise.  This is the view of the over-water bungalows as we pulled up to our resort.  The water here is so clear and amazing.

The handsome Maldivian men greeted us upon arrival.

We wasted no time getting out to the beach.  Well, first you check in and pay your bill in advance (like ripping the bandaid off, get it over with, and then the view makes you forget about it).

This shot of Paul doing the backfloat would have been amazing if I had gotten the three foot wide feather tail stingray in it that swam over to check Paul out.  Paul couldn't hear me since his ears were under water so he missed seeing it and I was too busy watching it to get the camera out fast enough, but it was pretty cool.

I loved this hammock that you could swim or walk out to.  The kids and I went out during high tide, so mostly swimming to get there, and it wasn't very relaxing because all they wanted to do was try flip it to toss us off.

Here's a tour of our bungalow area-- out front on the beach with the hedges hiding the bungalows from view for privacy (and keeping the island looking more deserted)...

Then through the short path from the beach to our patio...

I didn't take a pic of the sleeping area, but here is the big outdoor bathroom that the kids loved.  No one minds taking a shower when it's outside.

Butt has been blurred to protect the innocent. No one tell PE this pic is on the internet. I couldn't resist. 

Here's the walk out to the over-water bungalow that Daddy Paul and Di-Di stayed in. 

View from their deck, and their open air bathroom had a window to look down to the water at the foot of the toilet so the sea view would never be far.

 

Down at the end of the bungalow pathway was a water path to a tiny island with a tiny bar.  We walked/swam out, which was more strenuous than we thought because of the currents.

   
The infinity edge pool also made for a nice continuous view with the ocean.

Love this one of the kids hanging out at the edge of the pool as the sun goes down.

The three hour time difference from HK meant sleepy kids at dinner time...

In addition to the hammocks, there were a couple of water swing sets that were fun.

And the kids enjoyed activities like this water sledding thing, which you could buy, but no thanks.  That's too much exercise for me, only if I can bring a Maldivian resort guy home to pull my kids around on it.
   

Most of the time was spent relaxing and just enjoying the different views around the island.

We did an excursion one day to go snorkeling with a group.  We had considered also going on a dolphin watching tour, but ended up getting a two-for-one since we had a large pod of them meet up with our boat on the way to the snorkeling spot.  In a video I took I counted about 25-30, though my pictures don't capture much.   

With the super clear water you could see them even far under the surface as they were swimming around, so neat.

The snorkel trip was out at the edge of a reef.  Everyone is suited up and ready to go!

The snorkeling was great and it was a nice spot where we had a combination of super shallow and also then the steep and deep edge of the reef.  We spotted nemo, dory, tons of other fish, pretty coral, giant clams, so many pretty things.  The kids loved it and Esme held her own for almost the whole hour (totally opposite from me at that age, no fear of the water or creatures).  We sunned ourselves on the top deck on the way back.

Sunset before dinner on our last night.  Esme was in charge of the camera.

They get along every once in a while.

 And then it was time, sadly, to say goodbye.  I'd love to come back some day.  This place is pretty special. 



Pressing my nose against the window for as long as possible...



Puerto Galera with the Golds

Over the Chinese New Year holiday break, Paul's sister Delia and her husband Michael and our niece Jemma came to visit us for two weeks.  The first week of their visit they went to the Philippines to hang out with the extended family there.  It had been 20+ years since Delia had last been to the Philippines.  There was time spent in Manila getting together with various aunts, uncles and cousins.  Paul was there with the kids and I stayed behind for work and nobody really took any pictures with our camera, so you'll just have to believe me.

Once I joined them in Manila, then we drove to the coast to catch a boat to the island town of Puerto Galera for some R&R (desperately needed by Delia and Michael).

The first half day the kids enjoyed the pool and the grownups enjoyed sprawling around the apartment/suite and the pool deck and delicious vodka tonics with calamansi (tiny limes that are orange on the inside and sweeter and soooo good with vodka tonic).  The next day, rain.  Boo.  So we worked more on relaxation with lots of reading, getting massages, eating, and letting the kids veg with the tablet and a movie.  Thankfully, the next day (our last full day) was all sunshine.  We took a boat ride over to a good snorkeling area.

To do the snorkeling, we transferred into two smaller boats, which took us over the coral garden and pulled us around for "lazy snorkeling". They string a rope between the boat and the end of the outrigger (?) thingies, then you hang on like superman with your face in the water and they tow you around so you don't have to wrestle with the currents.

The kids had fun snorkeling and feeding some bread to smaller fish near the boat.

Paul is taking a nap he's so lazy.

After snorkeling we hopped to a local sandbar, which wasn't that exciting, but I wanted to see the view of ocean on both sides.

Then onto another local beach for some lunch and time in the sand and waves.

Paul and Michael enjoy the view and their rum and cokes with calamansi (it goes with everything!).

If you look really close, that's me in the bottom right hand corner laying face down on the chair getting a super cheap massage, which was more a body scrub given the sand and sunscreen already on my skin.

Our last day was a short one, with time only for our last breakfast on the terrace overlooking the bay and once last dip in the pool for the kids.

After a treacherous boat ride back to the mainland (seriously big waves, not sure if there were life jackets on the boat), we caught flights back to Hong Kong where the Golds stayed with us for another week.  They saw all of Hong Kong's top sights, but I don't have their pictures, you'll have to ask them.  But last night in town we had Filipino cousin Lizzie and Gary over with their kids for family dinner, always a good time.  

It was a great two weeks.  Thanks for coming, Golds!