Maldives, September 2015

Maldives. I don't even quite know how this came up but Nico and I decided to go and check out the Maldives in September 2015. This is known to be the place for honeymooners - which we weren't by the way. So why did we go there? Maybe for the crystal clear waters and beautiful atolls? The white sand beaches? Maybe.

So this won't be a day-by-day entry, mainly because most days were the same!

It all started with Nico coming over to Kuwait, he spent a few days with me (not too exciting as it wasn't his first time to visit me - yet a shout-out to everyone: Come visit me!) and then we flew off to Sri Lanka, hopped on another plane and landed in Malé, the capital of the Maldives. From the plane we could see some of the beautiful islands already and were really looking forward to this!

At the airport we found the guy who would bring us to the hotel by 'speedboat', waited for a little while as other passengers hadn't arrived yet.. and then went to 'our' island called Hudhuranfushi! Yeah, sounds like a Japanese battle cry, I know. By the way, it was raining from the time we landed to the time we reached our island.. what a nice welcome.

So we arrived and the hotel guys tried to figure out where to put us while we had our welcome drink and sat in the lobby. We finally got our bungalow, which was pretty far away from the main area, so it took us about 8 minutes by foot to reach: All bungalows looked the same. A small terrace, a big bedroom and an outdoor bathroom in the back. Worked for us.

I believe we spent the rest of the day walking around the island (our hotel was the only hotel on the island and it kinda covered the whole area) and planning on what we could do. One thing was clear: We were on MalDIVEs.. so yeah, we had to go diving. I already had passed my diving test many many years back but planned on taking an advanced course while Nico did the basic OWD (open water diver) course.

We spoke to some guys in the local diving school and arranged everything for the next day, then went for a few drinks and dinner (as it was all inclusive.. we had to take advantage!). We probably went to bed after that...

So here are some highlights that I do remember:

1. Nico and I invented a card game. This is epic, as we still play it quite regularly and even have taught others how to play. This is gonna be big. The name of the game is PowPow.. or PauPau.. I can never remember. And it's basically a no-choice-game with a billion rules, which all make perfect sense. A masterpiece.

We played this a lot - every day. One time a Korean girl was watching us play and we politely asked if she wanted to join in - which she did. We couldn't communicate as she didn't speak english.. so she was pretty confused when we explained why she couldn't play certain cards.. yet we had a lot of fun.. And we do believe that PowPow is Koreas national sport by now. She must have spread the game. There's no other way.

Maybe I'll post the rules some day for y'all to learn.

2. We went diving. A. Lot. We actually went almost everyday - sometimes twice a day. And if you think the Maldives are expensive, well, yeah, you're right. The diving was quite pricy but there wasn't a lot of other stuff to do.. Our two diving instructors were a Russian guy named 'Vlad Krshchuck'.. (or similar..).. and a German dude named Theo. Both really cool and fun to be around! Nico managed to get his OWD and I got my Advanced OWD and the Nitrox course done.. in addition to a few extra dives.

The most impressive sight by far were the manta rays. At one point we were just lying on the reef calmly while a group of 5-6 mantas were circling just about 2m above us, bathing in the bubbles we exhaled. Every time one of these majestic sea flap-flaps 'flew' over us it got dark for a second or two. With a wingspan of up to four meters these animals were absolutely impressive and yet the coolest thing I've seen so far while diving (followed by a group of whale sharks, which Nico and I saw in April 2017 in Cebu, Philippines).

The second thing I remember was that I saw my first sharks while diving in the Maldives. It started with the most impressive one: A Hammerhead. We saw this one at a depth of about 30m - it just swam past us and disappeared.. I clearly remember Vlad going mental right away as it was his first hammerhead as well. The following shark sightings were white- and black tipped reef sharks and a leopard shark.

Apart from that we saw about a dozen turtles (some of them came up really close!), an impressively big and beautiful jellyfish.. and the regular 'stuff' such as moray eels, lion fish, puffer fish,... etc.

To be honest I expected the visibility to be better under water, as most days it was 'just' about 15-20 meters.. I was hoping for really clear waters. Yet what we saw under the surface was stunning.. big schools of fish, coral gardens.. lots of beautiful colors. And the one thing I really love about diving: All your senses are kinda switched off apart from your sight. You don't smell.. you don't feel.. the only thing you hear is your own breath. But your eyes are working overtime. Cool!

3. We didn't meet any people there worth mentioning - apart from Zach and Roz, a couple from California. We met one evening while we were all hanging out at the pool bar, taking advantage of the all inclusive thing.. and started chatting. Those two are awesome and I hope that Nico and me might be able to visit them some day in California (well to be completely honest I do not want to visit the US while that orange bopplesnoot is their president). Zach was all into surfing most days while Roz spent the time tanning and watching him. We joined her once or twice while sipping on coconuts.

4. Our room-boy. I am pretty sure Nico remembers his name without looking it up.. I don't. Let's say his name was Pepe.

So Pepe was really friendly and took good care of us. I asked him, whether I had a chance of getting a fresh coconut from somewhere (Hey - it's not a vacation on a tropical island without me sipping coconut water, okay?!). He told me he'll take care of it and a few hours later he returned with a whole carton full of coconuts.. that's the spirit. Happy time! Pepe's a good guy.

5. The food. The all inclusive buffet was okay. Really nothing special but edible. I don't quite remember the restaurant a lot (but it was almost outdoors-y, just covered by a roof.. and the floor was sand) but I remember Nico and me talking about other guests a lot.. and giving them nicknames. The drinks that were included in our package were cheap cocktails (hardly drinkable) and beer. And soft drinks of course. So we mainly stuck to the beer...

6. Ping and pong. They had a ping pong table, so we occasionally played. Of course I won every single game and destroyed Nico completely. Actually I have no idea who won or if we even took scores.. I just remember the wind making a decent game impossible.

7. The island itself. Well to be honest I expected a bit more. I wanted white sand beaches and palm trees and tropical flowers. Stuff like that. And what we got was.. well it was nice. But not as extraordinary as I hoped for. But hey - I'm not the kind of guy who spends a week lying around in the sand just to tan.. The hotel area was quite well maintained, every leave falling off the tree would be raked away within minutes.

This is about all I remember without looking up all notes (which I am trying to avoid).

What I remember first when thinking about this vacation is diving and playing PowPow - as this was about 80% of our time.

Summing up: The Maldives are a nice place but in my eyes pretty overpriced. You could find other places, just as beautiful for less money. But if you do want to visit the Maldives better be quick.. they say the Maldives might not exist in the future are the ice caps are melting and he highest elevation in the whole country is 2,4 meters..

Yet: Money well spent, had a great time!