Happy 2009 from the Maldives! We hope you had a wonderful New Year's celebration, and we wish you a healthy and happy 2009.
We're currently living it up at a fancy and festive resort in the Maldives, which is a 1-hour plane flight from Sri Lanka (south of India), in the middle of the Indian Ocean. In this country, which is made-up of over 1,100 atolls, there is only one resort permitted per island. There are 80 islands with resorts, which are all separate from the islands that local people live on. The resorts are truly the realm of the rich and famous, and in fact Sir Paul McCartney and his American girlfriend were anchored offshore of our island (Bandos Island) for a few days on their live-aboard yacht. We decided to come here as an extra-special treat to ourselves, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, to commemorate Deb's 50th birthday, and to enjoy the underwater world - which is mind blowing. We've joined-up with Michelle and Dave again, who are here with us enjoying tropical paradise.
Our resort is fantastic, with beautiful white-sand beaches, an amazing house reef that fringes the entire coastline, 4 restaurants with delicious food, and 2 bars on opposite sides of the island. There's a fabulous swimming pool with a swim-up bar as well, lush grounds, tall coconut palms, and plenty of activities for when we can pull ourselves away from the ocean. We joined a crab race last night (but did not win), listened to live music on other nights, and had a huge NYE celebration with a monster buffet feast, great entertainment, and a spectacular countdown clock.
Happy 2009 from the Maldives! We hope you had a wonderful New Year's celebration, and we wish you a healthy and happy 2009.
We're currently living it up at a fancy and festive resort in the Maldives, which is a 1-hour plane flight from Sri Lanka (south of India), in the middle of the Indian Ocean. In this country, which is made-up of over 1,100 atolls, there is only one resort permitted per island. There are 80 islands with resorts, which are all separate from the islands that local people live on. The resorts are truly the realm of the rich and famous, and in fact Sir Paul McCartney and his American girlfriend were anchored offshore of our island (Bandos Island) for a few days on their live-aboard yacht. We decided to come here as an extra-special treat to ourselves, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, to commemorate Deb's 50th birthday, and to enjoy the underwater world - which is mind blowing. We've joined-up with Michelle and Dave again, who are here with us enjoying tropical paradise.
Our resort is fantastic, with beautiful white-sand beaches, an amazing house reef that fringes the entire coastline, 4 restaurants with delicious food, and 2 bars on opposite sides of the island. There's a fabulous swimming pool with a swim-up bar as well, lush grounds, tall coconut palms, and plenty of activities for when we can pull ourselves away from the ocean. We joined a crab race last night (but did not win), listened to live music on other nights, and had a huge NYE celebration with a monster buffet feast, great entertainment, and a spectacular countdown clock.
But what really makes this place magical is what's just below the surface of the azure sea. We're able to walk right out of our beautiful beach bungalow and be in the warm ocean water snorkeling in less than one minute. We've seen many small and large sharks, rays, eels, every color of coral imaginable, and many amazing reef fish. Spectacular is a word we use daily, and every time we head out to our reef, we see a new type of fish, or multi hued coral, to wow us. Checkout these photos and you'll see what we mean.
