Barcelona

Spain: Barcelona

01.04.2010 - 06.01.2010



Norway has a 5-day Easter holiday so we thought we would re-visit the beautiful city of Barcelona . We have both been to Barcelona before but there is so much to see and do here that it's well worth another trip, plus it is warmer than Oslo. We arrived in the afternoon after a early start from Oslo through Prague, we bought a five day underground pass which is really practical as the underground station (Paral-lel) was only 10 meters away from the hotel. We stayed at the Universal Barcelona Hotel, which is also within easy walking distance of the harbour and Las Ramblas. The hotel also had a great view of the whole city at the top of the hotel where there was also a very small swimming pool. As we had a early start we took things easy with a short walk to the harbour before going out to eat some tapas, after dinner we took at a stroll and had a glass of wine in the Las Ramblas area before heading back to the hotel.



After a good night's sleep and some breakfast it was time to see the city, we had decided the day before that we would try the hop on hop off bus to see as many of the sites as possible and see which ones we would like to spend more time at, this worked out well as when we arrived at Sagrada Familia there was a very long line which would have taken us hours before we could get in. Next stop was Parc Guëll where we got off the bus and joined the crowds to view this beautiful site, you have to walk up the hill a fair bit before you reach the impressive entrance to the Parc that had two fantastic Guëll designed houses on each side with large iron gates that would lead us up the stairs past two fountains and other pieces of Guëll's works. We took one of the many side paths that lead off in different directions and passed impressive columns that had walk ways that took us past beautiful houses to the top where you could see the whole city stretched out at your feet. We walked back down the hill to find a terrace with beautiful mosaics lining the walls, here you get a view of the entrance to the Parc and off to the one side the colonnaded pathway that leads away from the entrance.



We again hopped on the bus and enjoyed some hours on the bus to places like Placa de Catalunya, Casa Batlló, Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Passeig de Gracia, La Pedrera, Sagrada Familia , Gracia, Tramvia Blau, Tibidabo, Monestir de Pedralbes, Col.leccio Thyssen, Palau Reial, Pavellons Guëll, Barcelona Football Club, Francesc Macia, Diagonal. After a long day we headed back to the hotel for some rest before adventuring out into the night to find good food, wine and to see the night life.



We woke up to a warm and for the most part sunny day and decided to get away from all the tourists, we first had headed off to the far side of the marina for a short walk before taking the underground to a street called Rambla del Poblenou which leads down to the sea. Rambla del Poblenou is a long street with a pedestrian walk in the middle with cafes and restaurants, lined with trees that stretch all the way to the sea. This was definitely not a tourist spot and we were some of the few tourist that were there, as we walked down the street people were out for walks, meeting family for lunch and the older people brought out their chairs and sat with friends, talked and just watched the day go by. It was a very peaceful area and many people felt the the touch of spring, the trees were budding and birds were singing as we slowly made our way to the beach. The beach area was fantastic, as the city of Barcelona had been spending a lot of money on the area with sandy beaches, beach paths for walking or jogging with workout machines, and small cafes in each cove. We decided to have lunch as we had been walking for so long, so we sat down to a very good lunch in the sun and watched the brave people laying on the beach in swim wear (for us it was just a bit too cold to lay on the beach). In the evening we tried one of the local tapas places were we were the only tourist again, we seated ourselves above so that we could watch the comings and goings of the locals and a have a great view of the meat counter with all the Spanish specialities. After ordering too much food (we had to bring some back to the hotel) we went in search of a wine bar to try some of the local wines before we headed back to the hotel.



The next day we got an early start and headed off to Sagrada familia, another creation by Guëll, it was a wet day so we couldn't go up in the tower. After about half an hour of waiting we entered this impressive build, there are no words that could describe this build and they still have as yet to complete it. With it's five towering towers reaching for the sky and the amazing sculptures all around there was a lot to take in and to think of the vision Guëll had to design such a detailed building and to think that it is not even finished as yet and will not be for some time. Sadly much of the inside was more of a construction site than anything else but we did get to see part of the vision before we left. As it was a rainy and cool day we thought we we would go to the marina where the aquarium was located, much to our surprise lot's of other people had the same idea as there was a long line of people snaking back and forward in front of us. The rains let up in the afternoon. so we spent some time walk through the Gothic area of the city taking in the city and listening to Spanish guitarist play sweet music before heading off in search of some sweets and tea.



