AfricaMaldives 2021
Our one trip abroad in 2021
Sunday 28 November 2021. Our only trip abroad of the year. As we were packing our bags, news of the new ‘Omicron’ strain of the Coronavirus was emerging, leaving us wondering if we’d be able to go, or if we might end up having to return early to a hotel quarantine.
A special offer allowed us to check-in through the first class channel and use the first class lounge (not quite the Concord lounge but still). There was a one hour delay to our take off (due to a lack of staff to clean the plane) but we were on a new aircraft with a new cabin layout. The business suites looked similar to the first suites on other aircraft.
Welcome to LUX
Monday 29. We arrived in Malé and were given a PCR test before being taken to the LUX lounge. We had to wait 2 hours for our seaplane but a couple of iced lattes helped.
The transfer was fine although the cabin was a little hot to have to wear a mask. Thankfully the plane didn’t take long to drop a few guests at the first resort before getting us to ours.
This time we were staying in a beach villa (#233) which was perfectly nice although not to the same standard as our villa at Lux North the year before… but then again it did cost a lot less.
After lunch on the beach, at the Lagoon Bar, we stopped in at the dive shop and I booked on a whale shark dive - we also stopped at the spa and Tammay booked a treatment.
We had dinner at Senses.
Sunset run
Tuesday 30. After a coffee and leisurely breakfast, we relaxed on the patio before having lunch at Veli Bar. The pool at Veli was too busy so we ended up going to the Senses pool with an ice cream and our books.
I put in a sunset run around the island, taking a small detour out onto a sand spit that wasn’t here last time.
After a drink and a game of cards at Beach Rouge we had dinner at East, finishing with a couple of glasses of desert wine.
The pier
Wednesday 1 December. An early breakfast before reporting to the dive shop for 07:45. I spent the morning doing 2 whale shark dives. The first was off Maamigili - just to the south west of our island, and the second off Dhidhdhoo. After surfacing from my first dive I started feeling a little queasy. I crouched down at the bow of the boat and it wasn’t long before I was feeding the fish with my breakfast! It made me feel a fair bit better and I decided to go on the second dive. Sadly we didn’t see a whale shark but I was at least feeling reasonable again.
While I was diving Tammay had a massage and I met her at the spa. A spell in the steam room and sauna was nice but didn’t sort me out.
We had lunch by the pool at Veli Bar and spent much of the afternoon sleeping by the beach at Senses. I was feeling more human after that.
We went back to Senses that evening for a cocktail and a game of Rummikub. We had dinner at Beach Rouge.
Relaxing in Senses
Thursday 2, despite the best of intentions I didn’t manage to wake for a dawn run. After breakfast we had a coffee at Cafe LUX and I booked onto the Saturday morning whale shark dive. Tammay booked another massage.
We spent much of the morning sitting on the deck outside our villa. This was followed by the same routine of lunch at Veli Bar and a walk to Senses with a post lunch ice cream! We had another few cocktails, a game of pool and a game of Rummikub at Senses before dinner.
Relaxing at the Lagoon Bar
Friday 3, after breakfast we sat in Cafe LUX and read the news with a coffee.
We had lunch at the Lagoon Bar on the beach, followed by a coffee and cake. As the sun started to get lower in the sky and the tide headed out we walked along the spit of sand to the north of the island heading as far as the sign telling us to go no further! On the way back we picked up various pieces of plastic including an empty 5L oil bottle.
As the sun was setting I headed out for another run, completing a single loop of the island. After a quick shower we headed to the pier to look at the manta rays and sharks swimming in the illuminated water. We then had a few cocktails at the East Market bar. To my surprise they still had the remnants of our desert wine from 2 nights earlier and we took that with us to MIXE where we had dinner.
Whale shark sighting
Saturday 4, another early start for a 07:45 scuba dive trip. This time I had a very light breakfast and that seemed to do the trick. During the surface interval between our two dives we spotted a number of boats heading in the same direction. Clearly someone had spotted a whale shark! We kitted up with snorkelling gear and joined them. Although most of my fellow divers were able to catch sight of the whale shark I wasn’t so lucky. When we got back onto the boat Rabie asked if I’d seen it… “sadly not”. He was clearly disappointed, “come with me!”. They turned the boat around and re-positioned us. We both jumped into the water and Rabie grabbed my hand and we swam out. Within a minute Rabie pointed off to the right and there it was swimming very close to the surface and headed right for us. It was a great sighting and I was able to swim along above him for a while.
Me scuba diving
During our dives I managed to see a turtle or two, a large octopus crammed into a hole in the coral, a school of snapper and a rock fish. My dive buddy, Akeyra, had just bought an underwater housing for his Nikon D850 and was testing it out but having a few issue with focussing.
I'm not quite sure what I'm doing with my legs in this photo.
Ice cream
I once again met Tammay at the spa and spent some time in the sauna and steam room. After a quick shower we had lunch at the Veli Bar followed by an ice cream and a relaxing afternoon at Senses. I was feeling shattered and spend most of the time snoozing.
We had dinner at Beach Rouge.
Lunch at Veli
Sunday 5, after breakfast we once again went to Cafe LUX to read the news. After calling at the dive shop to check out the dives scheduled for the rest of the week and the spa to book a massage for Tammay, we returned to our villa and sat on the deck with our books. I also had a look at the whale shark video I’d shot the day before.
After lunch at Veli bar we picked up another ice cream and returned to Senses for the rest of the afternoon.
Just as the sun was setting I went out for a run. By the time I’d completed a full circuit of the beach it was getting quite dark. I turned on the flashlight on my phone and ran up and down the central trail. Although it felt a little cooler than previous evenings, by the time I finished the 6.2km the humidity left me dripping with sweat.
That evening we went to Senses for a drink over a game of Rummikub followed by dinner.
Run
Monday 6, I woke relatively early to trawl through some of the work emails I’d received in the past week. Thankfully it wasn’t too painful. After breakfast we once again returned to Cafe LUX for coffees while reading the news.
We once again returned to the Veli Bar for lunch. By this point I was wondering how much of a whole tuna I might eat by the end of the holiday.
I put in a short run, completing one loop of the beach. Just as I got back from my run I received a message from Ed about an email that needed attention. Thankfully it was dealt with relatively easily.
We had drinks at East Market, relaxing on one of the large round day-beds, followed by dinner also at East.
A walk on the beach
Tuesday 7, after breakfast we called at the dive shop and I put my name down for the Thila dives scheduled for Thursday. We then returned to Cafe LUX for coffees and a catch-up on the news. We walked back to our villa along the beach, collecting a few pieces of plastic that’d been washed ashore.
We walked across the beach and out into the water in front of our villa… it was the first time Tammay had gone in! We then spent the rest of the morning on our deck.
After lunch at Veli Bar we walked the short stretch of beach to Senses where we spent the afternoon with our books.
Dinner at Beach Rouge
As the sun was setting I went out for a run - south along the beach from our villa, out to the end of the south pier, along the beach to Beach Rouge and then along the central trail to reception and back. It was still very warm despite the light rain.
We had evening drinks at East Market, hanging out over the water, then went to Beach Rouge for dinner.
The walk back to our villa
Wednesday 8, the usual routine of breakfast followed by a coffee while catching up on the news. We once again walked back to our villa along the beach and spent one last morning reading on the deck.
We once again had lunch at the Veli Bar and walked down the beach to Senses. We spent the afternoon reading and as the sun got lower in the sky it started to rain. By the time it has finished it was fairly dark so I didn’t bother going for a run.
A suspended day-bed
That evening we went to Senses for a drink over a game of Rummikub followed by dinner. Before going to bed Tammay packed up our stuff ready for our room move the following morning.
Thursday 9, an early breakfast before a double Thila dive which didn’t quite go to plan… on our first dive we entered the water but one of the group wasn’t able to sink (had also taken off one of his counter weights) and while we waited the current swept us clean across the Thila. We got back into the boat and went to Digurah Thila with the instructions to descend as soon as we hit the water. Hugo and I were told to jump last given that we hadn’t experienced any issues.
Between our dives the crew spotted a group of boats nearby which had found a manta ray. We spent a few minutes in the water snorkelling but it was quite deep and swimming along the bottom.
