Hakuraa Club Male

... quiet and peacful. This was the first time i've seen a mosque. Next we went to a garden and a musem that housed belongings of the King and Queen of Male. It was ok. The fee was like $2/person but its not really worth spending time on. Then we walked on a little more and saw a few other places. The best or rather most amusing sight was the fish market. They have life fishes coming right out of the water. In fact right across the road from the fish market ...

... we had a family picnic. This time on Hitadoo the island far northwest in the atoll. Ali and I only stayed momentarily because the military base on Gan was waiting for us to come. I was the highest ranking person on the base that day. I expected to see walls and soldiers with guns, but all I saw was a little red manual gate controlled by a guy in a plastic chair. Everyone in the world doesn't hate Maldives, so thats probably why security was slim. A basic training was going on ...

... from Japan so they weren't too easy to communicate with for me. But luckily there were also 2 couples from California and I was happy I had someone to talk to over the next week. The check out dive (first dive) of the day was absolutely amazing. We did Manta Point at North Male atoll. I wasn't overly enthusiastic as check out dives are normally done at mediocre dive sites so everybody can check their ...

... of the island, the perfect place to watch the day end. I cannot recommend the Maldives enough for sunseekers & divers, it was a brilliant experience, & i really liked ...

... don't have much experience, but I have heard enough real life pirate stories to have a bit of trepidation and we are 700 miles from the nearest land. Immediately a few questions run through your head 1) What do they want? 2) Where are they from? 3) What if we don't have what they want and they hop on the boat, ransack the place, take hostages, force us to walk the plank.. Oh, wait that was Pirates of the Caribbean and I have to admit deep down that would be grand if Johnny ...

... from real people, maybe as gifts. He is very cordial in the elevator or corridors when we meet him. Usually passengers decorate their cabin doors, although we haven't seen any. This year someone stole a flag off the door of one of our dinner companions, and they heard of other petty theft from doors. Last year on the world cruise only 2 things disappeared: an IPOD and a diamond tennis bracelet, both of which could have been legitimately lost. I'm pondering the ...

... gap in my experience here. Doug came back from an island talking about a week long party of music, dance and celebration surrounding the circumcision of a 6 year old boy - something that happens a lot in December when the kids are out of school. So - Megan you can always add this to your project about celebrations in December. Everything then spun into place. Thursday night I was awake all night listening to the music and celebration occurring across the street for what we ...

... and when it rained on the last day, we were still able to enjoy swimming. The 2nd day, another family arrived from Male so I had someone to talk to and the kids got to hang around with a gang of kids. Doug and I went snorkelling - didn't see the hoped for sea turtles but did see a manta ray underneath us, tucked away in a coral cave. There were lots of mantas around - mostly seen from the beach and pier. I've enclosed a picture but it is hard to see since it was ...

... is a small island set in the Rasdhoo Atoll and is sheer paradise. We exit the sea plane, walk along the pier and touch down on the whitest sand I have ever seen, check in and take the beautiful walk to our water bungalow; WOW! 4 nights of luxury and oh my god a bath!! Of course the first thing I do is fill the bath which is in the most stunning bathroom, add perhaps just a little too much bubble bath, open the window and wind back to canopy to reveal the blue sky ...

When you think of the Maldives, usually everyone thinks of pure white shores and the bluest of aqua blue lagoons filled with fish so colourful you wouldn't have ever thought that so many colours could have existed. Well guess what? That's exactly what it's like. As soon as I landed in Male, the capital of the Maldives, and met by the crew of the MS Sting Ray, I felt better for sticking to my original plan and flying to this diving archipelago for some serious underwater gazing. After ...