Day 87-90: Maldives

Decoration for Ramadan

Our travel from Bangkok to the Maldives was mostly uneventful. We flew Thai AirAsia, which is kind of like Ryan Air: cheap tickets but everything is an upgrade. Of course our carryon luggage was too heavy, so we had to check them, at an exorbitant cost. We had changed all of our Thai Baht to USD at the airport, so we didn’t even have enough for a bottle of water. Jess begged and they relented and gave us a 30 baht water bottle for 27 baht, which carried us through the 4 hour flight.

The Maldives were near the top of my choice destinations on this world cruise, known for its world-class diving. We really didn’t know much about the place. By the time we landed in Mali, and got through immigration, we were unable to locate our dive speedboat operator, so we missed our speedboat and had to wait four hours in the hot airport for the next one.

By the time we boarded the boat, we were pretty miffed. The ride was over a glassy ocean to Thusdholo, which was amazing in its calmness. When we arrived, this was one of the first things we saw:

Island graffiti

We didn’t realize that the Maldives are nearly 100% Muslim, and it is actually against the law to practice any religion other than Muslim. The small island where we were staying actually had two mosques, and we would hear the call to prayer at noon. Most of the tourists were young surfers drawn to the world class surf break. Our accommodation was a guest house that was modest in its amenities. Jess was upset with the cleanliness of the unit, and when she raised her concerns, they were addressed.

The bird in the photo above actually flew into the place where we were having lunch and landed on our friend’s head. Jess screamed and the bird flew off and came back and landed on our waiter’s shoulder. Apparently he comes every day for a snack! There were no dogs on the island, but plenty of feral cats. I guess there is a need to keep the rodent population down.

The diving absolutely lived up to its reputation. It was probably the best I’ve ever experienced, and I was regretting that I didn’t buy the GoPro on sale on the ship. C’est la vie! We have the amazing memories.

Each day, between our dives, there were dolphins and pilot whales putting on a show. Pilot whales are actually a type of dolphin, and are pretty rare to see at this time of year. We saw them twice, and they were amazing.

Ramadan, one of the two largest holidays in the Muslim religion had ended a few days before our arrival. They still had many of the lighted decorations up and on after dark. It’s so hot that most of the businesses close in the afternoon and reopen at night from 6 to 11 when it is much cooler. Also, alcohol is banned in the Maldives and can only be found on resorts. I saw that there was a “ floating bar” for tourists, but didn’t put much effort into finding out how to access it. I just abstained from drinking for a few days, knowing that when we returned to the world cruise, there would be a endless supply of beer and wine available.

Male (Mal-ee) was a crowded city that I spent just a little time exploring. It was nothing to write home about, but the world under water is still vibrant and beautiful and left us full, like being in the most beautiful aquarium you have ever seen.