We have avoided walking too much on Las Ramblas as it was always packed with people most of the day and there were a few pic pockets here and there. We headed to see two buildings designed by Antonio Gaudi, Casa Milá (La Pedrera) and Casa Batlló. Casa Batlló we were only able to see from the outside but it was still an amazing sight to see with rounded shape instead of straight lines and mosaics made from broken tile that covered the facade.



We did wait a half hour to get into Casa Milá and it was well worth it, the facade had some similarities with Casa Battló but also different and once you entered things got better and better. After entering through beautifully designed glass doors into a circular court to an elevator to see one of the old flats that had been kept in the original style from the early 1900's. we then headed for the roof with its rolling walkways and sculptures along the path way, from our vantage point we could see Sagrada Famila in the distance souring to the sky, we walked past ventilation shafts that looked like medieval knights in there helmets, there was so much to see but at last we made our way down the stairs to the atrium and out to the world out side.



That evening we went out to dinner at a luxury hotel that had been recommended to us but soon found out the gourmet restaurant was closed but their other one was open and we thought if they had one good restaurant this should pretty be good too, well we were sadly mistaken and had a poor meal. We were so disappointed as we were looking forward to a good meal, we soon found a wine bar close by that is owned by Torres wines where we drank good wines and enjoyed a pleasant evening before strolling back to the hotel.



We woke to a sunny day so we decided to to avoid the crowds by first going to visit the Torre Agbar which is a bullet shaped building in the business district that along with it's unusual design can also change colour and due to panels on the outside is very energy efficient. Afterwards we decided to take a walk so we continue on and were soon on Rambla del Poblenou again, we once again continued on until we reached the beach and followed the seaside path until we reached the marina. Today was going to be a special day as we were going out for a gourmet lunch at the restaurant Moo, this was a very nice place and we felt a bit underdressed, but that's life. The restaurant was minimalistic but comfortable with small figurines on each table. Having had a bad meal experience last night we decided on a five course meal with wines to match, this was great, each dish was amazing and the wines were just right for each dish, at the end of our meal each of us received a chocolate Easter egg, made in house, and with our tea chocolate truffles also made in house. After about three hours we made our way back to the hotel to rest a bit and digest our wonderful meal and prepare for the next, yes that's right we going out for more food.



That evening we went to a old and very well known restaurant called Los Caracoles. We entered into a small crowded bar and were taken through the kitchen, yes through the kitchen, and up some small stairs that took us to our table. This place was amazing with pictures of famous people who had visited on the wall and cured meat ham hanging from the ceiling and other decoration that made you feel like you have gone back in time. We had an enjoyable meal in a very charming surroundings, as we left we felt that were had been luck to arrive early as there was a long line of people waiting to get in and sadly for the people waiting outside they were grilling chicken on the outdoor grill and many people were looking very hungry. The next day we were up early as it was time to head home where the snow still lay on the ground and spring time was still to come.

Bonaire

31.01.2010 - 14.02.2010

Holland: Amsterdam
Bonaire: Kralendijk, Rincon



We are off to the Caribbean or so we thought, it was minus 10 to 12 degrees out so we hurried to the airport in light winterwear to save on luggage weight, only to find out the flight was cancelled due to mechanical difficulties. Now it is about minus 14 and we are on a bus to an airport hotel, as we did not want to drag our gear back in the cold weather and we thought it would be nice to see Amsterdam again as our flight left in the evening the next day.



We hoped it would be a bit warmer in Amsterdam but sadly it was a couple of degrees minus and a cold, biting wind, so we headed off to the Van Gogh museum and enjoyed a few hours with beautiful paintings and sculptures, it was also warm inside. We walked around a bit afterwards but found it cold with our clothes so we went from cafe to cafe and finally decided to see a movie before we headed back to the airport. Luckily we were upgraded to business class from Oslo to Amsterdam (yummy food), and economy plus with more legspace from Amsterdam to Bonaire.



Our fight left on time this time so after a long flight we arrived in Kralendijk, Bonaire. From my time working on a cruise ship I had been to Aruba and Curacao but had not been on Bonaire, the weather after landing was warm (27 degrees and windy and that's how it was most of the time) and dry, not tropical and there is very little rain fall on Bonaire and there was a draught so there was almost no rain this year. Bonaire is a small island so it only took us ten minutes to get to a hotel and a little bit longer to get to our room for some rest as we had not slept too well on the plane. We were staying at the Divi Flamingo Hotel , situated right on the waterfront, with good food, friendly service and OK rooms. Our room was in the back which was ok for us as it was nice and quiet, close enough to the bar and restaurant and not too far from the dive shop, I should probably also mention that they had a nice place to relax in the sun with a bar and a snorkelling area and friendly iguanas that join you in the sun.



Kralendijk is a very small city, a 10 minute walk from the hotel with small shops, cafes, bars and restaurants and not really much else to talk about. For us we found that there was a good variety of lunch places with friendly service and good food but what impressed us most was the quality and variety of dinner restaurants. Even if it wasn't cheap we found that we could go to different restaurant each night of our stay, we did not as we had a couple of favorites (Bamboo, Wil's and La Guernica). The hotel also had a lot happenings, even if we did not participate, pasta nights, taco buffet, free drinks with the manager, welcome drink and casino.

Video from diving in Bonaire:


After getting some much needed rest we spent the day on the beach snorkelling and working on our tans and just getting to know our surroundings as we would start diving the next day. After breakfast we went to the dive shop for our dive briefing that would tell us more about the marine park, as Bonaire and Bonaire Klein are both marine parks. You pay 25 dollars per year to dive, which goes to maintaining and protecting the marine park. All dive sites have buoys for boat dives and for those who drive to the different shore dive sites each dive site is well marked and easy to find).



We dived with EAN-Nitrox 32% even if the dives were not that long, our equipment was stored in lockers on the boat dock which made things easy and our gear dried really well. Our first dive was on the house reef so after getting our gear on we just walked down the steps into the water. The first thing you notice is that visibility is great with an average of 20 meters the whole time, you will find a lot of sponges in the Bonaire area (yes this is the home of Sponge Bob or so they say), some that are well over 2 meters tall purplish cylinders.



We decided to only do boat dives as we like to have someone around to find the marine life, driving around in a jeep sounded hot, stressful, not so social and they have some problem with break-ins. The diving on Bonaire is good as there is very little current and a good amount of creatures to see, sadly we did not have time to dive the wild side of Bonaire and Salt pier and Town pier were closed to divers but we did dive the following sites: Calabas reef (Divi house reef), Tori's reef, Four corners (Punt vierkant), Bachelor's beach, Jerry's reef , Keepsake, Rappel, Something special, Divi Tree (Kline), Hilma Hooker (wreck dive), Windsock, Bloodlet, and Small Wall. The diving is usually divided up into North, South and Klein Bonaire and there were lots of good dive site and we wish we had time for more as there was a lot to explore. Though the diving is good around Bonaire a lot of the area is recovering from the time there was spearfishing, at one time there were hundreds of divers here for the spearfishing competitions, thus the lack of large fish.



Things to see: Turtles, arrow crabs, banded shrimp, seahorses, great barracuda, octopus, sponges, sea snakes, lot's of honeycomb cowfish, moray eels, painted frogfish, jawfish, lot's of Flamingo tongue snail, baby mantis shrimp, large lobster, cleaner shrimps and lettuce nudibranch. Diving in Bonaire is great with good visibility, beautiful corals, and easy diving with little or no current and is probably one of the best places to dive in the Caribbean but there could be a few more fish.




Diving is not the only thing to do here as Bonaire has a interesting history and landscape, so we did some excursions on the days we weren't diving. Our first excursion was a short one and took us south where the salt was produced and where the slaves that once worked the salt flats lived. As we drove south we saw mountains of salt drying in the sun and watery areas where the salt is extracted by letting in sea water which evaporates, leaving water heavy in salt and at times foaming over as the water evaporates. Eventually there is only salt left, this was where the slaves came in as they were to gather in salt as salt was a very important item of trade in the old world. The slaves were housed not far away in small huts where 4 to 6 slaves would live (the location of the huts would be called fantastic now as they were on a beautiful beach area with different shades of blue to look at, but a nightmare for the slaves of the past).



This area was also part of the wild preserve as flamingos are protected on Bonaire since this is a breeding ground for them. Flamingos get their pink colour from small, red shrimps that they eat. After we drove north along the rugged coast, we turned inland stopping for a beer in the city of Rincon, one of the first cities here, down the other side of the island and up
to a outlook where you can look out over Kralendijk, Klein Bonaire, the salt flats and the southern part of the island.

