Paradise

So this past weekend I got to spend 3 amazing days in the Maldives. For those of you who don't know the Maldives is a group of Atolls (circles of Islands) that is basically paradise on earth. The Maldives boasts something like 120 islands. None of them are longer than 5 miles and many are way smaller than that.

We stayed on a resort island own by the Sheraton. It was amazing. When we arrived they had a tiny yacht waiting to take us to the Island. On the way the dolphins played in the boat wake, which apparently is a rare treat. The beauty of the islands was stunning. The water was so clear and the beaches were so white.

After settling into our rooms we all went to the beach. Unfortunately the first day was a bit overcast but we didn't care. But favor smiled upon us cause the rest of the weekend was gorgeous. 

On Saturday I went scuba diving for the first time ever. It was a truly amazing experience. Four of us went to have our introductory session. We had an intro video on hand signals and how to continuously breathe otherwise our lungs would explode. And got fitted with out gear. Wearing 4 weights on a belt, a heavy tank, and all those tubes I couldn't see how I wouldn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean. But it turns out that a body is pretty buoyant. 

Unfortunately two of our group couldn't equalize (It's like popping your ears on the plane. It releases internal air pressure and you can't dive without it. It would be like trying to continuously get the rings on the bottom of a 12' foot deep swimming pool). It was down to just my manager and myself. On our training dive to get us acclimated to the experience and proper technique we saw manta rays and eagle rays and plenty of fish. We we only underwater for about 20 minutes but I was hooked. We scheduled our first dive for early afternoon. I was so excited to get to see reef life.

The actual dive was amazing. Our max depth was 11.5 meters or around 40 feet. I think the most surprising thing is that you don't realize how deep you are until you look up. We saw a reef shark, moray eels, a napoleon fish, an octopus, and a ton of fish.

Napoleon fish - That isn't me but I needed a person to show size

The best thing happened at the end. I had another 20 minutes of swimming air but my swimming buddy/manager had run out of his swimming air and needed to ascend. We needed to stop at 5 meters depth and wait for three minutes to allow our bodies to adjust to the new pressure. Our dive instructor was looking at his watch and I was looking at the sea life below. My manager kept on trying to get my attention but I wanted to see all that I could before we surfaced. I finally turned to see what he wanted me to see. There was a wall of silver blue fish extending from the surface to the top of the reef. It had formed a half circle around us. It was one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. if we had still been on our dive we would have missed it because it was above us. Suddenly I wasn't angry that we had to surface sooner than I wanted.

Our last day the sun came out and the view was even more breath taking. We tried to get as much sun and sand in before we had to leave that afternoon. It was an amazing weekend and I can't wait to go back (although to a cheaper resort).

It only got this crystal clear and blue on the last day

View from my room