My amazing trip to the Maldives

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Planning of our family trip (me and my brother-in-law) started somewhere in the month of October 2018. This time after looking for some destinations we finally decided upon Maldives. As the Maldives is having a lot of atoll islands the first discussion started was about which Island to visit. Looking into the various comments in the Trip Advisor and other travel sites we finally ended up with these choices – Thulusdhoo , Mafushi , Gulhi Island . After further checking on the hotel details and kind of adventure activities available in these islands we zeroed in on Thulusdhoo Island.

We finalized the Season’s paradise hotel as it was the only best hotel on this island having good sea view and nice rooms. All others were guest house options which we were not interested in at all. Another attraction for Season’s paradise was its beautiful infinity pool at the rooftop with a very scenic view of the sea from it. So, all the bookings were done, and the trip was planned from 24th Dec – 29th Dec 2018.  

We took a GoAir flight from Delhi to Male on 24th December at 12:45 PM and reached Male around 4:30 PM. The first thing we did was that we purchase a local sim card to have local connectivity among us. As soon as we came out of the Male airport, beautiful sunset and sea view welcomed us outside of an airport. 

Day 1 : Hotel Check-In and rest at Hotel in evening

Our hotel speed boat was waiting to take us to our hotel on Thulusdhoo Island. Ride to Hotel through speed boat was really very scenic. After around 20-25 minutes we reached Season’s Paradise Hotel and checked in. Rest of the day we just took rest and then dinner at the Hotel.

Thulusdhoo island is having a population of around 1400 – 1500 people. Coca-Cola factory is the main Industry there. This island is the best place for the surfers and for ones who just want to sit back relax and enjoy the beach. 

Day 2 :  Beach Visit

Beach was a very short walk from our Hotel. It was very beautiful and very clean. For around 3 – 4 hours we enjoyed there at the beach and really had a great time playing in the sea waves and making a sand castle. Later we sat there watching waves and came back to the Hotel at around 2:00 PM. Rest of the day we relaxed in the Hotel. In the evening we went to the other side of the island where there was a good sunset view. Hotel buggy dropped us to that beach and we spent the evening sitting at the seaside for an hour or so and later the buggy took us back to the hotel. It was very peaceful at the beach and we all enjoyed spending a great time together and doing chit chatting. In the evening itself we booked our next day visit to Sand Bank for Snorkeling and evening tour of Sunset and Dolphin watching. My son was very excited and interested in Scuba diving. We planned a meeting with Tristan in the evening who was the Scuba instructor and an owner of Feenaa Diving school. Just 5 minutes talking to him we could sense that he is a very passionate scuba instructor. He was not trying to push us and get our-self registered for Scuba diving session with him. His instructions to us were very clear that go for snorkeling first and get a feel of what we can expect during Scuba diving.  He said, “If you get very excited watching the group of fishes during snorkeling and you want to get even more adventurous then for sure you will enjoy scuba diving as well”. So that was our plan anyway the next morning.

 

Day 3 :  Snorkeling, Sunset and Dolphin watching

The first half of the day we spent doing Snorkeling at a sandbank near Thulusdhoo island. This was my first experience with snorkeling, and I must say it was very enjoying. The sandbank was very beautiful and scenic. My son enjoyed snorkeling very much. Initially, I struggled a bit but it was a time when my son took me a bit deep into the water I could see beautiful fishes in huge bunches going past me. It was a really great experience. In fact, from that time on I got very excited and started looking for more such breathtaking a view of fishes. We all really enjoyed the snorkeling and it was total fun. The only thing that was problematic was the presence of a lot of corals which made it a bit difficult for us to steer through the waters during the walk. Although when we got a bit deep into the waters it was free of corals there.

After finishing up with the Snorkeling we went straight for lunch as we all were feeling very hungry. We relaxed for an hour or so and then it was time for us to go for a quick initial Scuba training session with Tristan for our drive that was planned for the next day. Tristan took us to the seaside with the 20Kg cylinder and the scuba jackets. He shared the instructions and things that we need to be careful while Scuba diving. We practiced some key lessons on breathing and how to use regulator deep in the sea as well as change it with the spare one in case of an emergency. Entire session lasted for about half an hour or so. After the session, our booked yacht took us for Dolphins and Sunset watching ride.

