Sazz In The City: December 2018

Paradise Farewell - til next time!!

Well, the last couple of days have been pretty much a rinse and repeat of the last two! Its been a wonderful time, just relaxing and enjoying the villa, eating way too much food and losing too often at cards!! We did another snorkeling trip, this time with the marine biologist, taking the pontoon out to One Palm Tree island and snorkeling around the local reef. ManpanionTM also went out snorkeling this afternoon – and got chased by a big grouper fish! He said it came right at him as he was trying to take a video! We lucked out because on our last day (Saturday) we were able to stay in our villa until it was time to leave for the airport at 9pm – so basically an extra free day!! The weather was a bit crappy again - but when its so ridiculously beautiful, you can forgive it for being a bit cloudy!!

So at 9pm, our Man Friday rolled up in a little golf buggy ready for us to settle up our extras bill (OUCH!) and load up the bags. We drove back over to the pier we'd arrived at and, after a farewell picture (which you are not seeing as it was deeply unflattering!), we sadly trooped onto the speedboat for our transfer to the airport. And then it was time to put our shoes back on (they had stayed in their little linen bag the entire time we were there!) and check in for our long flight home.

So there you go. Our Sri Lanka and Maldives adventure has come to a close. As I write this blog now (admittedly 3 weeks after coming home!), there are a few moments that stick in my mind among all the wonderful memories. Here's my Top ten (in no particular order) - and I hope you enjoyed sharing the journey with us. Next up, Quebec City!!

1. That first glimpse of the ocean as we opened the front door of our overwater bungalow
2. Baked beans and a killer view at breakfast at Tea Trails
3. BED TEA!!
4. Spotting a leopard at Yala - twice!
5. Shopping at the "local market" for our cooking class in Galle
6. Noting that a bird spotted on the beach in the Maldives would "look a lot better with arms"
7. Hiking our way across the tea plantation - and getting a bit lost!
8. Enjoying the world's best pina coladas, over sunset, while getting thrashed at cards
9. The view from the top of Sigiriya rock
10. Baby Chef

YUM!

the overwater bar

Paradise Found - Day 2

Guess who??

Busy day today!! It was our first proper snorkeling expedition – so after breakfast, we biked over to the dive center. There were only 6 of us, so it was a nice small group – we were heading out of the lagoon to some local reefs, about 20mins boat ride away. We watched a video before we set off reminding us of the do’s and don’ts of snorkeling (basically, use your common sense – and don’t tread on the coral) and also about the unfortunate mass coral bleaching event that happened back in 2016. Unfortunately, about 80% of the coral in the Maldives died due to excessive and prolonged warming of the sea. It was really sad – and a stark example of the reality of climate change. The resort is committed to doing their part to helping the reef recover through their Coral Lines project – but its such painstakingly slow work. It will take decades to recover – barring another bleaching event. There were still lots of fish – but I remember (many, many moons ago) learning to dive in Sharm-El-Sheikh in the Red Sea in Egypt where the coral was alive and healthy, and the fish were far, far more abundant.

But, despite that, it was still very enjoyable. We didn’t see any sea turtles, unfortunately, but we did see black-tipped reef sharks which was cool. One swam right under me – a bit close for comfort!!

This fish quite literally attacked ManpanionTM!! Apparently
they can get quite territorial!

SnorkelpanionTM explores the surroundings

ManpanionTM heads back to the villa to get the playing cards

I’d forgotten how tiring snorkeling was so, after an hour I was done and ready to head back to the boat. The weather was – finally – perfect so it was a gorgeous morning to be out on the water. We got back in just after midday and headed back to the villa for a quick shower before lunch. I had another massage booked at 2.30pm (taking advantage of their special offer – one massage for $149, two for $199!) – again with Sue, so that was very relaxing again!

After the massage, it was time for a nap and a glass of chilled rose out on the front deck. We’d booked our sunset Dhoni cruise again for today and – up until around 4pm – it looked a pretty sure bet. However, by the time we had to leave the villa to meet Visham at the overwater bar at 5pm, the clouds had started gathering and it was starting to look less and less likely. And yep – when we got to the bar, we got a message that the Dhoni had been cancelled because they were expecting the heavy rain you could see off in the distance to sweep over the resort, so being out in a sail boat in that was not a good idea. Ah well – c’est la vie. When it rains, you decide to stay in the bar, order pina coladas, play cards and watch the sunset that way instead! In the end, it rained a tiny bit but – by the time the sunset at around 6.30pm, it was completely clear – but we had a fun time anyway.

The perfect place to gaze out over the water....

