Maldives

Can’t say no to “Maldives for free” is how we sold it to ourselves. It probably took a whole of five seconds to give in. So, with cheaper flights back to Cyprus from Maldives than from Kuala Lumpur, we conceded into a weeklong paradise stopover.

The move was also a chance to erase an embarrassing dent into our traveling ego. Last time we were going home from the Pelican (The Sequel) our plane landed on Maldives to pick up extra passengers. And so we were there, in our seats, with time to spare and no chance to get off. Pretty much a disaster scenario for the Jug team. We said we will be back. At some point.

And there is no better time than now. Especially as things changed in Maldives. Basically, the government realized a few years ago that they are missing out on a whole universe of budget conscious tourists – you know, the ones that trawl up and down Thailand. In historical move to get more beach worshippers they opened their local inhabited islands to tourism (as opposed to resort islands you have seen in the postcards). We selected Dharavandhoo island as out host for one key reason – it practically rolls of the tongue and they are known for a Manta ray or two. Sunny days we thought at this stage.

In yet another masterstroke of planning we decided to stay on one of this islands during a holy month of Ramadan. It didn’t take long to realise that outside of tourist islands they take they religion seriously here. Not only are there no drinks on the island (other than lime infused water, ginger infused water, or even lime and ginger infused water) there will also be no food until sunset. Just to confirm, drinks were available only after sunset as well. OK, why not we though, as we imagine our bodies slimming down to Kate Moss size before leaving Maldives.

As we settle into our beach front property (everything in Maldives is beach front located anyway) our ears start picking up that all too familiar sound of minimal pest control. We wanted authentic local and that translated into s*it load of mozzies and send files. So much so, that part of our team (you really don’t need to guess at this stage, right?) was forced to be locked in the room. Just for a record, we (well, Nives) got bitten through clothes and that is with “natural mosquito repellent” on. And this is during the day. Don’t even ask about evenings and nights. So, room it was, with 24h CNN coverage, we never felt as informed on a holiday before. So much for the real Maldives - best to stick to a tour operator brochure island for you next honeymoon.

None of this mattered to us anyway. We are here to be entertained by endless tornado of Manta rays in Hanifaru bay as promised by yet another UNESCO designated site. What you see on TV / online isn’t what the real life turns out to be yet again (at this stage, we are asking ourselves how stupid can we be?). Out of 6 days hunting for manta rays we only managed to go out once. This is even after using all the latest drone flying technology to find them. Overall it was nice, but we have not seen as many manta rays as we wanted (well, as many as Nives wanted).

With deeply mixed feelings we packed one last time and prepared for a four flight 30h ordeal called “getting our cattle class asses back home to Cyprus”. And also, that Kate Moss thing didn’t work out either – you actually can consume a day’s worth of food in one sitting.

Some bonus pictures here.