Kuredu Resort, Maldives

2 sting rays!
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If you win some money, you must come to the Maldives!  Need a honeymoon spot, Maldives!  Like to scuba, Maldives!  It is paradise on Earth!  Really there is no single island to the Maldives and so I assume your time here is different depending on the island you stay on.  Male is the most inhabited island but it too is quite small.  But it does remind one of NYC with all these 'tall' buildings on a small island.  If there is a downside its that you must fly or take a speedboat to your ultimate destination (which is fun).  Unfortunately these operators do not work at night (when many of the flights arrive).  And so you are stuck "sleeping" in their "airport".  Basically a bench outside.  It's absurd - and they really should figure out alternatives for people (other than getting a hotel for a night in Male).

We disturbed his nap and so he's swimming away
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My trip here was a trip from hell... 45 hours!  Initial flight from Jordan was cancelled and as you'd imagine not many flights from there.  So I ended up taking a flight to Bahrain, then to Dubai, sleeping in Dubai airport o/n and then taking a flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka and then to Male and sleeping in the airport o/n.  Then I took the air taxi to the island.  5 planes... 45 hrs and............. they lost my luggage.  So 48 more hrs without any stuff.  But actually, it mattered not.  I mean, what does a man need on paradise other than his bathing suit? (and i brought that in my pocket just in case my luggage was lost!)

It is paradise on Earth!

Spiny lobster
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However once you finally make it to your island of choice, calmness takes over.  I don't know why - but staying on a small beach island just listening to the ocean is fulfilling to the soul in a way I do not find often.  Scuba on a good day might just be one of them... and they have plenty of good days here!  On my very first day I saw 4 moray eels, 2 honeycomb eels, and an eagle ray!  I mean, cmon!  I also found my very first octopus!  I've seen them, even held them - but I never found one on my own before!  It was the coolest thing ever!

Lion fish chilling upside down (don't touch!)
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On my second day diving I saw 5 sting rays, a turtle, a shark, 2 honeycomb eel, and a lobster.  Seriously!  The maldives reef is dead though.  No color to speak of.  But it is certainly filled with all sorts of large creatures!  And the water is a warm 28 Celsius.  Sweet!  It was such good diving I rented a camera to see if I could capture this to show everyone.  Sadly, the vis was bad and I was so focused on my camera I sucked through my oxygen and had to take a shorter than normal dive (which is NOT) the way to see stuff!

My dive buddy Cathy from Scotland
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I met some cool dive buddies here... Kathy from Scotland, Dushanka from Switzerland and Rushdie from South Africa.  Rushdie and I played guitar too... he's much better than me and sings too!  I was able to get in 9 dives, including a night dive and sunset dive.  Sunset was weird... fish were out and about and then... poof... all gone.  Day fish left for bed... and night creatures hadn't come out yet.  We were in the ocean all alone.  I don't recommend sunset dives, but definitely recommend the rest of the diving.

A giant mooray eel
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Oh yea, almost forgot.  They have fruit bats on the island!  Now, someone told me they were fruit bats.  I don't know... all I know is they look exactly like bats!  And it is weird to see them flying around at dusk and night when you are headed back to your bungalow.