During the second dive at Sunset Faru we passed a wreck, saw a few sharks and a very large Napoleon fish. The diver who had issues descending on the first dive had more issues and had to surface. Yuan didn’t think they could surface alone so went with them for the safety stop. Hugo and I remained on the reef. It wasn’t long before we lost sight of the others and I felt we probably shouldn’t stray too far. I had a good 100bar left but Hugo was on 60bar so we milled around for a little while and I decided we might as well surface so released my SMB. As we went to our 5m safety stop Yuan found us and got Hugo to also use his SMB (he hadn’t dived in 10 years but was now taking his Advanced Open Water Diver course).
I again met Tammay at the spa and after a spell in the sauna we went back to reception for a coffee and a sit on the swing overlooking the pier.
Our new villa
After checking out our new water villa (#405) we had lunch at Veli Bar before returning to our villa to read on our deck. This villa was on the opposite side of the pier to the villa we had in 2019 (#439) and had a little less shade in the afternoon. As the sun set I wasn’t feeling in the mood for a run… I really need to get up early tomorrow for a run!
Cocktails and Rummikub
After our usual game of Rummikub at Senses we had dinner at MIXE which was holding a Maldivian evening.
Coffee
Friday 10, in spite of Tammay’s predictions (which in fairness had been accurate until now) I managed to get out for a sunrise run. High tide occurred just before dawn so I stuck to the piers and central trail. During my run I passed 3 other motivated runners!
After breakfast we stopped at Cafe LUX and also called in at the dive shop to get the details of my dives for my dive log. The six dives I’d completed during the trip took me to a total of 21.
Latte art
I had a very poor attempt at some 'Latte art' in Cafe LUX.
Relaxing on our deck
We spent the rest of the morning on our deck. A little after noon a rain shower moved in and we ended up lying in the hammock (aka Play-Doh fat factory) watching the down pour. We broke up the afternoon with a trip to the spa.
I book-ended the day with another loop around the beach. After a quick shower we had to go to the Medical Clinic for a PCR test which was quick and easy. From there we went to Senses for drinks over a game of Rummikub, then to Beach Rouge for dinner.
The 'Tree of Wishes'
Saturday 11, our last full day. The whole day was overcast and peppered with rain showers but it made little difference. We made our usual stop at Cafe LUX for a couple of coffees after breakfast and dropped by at the dive shop to see if my bill was ready, but it wasn’t.
We spent the rest of the morning on our deck followed by a trip to the spa for the sauna, then back to the dive shop. The bill still wasn’t ready but Yuan said I’d get a return diver discount which was nice. Lunch at Veli Bar was moved next door to MIXE as a result of the showers. We spent the rest of the afternoon back on our deck reading and watching the fish swim passed.
Christmas tree
I went out for one final run around the island. I had only planned to complete a single loop around the beach but as I approached the spa I could see a ‘fog’ of the pesticide spray they use on the island hanging on the beach as a result of the total lack of wind. I’m sure it’s harmless but I didn’t want to be gulping in air as I ran through it so I completed another loop around reception and as I got back to the spa I could see the fog lingering on the beach so took the trail to Beach Rouge (still passing through some of the fog) and into a clockwise loop on the beach back to the spa to complete the run. Of course this did mean I’d ended up running much of the route twice.
That evening we had the short walk to Senses for a couple of games of Rummikub, a few drinks and our evening meal.
The resort was getting into the spirit of Christmas with an illuminated tree.
Seaplane back to Male
Sunday 12, a final (early) breakfast and coffee at Cafe LUX while we checked-out and waited for our seaplane transfer. We were told it would be an hour late (turned out to be less than 30 mins) but I could think of worse places to be waiting.
The seaplane transfer was smoother than I’d expected given the slightly choppy sea. When we arrived at the terminal building in Malé we joined the end of a large security queue. Thankfully Tammay spotted a very short queue and our guide said it was for business passengers which saved us lots of time waiting outside where it was already getting a little warm. The same was true at passport control and we were through to the rather long, but freely moving, final security check.
Our return flight on BA was expected to be 90 mins late but ended up being more than 2 hours so we settled down in the lounge.