Maldives

I am not completely sure how we decided to plan a vacation to the Maldives.  One of Ryan's coworkers  has been, many of our travel magazines mention the Maldives, and thanks to our giant map, I can easily point out its location.  If you are curious, the Maldives are southwest off the tip of India, in the Indian Ocean.   Regardless of the spark that started our planning, Ryan contacted our travel agent, and the trip was planned.  Our wishful expectations were seeing manta rays, whale sharks, and lots of diving, plus plenty of beach and sun time.  We are so very thankful for this vacation, it turned out to be even better than our expectations.

We had the full tour of the Maldives thanks to the Four Seasons.  Our plane from Dubai landed in Male, the capital of the Maldives, and we were quickly greeted and ushered into the lounge while we awaited our sea plane to the first resort.  The seaplane was a pretty awesome experience, taking off and landing on the water, and the views of the tiny islands along the way was the perfect introduction to the Maldives.

Our seaplane. 

View from the plane. 

Our first resort was the Four Seasons at Landaa Giraavaru.  Here we did our introduction dive, a routine dive that resorts make you do before you are able to start serious dives.  It gives the resort an opportunity to get a feel for your comfort and experience underwater.  This was drastically different than my SCUBA training in a quarry in Illinois.  The water was crystal clear, the water was warm, there were fish everywhere, now I understand why people love diving.

It was at the first resort we had the opportunity to snorkel with manta rays!  The one word I would use to describe them would be graceful (not to mention their large size).  We jumped out of the boat, and the first time I put my face in the water, I was met with a manta ray swimming at me.  Surprisingly, I was not scared at all, I was more entranced with how gracefully they moved through the water.  It was beautiful.

We also enjoyed some time at the pool, and fully immersed ourselves into the wonderful feeling of vacation relaxation.  On the fourth day, while at breakfast I spotted our next portion of our Maldivian experience.  Our cruise boat was arriving!

Having drinks on a hammock ledge over the water. 

The cruise director met us at the lobby, our luggage was collected and we were ready for four nights on the Four Seasons Explorer.  We knew when we planned this vacation that the cruise was going to be a once in a lifetime experience.  The maximum number of guests on the cruise is 20.  In actuality, there were only 4 guests on the cruise, Ryan and I, and another couple.  Four guests with a crew of 25, we were beyond excited.

The diving was incredible.  Ryan completed his advanced water and Nitrox air certification.  I completed a small extra certification so I could dive deeper.  My maximum dive depth was 28.9 meters,   94.8 feet!  With clear, warm water, you did not realize how deep you were unless you checked your dive computer.  I could write a book on everything we saw during the dives, but I will save that for a different blog post.  I want to go through Ryan's pictures, so I have pictures to add.

Ryan really wanted to see a whale shark during our time in the Maldives, and we did, three whale sharks!  We snorkeled with one particular whale shark for close to an hour, and the other two encounters were during a dive.  At one point during that particular dive, our dive instructor tapped me on the shoulder and pointed slightly above us, and a bit in front of us.  It was a whale shark, coming right at me!  I quickly looked for Ryan, tapped (more like, beat) his shoulder and pointed out the whale shark.  Just like with the manta rays, I did not realize how large they really are.  Whale sharks are the largest fish in the ocean, but seriously, that's an understatement, and to our surprise, the marine biologist said that the one we snorkeled with was on the "smaller size."  I really enjoyed the spotted pattern, and the ease with which they move through the water.

Throw in a private island stop, fishing, wake boarding, and delicious food, and our time on the Explorer was wonderful.

Our cruise boat with our private island stop. 

Good thing the chef was not depending on me to bring home dinner.
We put this tiny guy back in the water. 

We sadly said goodbye to the crew, and left the Explorer for our third and final stop on the Maldivian tour, the Four Seasons at Kuda Huraa.  Here we found our land legs again, spent lots of time at the beach.  Attempted fishing again (still not much luck), relaxed with massages at the spa, and did one last dive.  The dive location was titled "The Aquarium" and it lived up to the name.  It was literally like swimming through a giant aquarium.

Goodbye cruise boat. 

Ready for another try at fishing. 

Pure determination, but no fish. 

The Four Seasons has successfully recruited two more loyal fans.  The staff, and the resorts (and cruise) were beyond perfect.  The Maldives is an incredibly beautiful country, but the underwater portion is just, if not more beautiful than the land portion.  I will post pictures from Ryan's underwater camera, but for now, check out (I highly recommend) our Maldives Album to view the pictures I took above water.