Male', Maldives

Guess what we are up to? Another ferry ride! This time with a captain that does his steering with his feet! It works better than the other way in the Seychelles! Here we go! The Maldives are made up of over 1,000 islands, that are really not quite islands. They are called atolls. Mostly underwater. There are just under 100 resorts built up on stilts on some of these islands. They look like bungalows connected by a long boardwalk. Incredible. This is a dream vacation spot. Warm temperatures, beautiful beaches, PRIVACY. This is the reason the movie stars probably flock here. You have to take a boat to get to anywhere. You could just take a boat off to your bungalow and cut off the rest of the known world! Over 99% of this country is ocean. They have spotted 16 different type whales, they have an abundance of sharks, marlin, you name it. They have beautiful coral reefs, which make this a divers' paradise. Without the coral reefs, the Maldives wouldn't have their fabulous beaches. The fine white sand is in fact tiny bits of coral bitten off the reef by parrotfish, then discarded and polished by the action of the water. The reefs protect the beaches, stopping them from being washed away in the ocean currents.

Here we are arriving at the airport. Why the airport? We took a sea plane tour of the islands!! I had a hard time deciding which pictures to post, so when we return, you'll all have to come over for the slideshow! Sit back, relax, and enjoy your tour of some of the most magnificent islands in the world! Of course, getting on the plane comes first. Here greeted by our Canadian pilots! They really flew south for the winter!!

Now....your first glimpse of the paradise called the Maldives.

The picture here to the right, I think the guide said was The Four Seasons. It was hard to hear on the plane.

The dense island of Male'. Look at that. Can you believe the difference in the solitude of one island and the combustion of this one? Our ship from the sky.

Our cute friends, Margie and Dave. They were on our flight. That was my first time to ever be on a sea plane. When it was over I wanted to do it again. It was like being a bird landing on the water. We were like de-plane! de-plane from Fantasy Island!!!






Charles and Nicholas in the port city of Male'. We did a walking tour on our own.

Anyone for a banana? Lots of them and lots of different kinds, all right there in the gutter ready to eat!

Fish. Did someone say fish? These fish were so ready to be sold they met you out on the sidewalk. Notice the ice that is not there keeping them fresh!





Whenever I've pictured baskets of fish, like in the Bible, they were not in laundry baskets. However, it does seperate them nicely, again, no ice.

These fish were displayed nicely....on the floor! How about that ice!!!

These fish were ready to go into baskets I guess. All looked very fresh and easy to bend over and pick up!

These may have been a family favorite. Fish in a bucket. Looks like Red Snapper?? We did not run into our head chef, Tobias, at the fish market.

Had to get some souvenier shopping done. We picked a store that had soups to nuts. Nicholas was buying coins, Kathleen wanted earrings, Charles wanted a patch and a hat, I wanted a dress or two, a skirt or two and then this guy showed us what looked like a diaper and put it on me. All the time I was trying to ask, "where is the fitting room?" You try things on over your clothes in this country. Or at least that is what we had to do.

WHERE IS THE FITTING ROOM???


No fitting room needed. Just try it on here for everyone in the Maldives to decide if they like it or not. Got the dress. It was $16.
Nicholas tried to use the skills he learned from his Scottish buddy on the ship to bargain for the coins he is trying to collect for many of his budies back home.

I apologize if this blog is not as in depth as it should be. We still do not have all the kinks worked out of our laptop and I lost the connection and my blog 4 times while trying to publish this. We will be in Sri Lanka by 6:00a.m. We are getting a van and a guide to take us for 4 hours around the port city of Colombo. My mission, to see a snake charmer make a snake come out of a basket! They have small narrow streets with all kinds of markets selling all kinds of crazy things. The thing that caught my eye in the reading material is that you can buy live snakes!! Should be fun and will get the best shots possible before I scream and run like a baby!!

By the way, if you want to come to the Maldives, do it soon, at least in the next 35 years. Nicholas, astronomer friend, Jon Lomberg, told us that if global warming continues as it is now and we continue to have storms much like the tsunami that hit here, these islands will disappear. The highest point above sea level here is 2 feet above sea level!!! Book early!!