Just realised i have covered day two quite extensively in my summarised itinerary and i don't think i would want to regurgitate about the loss of my mobile phone.
Hence, let's go straight to the snorkeling bundle we signed up with our hotel; known simply as Package 1 (US$48 per person).
Despite the sadness over the lost phone, i am determined to enjoy myself on my first day in Maldives, especially when the journey was all about snorkeling; my favourite water activity!
Newbies to Maldives would take every opportunity to take photographs of pretty little sand banks and exclusive resort islands sighted at any moment; me inclusive.
The one thing that hit me ten minutes into the speedboat ride was that the sea appeared to be relatively rough. I didn't think much about it as i wasn't in an enclosed vessel (which often makes me extremely giddy). Furthermore, i presume i would be fine since i would be in the water eventually.
.JPG)
First Stop - Turtle Reef - Didn't spot any turtle even though i was in awe of the wide variety of marine fishes. In all my snorkeling trips before Maldives, the view had never been this fabulous!
.jpg)
Second Stop - Banana Reef - At this point, i was already showing signs of motion sickness; i knew trouble was coming when i started burping. The lack of synchronization between the eyes and brain, as a result of the strong waves, was worsened by the life jacket!
Most of my breakfast was contained in this blue plastic bag. I was hesitant to throw it into the clear turquoise water but that's the only option being offered to me by the boatman. I believe an alternative does exist; i could eat it again! Euuuuwwww.
.JPG)
Third Stop - Lunch at Sand Bank. After vomiting, i was actually looking forward to a substantial lunch that would help to fill my tummy. In my opinion, it was horrible! The best part about the sand bank was that i could recover from seasickness.
Right ahead of us was Anantara Veli Maldives; one of the country's top resorts. Just the entrance fee itself for a day trip can set us back by more than US$150 per person and that's provided the resort decides to open its doors to non-resort visitors.
Last Stop - Shark Point. This would also be the last leg of the snorkeling bundle; i was apprehensive to jump in as the waves were higher than the norm.
.JPG)
Not one to be defeated when the money has already been paid, i forced myself to jump into the water. Honestly, this was the worst spot so far and i didn't even see a single shark! I could only blame myself as most of our tour mates managed to at least catch a glimpse of it.
Those who are interested to know where we had covered for the snorkeling package may refer to the Google satellite map above; i have located the sites using Photo GPS Extract!
With another bout of motion sickness gradually making its way to empty my stomach, I returned back to Maafushi Island at around 2pm.
If not for my poor condition, i would have loved to try the sea sports! Anyway, i had to make it back to the hotel for further investigation on my lost item. Waited an hour for the IT technician to arrive and another 30 minutes to pull out the video from the CCTV server; video quality was bad and nothing was concluded.
.jpg)
Made our way to the local police station to make a report as my travel insurer would likely require it for claims. Spent a long time in the station as i was required to WRITE about the incident; requested finally to type it out instead. Don't think most people can read my horrendous handwriting.
While cycling back to the hotel and taking in the view of calm seas, we decided to pop by a local travel agent strongly recommended by many people on Tripadvisor; iCom.
There were so many packages to choose from; dolphin watching, whale shark snorkeling, entry to many exclusive resorts etc!
Refer to the whiteboard to see which package has already had signups! There is often a minimum signup required to "activate" the package although you could always choose to charter an entire boat.
My dinner - cup noodles! Under the impression that food would be extremely unaffordable, we brought almost ten cups from Singaporeans!
=====
For my six days, five nights
Maldives itinerary, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment