Central Hotel Male

... we have just arrived at another planet --as I saw fully-dressed astronauts in their white protection gown complete with head gear .
" It seems as if we are a flight load of germs and they are afraid of contacting directly with us! " I thought to myself as we filled in the health record asking whether we have travelled to flu-endemic countries in the past 7 days or not.

Out ...

... paradisiaca. Depois da India, o nosso alojamento pareceu-nos super luxuoso, limpo, e confortavel :-) e a casa de banho ao ar livre um espectaculo! Em Helengeli passamos os dias na praia, a fazer snorkeling no recife (o recife e um esectaculo de vida marinha, e inclusivamente vimos algumas tartarugas e um lagosta grande), ou a disfrutar o por do sol enquanto tomavamos cocktails ou um copo de vinho no bar da praia. O unico precalco foi que o Nuno apanhou a gripe da Eva e ...

... competition one night and we came second, how good is that!?! We even used my balls on the last hole, how impressed was I!? We so nearly won it but drew with a couple of guys from Durban and lost it in the play off because I fluffed the putt and got a penalty! Was a good laugh though. They thought it was our honeymoon at first and decorated our bed with happy honeymoon in flowers and gave us free honeymoon T shirts, a ...

... and they had a hotel waiting for me already to shower in ( I was smelling pretty rank after all that time traveling). We drove around on Ali's Aunt and Uncles motorbike, and had dinner at this good sub shop. Ali took me around a bit more, but I am going to try to get some sleep now. We have a lot to see tomorrow, and we leave on the 27th for Addu. Hopefully I'll get some video of Ali and I zooming around town on the motorbikes.

... flight from Male to Komandoo lasted around 45 minutes and it was great! Even though the weather wasn't fantastic, you have the best view of the Maldives' islands and atolls. I kept photographing, wishing I could stay longer than two weeks already. We landed close to Komandoo. A boat waited for us near the pontoon where we got off, and we were transported over to the island. Komandoo is beautiful. It's small - around 35 bungalows ...

... you these little glimpses of commonality through a smile, a wave, or a thank you and it just makes me authentically happy (Hmmm. has Andy been recommending self-help psychology books??? i.e. one is named "Authentic Happiness" ) J Other highlights included 5 more watches without hitting any boats, so proud of myself on that one. I also have learned to actually interact with the sails a bit and am gaining a beginning understanding of the theory behind decreasing/increasing ...

... and one young man ended up in the sea. He was eventually found - but a week later so not a good end result. Jesse didn't see sharks but we did get to see a coral reef 30 metres down - much further than our snorkelling takes us. Our dive which was planned for the 18th of November was cancelled due to rough weather The weather has been very rainy for 3 weeks straight (and its puring again today. I feel sorry for the tourists who are here now. So much for ...

Five weeks plus in Maldives and usually not counting. We actually managed to wade outside yesterday after monsoon rains. The other side of the island was knee deep in water but it was lower on our side. By afternoon, the street drains had worked and it was easier getting around. We are settling into a pattern, for the most part. Doug is away every 2nd week and the kids and I live it up on the town every night (just kidding). My time is pretty restricted to playing school marm and doing ...

... with us forever. The highlights were definitely seeing my wee hawksbill turtle and the 8ft manta ray that "flew" past. We also adored the nemos and the angel fish. The island was heavily populated with reef sharks, 6 - 8 ft, quite often we would see 6 sharks each time we went snorkelling. Moray Eels, tiger fish, oriental sweetlips, sting rays, star fish, sea snakes - the underwater life was just alive. The nature of the island was beautiful too, with gorgeous gekos ...