I have always looked at those travel magazines with pictures of small huts sitting over turquoise colored water, and wondered what it would be like to stay in one.  About 1.5 months ago, Alecia wanted to get away to a beach for awhile, and I figured our 7-year anniversary would be a great excuse to go.  After spending a few hours on the internet I found a spot in the Maldives called “Kuredu”.  It was one of the “cheaper” islands, and had a lot of good reviews on tripadvisor.com.  After a few mouse clicks and a credit card number, our fate was sealed and we were going to be enjoying 7 days of sand, sun, and blue water.

Getting to the Maldives is a little tricky.  From Shanghai we flew to Dubai.  After a couple days in Dubai we then hopped a flight to the capital city of the Maldives, Male.  There was a short stopover in Colombo, Sri Lanka.  I couldn’t help but remember all of the news about the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka.  When we landed at the airport I noticed there were a lot of bunkers with soldiers in them.  I guess that was to prevent the rebels from storming the airport.  After one hour on the ground, the crew gassed the plan for mosquitos (there is no malaria in the Maldives and they want to keep it that way), picked up a few people and took off for a 400 mile flight to Male.

When we got close to the Male airport, I pulled of the front view camera on the in flight entertainment screen in the seat in front of me.  All I could see was a really big runway, on a very tiny island.  There was not much except a small terminal and a few buildings.  The capital island was about 500 meters away.  After landing we grabbed our bags and headed over to the “Maldivian Air Taxi” counter and caught a bus to their headquarters on the other side of the runway.

Apparently the water taxi airport in the Maldives is the largest in the world.  They had a couple “runways” made out of water and a bunch of Canadian made float planes that held 15 people and their luggage.  We were escorted into the office and told we had to wait for about 3 hours before our flight left.  They never guarantee the flight times because they just wait for the international flights to come in to fill each plane.

After 4 hours we finally got onto our plane.  The pilots jumped in (with no shoes on) and we took off for our 45 minute flight to the island.  From 5000 feet above the Indian ocean, it is rather impressive to see all of the atolls that make up the Maldives.  They are each surrounded by turquoise blue water that immediately changes into a real dark blue.

We landed at the resort and were greeted by a couple drummers.  It kind of reminded me of the old show Fantasy Island where the little guy would run out and yell, “The plane!  The plane!”.  I surprised Alecia by telling her that we would be staying in one of the water villas rather than the beach villa I told her about.  We got to our villa, and as soon as I opened the door, the smell reminded me of our friend’s cabin in McCall.  It was the smell of knotty pine furniture.  The room had a queen bed with a mosquito net draped over it.  The bathroom had two sinks and a nice shower.  Out front we had a deck with a ladder that went down into the lagoon.

After our bags got to the room, Alecia told me she was feeling hungry.  Unfortunately we found out that we had missed the lunch hour at our restaurant and would have to wait until 7:30 for dinner.  Well, I knew we had to get some food ASAP before Alecia’s alter ego “Hungry Woman” would come out.  We made our way down to the main part of the resort and found an a la carte’ restaurant to grab some chow.

The island is made up of 3 “separate” resorts.  Basically it is all the same resort, but they try to split people up based on your accomodations.  Because we stayed in the water villas we were part of the “Sangru” resort, with our own restaurant.  On the other side (only 1.5k away), there was the “O Club” and in the middle was one more.  The island has two pools, a 5 star dive shop, a couple little stores, a few bars and a water sports center.  Most of the people on the island were German or English.  We never met any Americans.

We had opted for the “all inclusive” package, because the food and drinks were very expensive.  Since you are stuck on their island, you have no choice but to pay the high rates.  The all inclusive seemed a little more economical.  At 7:30 we went over to our restaurant and met our waiter for the week, “Amir”.  We were able to sit out on the beach with a candle on our table.  It was rather impressive to watch the sun go down over the ocean as you eat your dinner.  The food was incredible.  Every night was a buffet of fresh salads and fish.  There was also plenty of fruit available.

All of our days on the island blended together, so rather than describe each one, I will describe a typical day.

1. - Wake up when the sun comes into the room.  Usually around 7:30am.

2. -Go for a run around the island.

3. -Cool off with a quick snorkel in front of the villa.

4. -Visit with our trigger fish friend, “Chompers”.  This fish would poke its head out of the water and watch you.  It reminded me of “Finding Nemo”.

5. -Go eat breakfast at 9:30.

6. -Come back to villa and read books on our deck.

7. -Around 1pm, go eat lunch.

8. -Come back to villa and read some more.  Maybe take a nap.

9. -Around 3pm, head down to the water sports center for some sailing or wind surfing.

10. -After water activities head over to the main pool bar for happy hour strawberry daquaries.

11. -Read books around the pool and watch the giant fruit bats fly over head.

12. -Walk back to the villa around 7pm, shower up and head over to the restaurant for dinner on the beach.

13. -Come back to villa by 9:30, lay out on deck chairs and stare at all of the stars.

14. -10pm, go to bed.

Needless to say this was a very relaxing trip.  We each were able to read a couple books.  I also got to quench my thirst for sailing with a couple of trips on a catamaran with Alecia.  We also took some wind surfing lessons, but only had enough wind for a couple hours of instruction.

The snorkeling around the island was INCREDIBLE!  I have snorkeled in a lot of oceans, and this was by far the best I have ever seen.  Right outside our villa we had a bunch of trigger fish, parrot fish, black tip reef sharks, etc…  It was always surprising to stick your head in the water and see a shark right in front of your face.  It was fun to swim along side them.  They are very beautiful creatures.  I remember when that happened to Alecia the first time.  She stuck her head in the water, saw the shark, and came flying up onto the ladder.

One day Alecia and I headed about 75 meters out into the ocean where the deep blue meets the light blue.  After watching so many Discovery channel shows, and Blue Planet DVD’s I knew that is where most of the fish would be.  On our way the water was a little cloudy because the tide was changing and the sand was all over the place.  At one point I am pretty sure we spooked a full size black tip reef shark.  I just remember seeing the angled fin with the black tips before it disappeared quickly.  When we got to the deep blue area, we were treated to a truly fantastic site.  We were probably in 15-20 feet of water and got to watch a sea turtle swim around.  I had always wanted to see one in the wild.  The color of the water was extremely beautiful.  It was dark blue, but very clear.  On another trip out to the same area, we went a little further and saw where the sea floor drops off into a giant wall.  It gives you a funny feeling when you go from 15 feet to 200 feet depth instantly.  Alecia and both thought it seemed like we were at the end of the world.

I would highly recommend this island to people who want to get away for a romantic vacation.  I would not recommend to take kids to this island because it seemed geared only for adult couples.  Out of all the beaches I have been to around the world, this was by far the best.  Take a look at the pictures and see for yourself.  Unfortunately due to global warming, these islands won’t be around much longer. The highest point on the islands is around 8 to 10 feet above sea level.

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