We were up this morning at 3:45 am to get our 4:30 taxi to the airport and we easily beat the chaos and traffic endemic in Colombo. Once we arrived in Male we picked up a new SIM card, scored some data and then hopped on our sea plane to our resort in the Maldives.
The past 7 days just flew by and tomorrow we head to India for 3-4 months so a little relaxation and battery charging was just what the doctor ordered. The Maldives sit upon a subterranean mountain range extending over 950 km north to south with the peaks making up a chain of 26 atolls consisting of 1192 coral islands with an average ground level elevation of just 1.5 metres. It is the lowest country in the world with its highest natural point being the lowest in the world at 2.4 metres. We stayed at Adaaran Select Meedhuppuru Resort, an all-inclusive coral island resort about 150 km from the capital city of Male. The resort was beautiful, the staff always smiling and friendly and the buffet and A La Carte restaurants excellent. The island is ringed by pure white sand and lush jungle-like vegetation throughout with sand paths leading to the different areas of the island. We spent out first 5 nights at a sunset beach villa where we were entertained by young Lemon and Black Tipped sharks cruising the shore line. The resort also has a resort within the resort, 20 over-water villas that we just had to try out so we splurged and spent 2 days and 2 nights perched upon a coral reef teeming with fish, a very private Jacuzzi, a private beach and our butler Raj who looked after our every need. It was a great way to end our time here knowing that the next several months will definitely not be as luxurious and comfortable. A special thank you to Michael Nassi, the Resident General Manager who made sure our stay was memorable.