Video of a flamingo (it looks a bit drunk):

Our next outing would be to the mangroves on the other side of the island, we were picked up at the hotel for a short trip on a bumpy road to a building where we were told a bit about mangroves and their importance to the fish life and to the other wild life in the area. We hopped into our two man or women kayaks to explore the mangroves. At first we paddled through a narrow passage through the mangrove before we got into the open water, our guide would stop at various areas where he would tell us about the different mangroves (there are four types in this area) before moving on through the mangroves. This is a beautiful area with lots of mangroves and wildlife. As we moved closer to the ocean inlet we saw a long sand bank of white sand surrounded by blue, this type of mangrove likes to live in brackish water and this inlet helps by hindering too much salt water in and thus keeps a bit lower salinity.



We paddled a long time until we came to a shallow part where we got out for a bit of snorkelling, while snorkelling we got a closer look at the long roots of the mangroves, here we found lot's of small fish and even some coral growth on the roots. We stayed a while searching around the roots and the sea grass that also grows in the area, along with fish we found lot's of strange upside down jellyfish who for some reason that I do not remember like swimming upside down. We climbed back into our kayaks after snorkelling and started back again moving slowly through the mangroves with a carpet of sea grass under us and birds sitting in the trees, there was a beautiful peace with only sounds of nature and our paddles entering the water. Then we were back to reality, leaving our kayaks we made our way back to the hotel to plan another excursion.



Some day later we are on our way north to Washington national park, our first stop is at the ranger station to check in and to have a look around. The first thing we noticed was the large skeleton of a whale which had been hit by a cruiseship and carried along on the front of the ship until they were able to get it off but by then it was dead and the remains rest here (there are also some funny signs for the male and female toilet). The road was very bumpy so the going was slow but we made our next stop on the wild side of the island (they call it the wild side due to the fact that there are no people living there). This area had been hit by a tsunami a long time ago so it looked like you could be on another planet, with huge boulders scattered here and there and not much vegetation. The north west was much rougher with large wave and heavy seas, there were also small coves with sandy beaches and one place that looked like it had hot tubs in it when the water went out.



Washington national park has a interesting history as at one it was divided into three goat ranches, and the owners later gave their land to the national park, the problem was that the goats were destructive and were threatening the wild life in the area, so they got rid of the goats for the most part. It seems that each year they hunt the wild goats to get rid of them and then have a large BBQ each year for all the islanders, strange that they can not seem to get rid of the goats I think they just like their BBQ). Another interesting fact about Bonaire is that Bonaire is rising out of the sea while a lot of the islands in the world are sinking back into the sea, this you can see very clearly in some areas by the rock formations.



As we bounced along the road we saw lot's of cactus and some wild life, this was really rough, hot and unforgiving countryside, but after a while we sighted a large building in a bay with a white sandy beach. This had at one time been where they slaughtered the goats and sent them on by boat, now it had a small restaurant (yes they still serve goat stew and Jorunn tried it and said it was good) with a great view over the sandy beach and the very inviting blue water, no time for a swim). On the other side of the road was a small lake with flamingos. This was part of their breeding area and we got a closer look at the flamingos, we were not allowed to get close to the flamingos as this will scare them and they will not come back to breed. The area we drove through is very rocky, red soil with low shrubs and small trees that have adapted themselves to this type of climate, there is very little water around but still the catus towered above us and surrounded us at all time.



As we passed one of the old goat farms we see that they use cactus instead of wooded fences to keep animal in and out, as we travel on there are many more hills up and down and we see a few goats and even a large iguana hanging upside down sunning itself. After many hours of driving we arrive back at the park entrance and on our way back to the hotel after a fantastic day of adventure, now it was time to think about packing as was time to head for home to plan our next adventure.



The last funny situation before we leave had to do with the Mardi Gras, it was Mardi Gras time but could only go to the children's Mardi gras as we were leaving, so we asked at the front desk what time it would start, which was two. We arrived a little early to find a place in the shade to wait. We waited and waited and nothing happened, we had asked different people when it would start and got three different times so we waited and at four we asked one of the organizers and were told that it started some time after five, so we decided it wasn't really worth it to wait any longer.



This has been a beautiful trip to an island with many surprises from the dry desert like area to the clear blue water, their dramatic history, friendly people and the care they take with their land and ocean. We were also told the story about Klein Bonaire which was once privately owned and was to be sold to a company that wished to build a luxury hotel there even though turtles use the beaches to lay their eggs. In the end the people of Bonaire along with the Queen of Holland acquired enough money to purchase the island and it's now a marine park, the rest of the world has a lot to learn.

