Day 1 - Getting to the Maldives

Day 1 - Spain to Male and Canada to Male

The Maldives - the dream destination for myself, and many others. A honey moon spot and a place for friends and family.

I had booked a Travelzoo coupon in May of 2020 (at the beginning of the pandemic), for an incredible $875 USD. This gave me a garden room for 2, half board (breakfast and dinner) and the transfer in to the island. On top of this price, I had to pay for any drinks (any and all), lunches, specialty restaurants, the mandatory “green tax” and the transfer back the mainland. The transfer and green tax were an additional $434 USD - so just over $1300 USD for a week, for 2 people. Add you international flight and it’s still a rocking deal. Keith was not interested in the long flights it takes to get here, so I asked my friend Kathryne - who was all in!!! We decided to hit Paris in the way home and really make it worth it!

As I had already planned my Camino, we added the trip to the Maldives to the end - kind o like a reward :-). Booked all our airfare, our Paris hotels and activities and we were set to go.

I left from Spain on the morning of the 31st of October. I flew via Abu Dhabi with a longish layover. Kat flew from Ottawa via Toronto and Vienna with a long enough layover that she could explore the city of Vienna. We met in Male airport. Kat had some issues getting through immigration, but eventually made it through :-). She brought my carry on sized suitcase with clothing for the next 10 days, so I had not had to carry it with me on my Camino. Bless her - I was desperate for a change of clothing as I was still in pilgrim chic!

And the adventure continued. Next up was a 20 min flight (the wait time to board was longer than the flight) and then a speedboat ride of about 45 min. We finally arrived at Reefi Faru resort around 3pm on Nov 1. Great way to start the month.

Our room is a beautiful cabin set in the gardens. King bed, futon couch, and an outdoor bathroom to kill for, including 2 showers. Goals!!! We have a porch and two lounge chairs, a drying rack for bathing suits and towels and a foot hose for getting sand off before entering. Everything is perfect!

The resort is on an island - a decent sized island. White white sand, palm trees and a house reef where you can snorkel and dive. I have been in the fence about the diving and I met Kat know months ago that I may only snorkel. Since getting certified, I got entangled in the St Lawrence (which freaked me out after the fact) and have gained most of my hard lost weight back. I’ve been worried about my blood pressure as you should not dive if it’s high as it’s too risky. We went it the dive shop where Kat booked her check in dive (testing skills) and the girl at the counter told me there is a Dr on site that could check my BP. Let’s just say it was higher than he recommends for diving. Now I had had no sleep for over 30 hrs, had been on 3 flights and speedboat ride and had only been in the island 3hrs. He suggested I come back on the 3rd in the morning and have another try. If it’s not down, no diving. So, decision out of my hands. I am sure as heck not risking my life to see some fish etc. I am happy to snorkel.

We also booked our free sunset cruise and a massage for the day before we leave. What the hell … we are on holiday!

We went for a walk on the beach and then a swim as the sun was going down. The clouds were so soft and fluffy looking, and tinged with yellow, pink, orange and purple. There was literally no one else on the beach and it felt like we were on Gillian’s Island! Including the huts in the distance (in this case, Nula bar). It was a perfect way to end the long and drawn out travel to get to this island paradise.

We went back to the room to shower and change for dinner. Appears I may have been a bit stressed when packing. Most of my stuff does not go with other items I packed, and I had not even considered adding in an adapter for this currency (same as UK). Kat to the resume as thankfully she had one. And I have a Doyle USB charger. So, teamwork pulled us through that one. Not so much the clothing situation lol! Dinner does not start until 7:30 and we were both ready to eat a horse. Thank heavens the food was AMAZING! Food from all over this part of the world. There were some items from Lebanon, Arabic items, Indian, and Italian (well, pasta - that counts, right?!). Everything was so good and flavourful. Desserts left a little to be desired, but no great loss if we don’t eat dessert!!

All in all, the resort is fabulous, the staff is amazing and the food is brilliant. Let’s hope the rest of the week lives up to the standard set on the first day!!!Read more