Trains, Planes and Speedboats

It was a long way to go to get away from it all but it was worth it. The journey there and back went very smoothly with no delays or connection problems and Sri Lankan Airlines are one of the best airlines I have ever flown with. The good service and good food made the long flight somewhat pleasureable. After a number of airports (Cork-Heathrow-Columbo-Male) we finally arrived by speedboat to the Full Moon Resort to a welcoming smile and warm sunshine. It was 9am when we arrived and luckily our room was ready for us as we were certainly ready for a nap at that stage after leaving Blarney 22 hours before.

The Maldives are a group of islands (nearly 1,200 of them) in the Indian Ocean with a population of 290,000 people. Some of the islands have as little as 200 population. We had read before that the Maldivians were very friendly and I can confirm this to be true - they are not only genuinely friendly but are very happy people (must be something to do with the all year sunshine). We mostly met male Maldivians as the women marry very young (20 is the average age) and look after their children at home and the men go out to work so our resort had mostly male staff with the only woman working in reception and in the spa. Most of the staff were young and stayed in staff accommodation on the island but some went home in the evenings to their own homes on different islands by speedboat. Speedboats there are like cars here.

We had a fantastic week. If you don't dive here there's very little else to do so we were forced to swim, sunbathe, read, sleep, eat and drink (a nightmare or what?) Nightlife consisted of a good meal with cocktails afterwards with live music to entertain us on most nights. Our latest to bed was 1am! We were delighted with our accommodation - the water bungalow was perfect, very private and the direct access to the sea from our own balcony was the business (Jamie spent hours in the sea every day). The small sharks kind of put me off venturing out too far from our bungalow! But I did enjoy the sunken bath with views of the sea. While the sun was shining on our arrival and for the week - the rain came down in buckets on the day we left. And when it rains, it pours.