Kobus & Teresa In India: March 2011

Disclaimer: We do NOT accept any responsibility for any Maldivian holidays that was caused from reading this blog.

We waited nearly two months for our trip to the Maldives and it was all over in two minutes!! The time just flashed by, before we knew it we were back at our apartment in Hyderabad. Our experience, for what still feel like it was just a dream was one of the best times in our life, something I think is impossible to explain to someone in words.

We left early on Thursday morning to catch our flight to Bangalore from where we would fly to the Maldives. After arriving at Male Airport we quickly zipped through immigration, got our luggage and as we left the airport we got greeted by one of the lodge representatives that escorted us to the boat that took us to Kandooma Island. The boat ride to Kandooma Island was about forty five minutes and we were supplied with a cold damp towels that smelled of pure peppermint and cold bottle water. We were greeted at Kandooma Island by our first names and a nice refreshing cocktail cold drink that had mint, ginger, lime and Sprite in. We were taken to our beach villa were we did not waste any time unpacking and started exploring the island.

We arrived nice and early on Thursday just after midday and still had lots of time to explore and take it all in. The island is nice and small and it is just large enough for a nice relaxing walk around. We walked and took pictures enjoying all the marine life activity in the shallow clear water. For a late lunch/early dinner we shared a seafood pizza and it was one of the nicest seafood pizza's we have had. I am not normally a big seafood pizza fan but this was enjoyable. The food over all during our stay was good especially our Saturday evening dinner we had at the main restaurant of the lodge. This was fine dining as you only see on television and we loved every bite of it.

We spend most of our Friday walking, swimming and relaxing in the sun. On Friday evening we went on the night fishing cruise. The boat leaves just as the sun is about to set and it made for a stunning sunset. We tried one spot for a while and after about ten minutes the crew decided to try another spot that turned out a success. Teresa caught the first fish between the two of us and after that I caught another three. There was a total of nine guests that went and everybody had some luck. After we returned to the island they wanted to divide the fish between all the guests that went on the night fishing and we decided to donate our fish to the rest. You had a choice for them to cook the fish for you or they would have provided you with a Weber grill and you could cook it yourself.

Saturday was more busy as we went on a Dolphin Cruise at 10am that turned out to be just a cruise as we they did not find any dolphins for us. As they normally have a good success rate they offered us another cruise and we chose to take the cruise later that afternoon. We were the only two that chose to go on that cruise and they took us out on a small speed boat that was much more fun. We did end up finding dolphins and as soon as the internet connection in India allows me I will post the video clips of the dolphins. There is just something about watching these animals in mother nature rather than in captivity. We were also taken out on a catamaran after the earlier dolphin cruise and we sailed around the area for close to a hour. The quietness and slower pace of the sailing just brought you closer to nature. We could also ride over more shallow water.

Sunday came too quickly and before we could find ourselves we were on the airplane heading for India. This was just one magical weekend and we really would love to go again just to make sure it was not a dream.