Maldives

13.09.2009 – 01.10.2009

Maldives: Bandos island (North Male atoll), Royal island (Baa atoll)



This trip we are off to the Maldives, Jorunn had never been to the Maldives and I had only been on a short visit in the early 80's when I worked on a cruise ship and travelled the world by sea. Also, it's a very romantic place, and great for diving as well. Perfect for us. Normally I do not take time to write about the plane ride but this needs to be said. We flew with Quatar airways (heavily advertised as a so called 5 star airline) via London Heathrow, where first the plane was delayed an hour waiting for one passenger and this made things very stressful as transfer time was only about 35 minutes (do not forget they also move luggage from one plane to another). We got off the plane 11:30 at night and it was 36 degrees with 100 percent humidity and the race was on and we were not alone as we headed for the bus, we raced through the terminal in search of the gate and made it to the fight (hopefully the luggage too!). We made it and everything was great until we sat down and found there was not much luxury on this plane it was like being on a charter with your knees almost to the seat in front of you, this was bad and got worst, we were very tired and wanted some sleep but this was made difficult by the fact that our seats could not be tilted back so we had to try to sleep sitting straight up. This was very stressful and we were not too happy with this socalled 5 star airline.



The landing was very interesting, you first began to see small white dots in a sea of blue, then you start to make out the islands themselves with lot's of green in the middle ringed by a white outer ring, then a ring of light blue water then ringed by a much darker blue. As the runway was built a bit out in the water it really looked like a water landing to us, we were met by a gentleman who was a Representative from Manta Reiser (a very good company) and with minimal waiting we walked a short distance to a waiting boat that would take us on a short 20 minute ride to Bandos Island.

Video from diving in the Maldives:


After a refreshing boat ride we arrive at Bandos island, we were escorted to the reception and served a welcome drink, this was very nice and the video about being careful with coral reef was good but this took way too long and we were very tired. Finally we got into a little golf cart and drove to the other side of the island where our room was, the room was great, 15 meters from the beach, close enough to the restaurant and dive centre and it had a nice breeze all day long. In fact, the temperature was great for our entire stay, the tropics with a breeze is our favorite.



After some rest we relaxed in the sun and went for a bit of snorkeling, Bandos has a really good house reef with lot's to see like: 10 to 15 baby black tip reef sharks, eagle ray, turtles, sharks, and a whole lot of fish. We also did our check dive on the house reef and soon found out that house reef was a really good drive, we saw things like: 2x frog fish, cowtail ray, black tip sharks, spider crab and lots more. We had breakfast included and chose to eat lunch and dinner at one of the two restaurants, one pretty close and the other a little bit of a walk but this was nice for us as we did need to move around a bit, however we read on trip adviser about people who had complained about having to walk to the restaurant, poor babies!



As it was Ramadan the staff did look a bit a tired in the early evening but on the whole we got good service and only rarely had slow service, the restaurant by the reception had a great view out over the sea towards the capital Male and some of the other islands, also the Bandos white sandy beach and the waves that rolled over the reef. The other restaurant was built out over the reef with a beautiful view over the ocean and this area was a cocktail bar where we sat and watched the sunsets.



There was not a lot to do other than diving, swimming, snorkeling and walking around the island both day and night, this is a real vacation, no stress at all, also at night it was great to just sit and watch the stars (how romantic) with our friends (wait a minute what friends?), well we found out that we were not alone there were a lot of shelled crabs out and about in search of food, oh well the more the merrier.



We did a fair bit of diving also, so we spent some time on the boats going from dive site to dive site, we had some good diving but there were lots of particles in the water and a lot of currents, but we still saw a lot, but to our disappointment not very many nudibranch. We dived the following sites: Bandos house reef, Paradise rock, Devil's tila, 2x Manta point, Maagiri east, Banana reef, and Baracuda giri. We also took the time to do a enriched air course which was interesting and did not take long (after this we only used nitrox 32%). Now for what we saw: 10 to 12 manta rays at a cleaning station, turtles, sharks, frogfish, spider crabs, giant moray eel, leopard moray eal, black blotched stingray, Napoleon wrasse, a pod of dolphins swimming that we saw from the boat and much much more. Ten day seems like a long time but in reality it goes very quickly so we packed our bags and hopped in the the Bandos island speed boat for a trip back to the airport.