It was 20 minutes ride by a speedboat that took us deep into the sea. We were in mid of a very big group of Dolphins. It was really fun to watch them jump out of the sea every now and then. Some dolphins were jumping out of the water and taking huge leaps and it was great to watch them doing these stunts. Sun was also setting at the same time and the sky was showing the different shades of orange color. Although due to a bit of cloud we could not see clear sunset, the view of the sky was really breathtaking with us being in mid of the sea. After the sunset, we returned to the Hotel.

Day 4 :  Infinity Pool & Adventure activities

On this day we enjoyed swimming in the Hotel’s Infinity pool at the rooftop. The Sea view from the rooftop was very beautiful. We spent a good time swimming and relaxed sitting in the sun. In the evening we went for some water activities and it was great fun. First, we hired the Jet Ski for self-driving. I went in first for a drive first seating behind the instructor who demonstrated about the controls and showed how to steer the Jet Ski. But as soon as he handed me the control and asked me to steer it on the sea waters I felt a bit scared. It was very wavy and I just asked him to drive and I just sat behind him 🙂 and enjoyed the fun ride. All followed the same trend and rode with the instructor only. After that , we went for a fun boat ride. Instructor from Amphibuzz attached a long heavy rope to the boat and connected other end to the speed boat. Slowly he took us deep into the sea and it was a very cool ride and we all enjoyed it a lot.
 
Now was the difficult time for me when I started thinking about how the experience will be with scuba diving next day; will it be scary, will I be able to breathe and what if suddenly I feel uncomfortable when I am deep down in the sea. I could not sleep the entire night and kept thinking about all such questions.

Day 5 :  Scuba Diving

My brother in law and his family went for a resort trip in the morning. The first thing that was planned for us was Scuba diving (me and my son) but as I was surrounded by so much of questions in my mind and was very scared; I made up my mind on the way to diving school that I will not be going for scuba diving. Me, my wife and my son went to the Feena diving school. First thing I mentioned to Tristan immediately as soon as we reached there that I will not be going for scuba diving. Tristan was not at all pushy and he said it is perfectly fine to back off till the timeframe you get all set and does not get into the water. He asked me about what was there in my mind and why I am feeling so scared. Tristan helped me clarify all my doubts very patiently and helped me get past the fear that I was carrying with me. After talking to him I felt relaxed and finally, I agreed to go for a dive. We got ourselves all set wearing the scuba jackets and our cylinders. We quickly did a quick breathing session using a regulator and in bit more detailed fashion. Tristan made sure that we both were doing it all right. Once he was fine with it, we then got on to the boat and my wife stayed back at the hotel.  After around 10 – 15 minutes of the drive we were in the center of the Sea. My son was very excited but on the other hand,my heart was beating very fast. I pushed myself and finally,3 of us got into the sea with our jackets inflated fully. Tristan has put around us 4 kg of weights that would help us to go down in the sea. Once we were above the sea water, Tristan provided us with the Yellow rope for us to hold. Slowly he deflated our jackets and we started getting deep into the sea waters. I could sense the pressure of waters in my ears and as Tristan explained to us that do the ear exercise in the same way as you do during the flights. Initially, I was feeling immense water pressure in my ears but slowly pushing the water out we could decent around 8 – 10 meters deep in the Sea. As we started getting deep into the sea the moment we started getting a glimpse undersea life we forgot about everything and it was just awesome undersea world surrounding us. It will now be very difficult for me to explain in words what an experience it was. So you see it here yourself.

Day 5 :  Back to Male, ready for return

We took a Ferry to Male which started from Thulusdhoo around 7:00 am. We reached Male around 8:30 am. After that, we dropped all our baggage at the airport and started out our Male city tour. We took a ferry from Airport to Male city. We roamed around for some time in the market, purchased some souvenirs and then around 1:30 PM we started looking for good restaurant. After some checking we finally ended up visiting nice vegetarian hotel. Indian food we ordered there was very tasty. We took ferry back to Male Airport only after finishing our last pending item in this tour and that was to have fresh coconut water :-). 
 

Our tour came to an end with this returning flight but we were taking back the loving memories of the trip and great fun time we all had together. 

 

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