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...