At the boat dock we were quickly brought up to the Royal island / waiting area where we received cool towels and drinks while we waited for others to arrive, this would be our first sea plane ride and I was really looking forward to it. After a while we were escorted out to the aircraft which holds about 12 to 18 people plus luggage and we were taxing along the water for take off. While this was happening we were having a safety briefing given by the co-pilot nicely dressed in shorts, a white shirt and slaps, after take off I also noticed that they flew the plane barefooted (cool). The flight was amazing as we flew fairly low we had a great view for the most part, throughout the flight we saw islands scattered over the ocean, some white surrounded by blue, others with a green centre with coral sands and surrounded with different shades of the ocean.



We soon arrived at the Baa Atoll where we made our first landing which was interesting as it happened pretty quickly, one minute we are fairly high up and the next we are flying low over the coral reefs for a landing. After dropping off some of the passengers at their hotel we quickly took off again for a short flight, we landed and taxied over to a small floating platform where we disembarked and we were shortly picked up by the transfer boat.



After registration we walked to the other side of the island to our bungalow, the room was fantastic with polished wooden floors, a large bed and and view out over the ocean. There was also a small veranda leading out to the beach with sun chairs just for us, the restaurant was on the other side of the island but the dive shop was not far away. We had full board which is good and bad, first you have a tendency too eat too much (especially desserts), second you can not eat when you want to and we like to eat early (dinner and lunch), and also the food gets a bit repetitive after a while (if you stay over a week). But the food at Royal was really good, with a mix of Asian and European dishes.



I will just say a few words about the dining room, in the centre was a very large salt water pond with corals and fish from the sea, another thing to mention is that it seems like sitting next to the pond is a bit of a status thing too and returning customers got to sit there, the rest get scattered around here and there. Another funny thing, we have a fair bit of luggage as we have dive gear and camera equipment and still only about 20 kg each. When we got off the plane we saw that some people had up to 2 large suitcases each, well we soon found out what that was about, some people thought it was necessary to have a different set of clothing for each meal (for me this is a bit extreme).



Our time on Royal island was spent diving, snorkelling (which was not that good at all), laying in the sun, walking around the island, watching some amazing sunsets, and eating. Well we did a little bit more than that but we can't tell you about everything. Now for the diving, we dived the following dive sites: Nelivaru Thila, Dhonfanu Thila, Maadho Giri, Dhigali Giri (night dive), Finolhoos and Hanifaru. Things we saw: 30 to 50 manta ray, octopus, great barracuda, large lobster, banded shrimp, lots of moray eels, napoleon wrasse and mantis shrimps. Once again the visibility was so so and there where strong currents which made it difficult to find a lot of the smaller things, but we saw a lot of manta rays, so we can't really complain ! I think next time we'll visit the Maldives at a different time of the year.

Video from Hanifaru:

Before arriving in the Maldives we'd heard and seen videos about a dive sight called Hanifaru, the videos we'd seen were amazing with lot's of manta rays and whale sharks, now there are no guarantees that they will be there but we had to try. We had been asking the dive centre to take us there, so one cloudy morning we set off on the choppy sea to find out what all the talk was about. We arrived after about 45 minutes or so and saw only two other boats (there is a strict rule that there can be only 5 boats in the area at any time).



We were in luck, the water was boiling with activity, we quickly entered the water and kneeled down in the sand at about 10 meters and waited for the show to begin (Hanifaru is a U shaped underwater reef). It all started when a cloud blocked the sun but we soon found out that it was not a cloud but manta rays, 30 to 40 that we could see, they flew by in waves doing summersaults, two or three at a time, swooping down, then racing to the surface, we sat and stared in amazement at what we were seeing and then came the manta train, 7 to 10 following right behind one another like a train and we got it on video. At one time a Japanese gentleman we had met was kneeling in the sand when a manta ray comes swimming at him and at the very last minute it swoops over his head and continues on the other side (this I also got on video). After an hour it was time to surface again and the excitement was electrifying as we stored our gear for a bumpy ride back to Royal island, and the talk of manta ray lasted the whole trip.



We had a German couple sitting close to us in the dining hall that were funny and very social, one day an English couple sitting next to them as joke had turn off there ceiling fan so that it got a bit hot, in the end they told them what he had done so the German tried to turn on the fan and it worked slowly so he pulled it again and and pulled the cord off so they had to come repair it. Things did not end there for the German he was supposed to come with us to Hanifaru but he'd been out drinking so did not make the trip and when finally he got to go they only saw 2 manta rays, so he was not very happy.



On a rainy morning the boat took us out to the sea plane as it was time to head back to the airport at Male, after a quick safety briefing which very few people understood we headed for the sky for the last look at the small coral island before we headed for home and dreaming of the quiet beauty of the Maldives. This is really a great country to visit !