The Maldives....1,190 islands tucked away in the Indian Ocean, surrounded by blue and turquoise waters, full of sea life, and just what we needed. The Maldives were never really on our bucket list of destinations, but because of the restrictions in Saudi right now, it is one of the places that is relatively easy to get to with little requirements. So we jumped on the opportunity to take a break and rest as a family....And off we went!
We arrived in Male, Maldives (the capital and the main airport) in the morning and were greeted by our resort staff. Our island was located about 30 minutes away by boat. Each island that is inhabited consists of its own resort and ours had a dive & water sports center, spa, 5 restaurants, a kids club, a pool, endless beaches, and lots of villas. We decided to splurge and stay in an over the water bungalow that had a pool and a slide. The kids loved going down the slide the whole trip!
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| Waiting to get on our boat....greeted with these cool necklaces made out of coconut leaves. |
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| Our boat! |
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| On our way to the island! |
Our days were filled with swimming at our own pool, going down the water slide into the ocean, snorkeling around our island, swimming at the main pool, eating lots of yummy food, reading, going to the spa and just hanging out. We did get to do a few excursions/activities that were definitely highlights on our trip!
We got to watch a sting ray and jackfish feeding. Every night at 5:30, there is a big group of of them that come to the shore for a feeding and it was incredible. There was also an eel that lived right under the dock that was poking its head out as well! So cool!
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| The sting rays waiting for their feeding. |
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| Soren loved all the animals! |
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| Waiting for the feeding to start! |
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| On the dock waiting. |
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| The eel poking his head out! |
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Feeding!!!
Link to watch the video of the stingray feeding |
Ryan and Soren went on a shipwreck snorkeling excursion. They were taken out by boat to a shipwreck that was pretty close to our island. They saw the wreck, as well as a sea turtle that came up really close to them! They saw black tip reef sharks, lots of fish, and had a great time! It's safe to say after a week, those boys LOVE snorkeling!
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| Big fish!! |
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| The coral with some fish. |
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| Sea turtle off in the distance. |
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| Sea turtle up close! |
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| There he is again! |
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| Pretty fish and a star fish! |
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| Soren snorkeling! |
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| Lots of fish in the blue waters! |
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| Coral and some nemos! |
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| So many fish! |
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| The ship wreck! |
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| More fish. |
The girls and I got to go on a dolphin quest excursion. We headed out about 30 minutes away from our island to where the dolphins are usually spotted. We were lucky and found the little pod. The dolphins swam right along our boat and were jumping up out of the water. We even saw a baby dolphin with it's mama jumping! I had only seen dolphins in the wild off our beach in Saudi, but never anything like we saw in the Maldives. It was absolutely amazing!
I got to have a few spa treatments that were included in our stay, and I even brought Elsa along on one of them. She was a little nervous at first, but really loved her first massage! I think it's safe to say she is ready to go back!
Ryan and I also got to go parasailing together. The views from up in the sky of the ocean were incredible. You could see little sandbars and reefs that created such beautiful waters. I just have never seen anything like it before and it was stunning!
And here are more random pictures from our trip....first up, swimming time....
Pictures of the resort.....
We had such an incredible trip and are so grateful for the opportunity to travel to such a beautiful place. Hope you enjoyed!
Thanks for another virtual trip with you and the fam. Always fun to read/see the pix!
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