We had a reservation that evening for the Japanese restaurant for sushi – the food was all the more delicious as we didn’t have to make it ourselves and the service was impeccable. We met our sushi teacher again and he said hello – and even remembered my name! I can barely remember my own name most days, so I was impressed!! I'm not sure what the staff thought of Krusty joining us for dinner - or playing in the Zen garden for that matter - but he seemed to have a great time. After sushi, it was time to go home and “sleep under the stars”. As the rain had now passed, the housekeeping staff had made up the lounger bed upstairs on the roofdeck so we could lie out and look up at the stars. We stayed up there for a couple of hours, snoozing and stargazing until the wind picked up a bit too much. Good call – about 15mins after we moved inside, it chucked it down with rain! All in all, a great day – I love this place!!

Our chopstick rests wanted to get in on the Zen Garden action too...

Paradise Found!

view from our breakfast spot

Wednesday and our first full day in the Maldives. The weather had cleared overnight, so the ocean was even more sparkly and blue than yesterday. Today’s fun was a sushi-making class at 12.30pm and, hopefully, a Dhoni sunset cruise in the evening. I’d also booked a massage treatment at the spa for the early afternoon, so we had plenty to keep us occupied!

Breakfast was as good as dinner had been the night before – so much choice! It was set up in the main restaurant again, down by the water, and we bagged ourselves a table on the beach right by the water. There were very few people around (other than staff, obviously) and that was something we noticed the whole time we were there. It never felt crowded. Talking with Visham, he said it was at 89% occupancy (so there were definitely people staying) but with about 40 villas, the max capacity for people is about 140 (the most at Christmastime). We saw more people during dinnertime but – other than that – most of the time we went to the Overwater bar for lunch or pre-dinner drinks, it was almost completely empty!

Main restaurant on the beach

Mumsie - you would have loved the food! so fresh!!

Breakfast bubbles!!

Ayuvedic shot for breakfast anyone?

Granolapalooza

Coconutpops

Curry for breakfast?

Honey from every type of flower imaginable!

Jamstravaganza!

Honey, honey?

HEAVEN!

Wine cellar downstairs - and cold cuts and cheese!

Cheese and champagne for breakfast?? Freaking LOVE this place!

Fabulously fresh sushi

Its very easy to pass time here. After breakfast, we lazed at the villa until – suddenly – it was time for our sushi-making class. We actually were late because we’d gotten the time wrong – to make the most use of sunlight, Gili Lankanfushi is on “resort time” that’s 1hr ahead of the main island, Male. And Male was a half hour behind Sri Lanka so, net net, we didn’t really have any idea what time it was! But they called us to find out where we were so, a quick bike ride later, we were at the Japanese restaurant, By The Sea. The sushi-class was fun – we learned how to roll inside-out and outside-in rolls and then had them for our lunch afterwards. We also got a Gili apron which was a fun souvenir – if a pricey one! (I hadn’t checked the cost of the class beforehand – it was not cheap!!).

Our mission, should we choose to accept it....

ChefpanionTM

The beginning...

the middle.....

The end!

Ta-da!! Was quite proud of myself - and
it tasted good too!!

The sushi restaurant

After the class, ManpanionTM went back to the villa and I went directly to the spa, for my massage treatment with Sue. It was sooooo relaxing. Was a mixture of regular massage and hot stone treatment – and not too deep, so I wasn’t ouching my way through the whole thing. As hoped for, there was a little porthole under the massage table where you could watch the fish swim by as you receive your treatment – however, in reality, you still end up closing your eyes anyway, but it’s a lovely idea.

After my treatment, I relaxed with a pot of gingery tea (they seem to be big on that here) and, as I sipped and chilled, the heavens opened!! I’d texted ManpanionTM to come meet me at the spa so we could head down to the welcome drinks reception together at 5.30pm – however, I’d got the time wrong and it didn’t start til 6.30pm, so after he arrived we waited out the rain for a bit before making a dash for it on our bikes and heading back to the villa. We obviously got completely soaked – but I don’t mind getting drenched in warm Maldivian rain!

The drinks reception was hosted by the staff as a welcome to all the new guests and – due to the rain – was inside the main restaurant rather than on the beach. There were a choice of 3 drinks – one non-alcoholic fruity thing, a brandy one and a bright green rum one. We both had the rum one which, to be honest, was more color than taste, but it was fun to be out and about and actually see other people! We saw the honeymooning couple again that we’d seen at the sushi class, as well as another couple we’d met earlier at Tea Trails too. As well as drinks, they had some musicians on drums with dancing, so it was a fun atmosphere.
After drinks finished at 7.30pm, we headed over to the Overwater bar for dinner – tonight’s theme was Maldivian fisherman’s catch, so we split a very delicious and juicy tuna burger as well as a seafood platter, with an assortment of local fish to try. All very yummy! With that, it was time to wend our way back to our villa, cycling along the candlelit jungle pathways through the island and over the long wooden jetty – without falling off! The brakes are a bit dodgy and very squeaky – so it all feels a little precarious! Goodnight!!