Thursday, December 19, 2013

December 18, 2013 : Maldives to Sri Lanka

I love mornings in the Maldives:                               


Today we have to leave our wonderful island paradise:


(12/19: more to come soon - we are off on a liveaboard tomorrow morning, so it's sleepy time now, we'll be back in the wired world on Saturday 12/21)









December 17, 2013 : Veligandu

As today was our last full day, we made sure to make the most of it. (read: relax!) After our usual morning routine, we spend some time lazily by the pool, swimming, taking pictures, reading, and napping. We had a leisurely lunch before some more lounging, sand castle, building, and swimming.







On our way back to the villa, taking the scenic beach route, Trey spotted 3 or 4 sharks at the water's edge... which gave him the idea to snorkel back to the villa!  (About 1/4 of a way around the island) Once he got back, and assured me there were no fish nor sharks nearby, I hopped in the water right down our villa steps for a couple of quick pictures!



At 5:30pm, we had a sunset cruise scheduled which also hinted of possible dolphin spottings. We headed on, sitting on the top sun deck on the search for dolphins, sunsets, and moon rises! About 30 minutes in, one of the guides spotted some dolphin and Wow! They swam along side us, jumping, for about 20 minutes. The pictures do not do it justice!




Just as the dolphins faded away, the sunset really began.

Back at the villa, we were heading out for dinner right as we saw the moon starting to rise... and it was a Full Moon! It was gorgeous and made for a beautiful last night in the Maldives. (It makes me sad just to write that even after the fact!) After dinner, we stopped in to see our favorite morning bartender who had switched shifts before heading to bed.





"Just another day in paradise..."