In a few hours Val and I will be getting on another sea-plane and heading to Male where we will wait for 9 hours before boarding a flight to Egypt and the next leg in our adventure. Before we leave this tropical paradise, we wanted to take time to thank the many people who made our stay here so memorable and comfortable. This place is truly heaven on earth.
For me it has to begin with the diving. The dive staff and boat crews were the best I have ever experienced! Professional, safe, fun and great divers, all of them. I would love to be part of a team that works as well together as they do! Others we met were also just as memorable and fun. Ben from just outside of Hamburg. Marcus and Petra from Vienna, and several others who were on the boat for just a day or two. We all had a great time diving and sharing photos and stories at the bar afterwards. We hope to stay in touch with them for a long time.
In addition to the divers we met, there are numerous other guests that quickly became friends, including our adjacent table mates at the restaurant, Graham and Nora from England. Two lovelier people have never been born.
The staff here were as warm and friendly as could be, and there was never a moment that we felt uncomfortable asking for anything or pushed to buy anything. They were courteous and always willing to do whatever it took to be sure you were enjoying your holiday. Adam was our restaurant waiter and was always very quick to be sure everything was OK with our meals. He is a young man that looks about 22, but is actually 34, has a wife and a 9 year old son. You would never know it to look at him. I guess island life agrees with him:)
When we were researching this trip, I had heard of the Maldives in various dive magazines and from a traveler we met many years ago in Fiji.The diving was all they ever talked about and it was truly why we came here. We were originally scheduled to be here for 18 days, but we got a little nervous about the costs and wondered if we wouldn't get a little antsy being here for that long, so a few months ago we changed our departing flight by a week and added the time to Egypt. Right now we are both kicking ourselves for that decision. We'll just have to wait and see how things turn out in Egypt to see if it was the right decision.
Will we be back? Try and stop us! Anyone who has come with us on a dive trip to the Caribbean, start thinking longer flights, but better diving because a trip here will be in the works by the time we get home. Whale Shark season is January thru March, so a February trip sounds about right. It won't be February 2007 (might be hard for me to get time off that soon) so likely 2008.
That's it for now.
Eric
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