We spent the most amazing six days in the Maldives in early February this year (2018) to celebrate our belated 10th anniversary. Luckily we came back when we did since a few days later a state of emergency was declared where the chief justice (a former president was ordered to be arrested). Yes, trouble does exist even in paradise.
Island Nation
Located in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka and India, Maldives is comprised of 26 atolls. Atolls are like submerged, extinct volcanoes, the tops of which just touch the surface of the water forming a lagoon surrounded by small islands of coral reefs.
Within these atolls (which act like a ring) are 1192 islands. See this map where the green dots are the islands.
We spent one night at Bandos Resort on the North Male Atoll which was a 15-minute boat ride away from the airport and then we flew to Centara Grand on the South Ari Atoll from Male and had the most incredible time in our water villa which was very luxurious, from the bathroom windows that looked out to the living area, toilets with full glass windows into the water, and our lovely patios from which we snorkeled and soaked up the sun.
Given that virtually everything needs to be imported from food to toiletries, Maldives is an expensive place to visit 
especially since internal flights, sea planes, or boats are required to get to one’s resort from Male, the main island where the international airport is located.
I was happy to discover that there were sustainability efforts in place to reduce consumption of plastics (straws choke the turtles) and overall recycling and other eco-friendly measures.
Finding Nemo and Other Fish
We snorkeled at least once a day, alternating between going to the Dive
Centre where it was deeper (during low tide) and swimming off our water villas during high tide. The most incredible experience was following a big school of fish around our villa as it felt like we were part of their tribe!
Most scarily, we saw reef sharks a few times while snorkeling which was exciting (thankfully, they tended to be swimming away from us) and are supposedly not dangerous. We also saw a turtle twice which was awesome!
Sadly, unlike what Trump may have tweeted, global warming is very real. The coral is now mostly bleached white unlike the healthy pink it was just even two years ago. Last year, the water temperature rose by a couple of Celsius and killed a lot of the coral.
Still, we saw so many types of fish from Regal Angelfish, Sergeant Major, Blue-faced Angelfish, Emperor Angelfish, Humbug damsel, Two-color Parrot Fish, Eye Spot Surgeon Fish; Schooling Banner Fish, White tip shark, Powderblue surgeon Fish, Oriental Sweetlips, turtles, and many others. Of course, we wouldn’t know which is which now as we only heard of such names since we would excitedly go speak to the dive masters after a great snorkel to chat about what we saw and look them up on the posters.
Phenomenal Experience
The food and service were exceptional at the Centara Grand resort and especially the free 30 minute massage we got every day!! We didn’t even go on any of the free boat excursions, preferring instead to enjoy the resort snorkeling, paddle-boarding, kayaking, one quick tennis ‘game’, and most importantly, lounging on our villa patio and indulging in the afternoon tea.
We also unplugged and minimized our phone/onscreen time which was incredibly liberating, a practice that we’ve taken back with us as well.
Ahhhhh, looking back at the photos just stirs up those wonderful memories. Maybe we’ll be back for our 20th anniversary.
