Trip to the Maldives - 2022

We went to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, leaving Atyrau on Saturday, November 26 and returning on Saturday, December 3, 2022. It was pretty awesome. Wildlife we saw in no particular order: We saw a few rays while walking or riding bikes along the main bridge from the Hard Rock to the Marina. We saw lots of fish both off the bridge and near our bungalow over the water. After dark, there were dozens of crabs on the beaches on either end of the bridge. On the Hard Rock side, there was a heron there standing by, apparently wanting to eat, but it was just standing there both times we saw it. When I went back to the bungalow one afternoon, I saw some strange looking animals. They had noses like squids, but they were black and very small and had what looked like clear prickly cones attached. A worker was passing in a golf cart, and I asked what they were. They were, in fact, young squids – maybe teenagers – coming in to feed on the small minnows. We looked for more all week because I wanted Rhonda to see them, but that was a one-time event. One evening when we went to the marina to eat, we saw a bat. It was

huge, with a wingspan like a hawk but without feathers, just like little bats. I searched, and discovered that it was a fruit bat, that can have wingspans up to 1.5 meters. Fortunately, they do not appear to be dangerous, and rabies isn’t reported in the Maldives. We saw quite a few colorful fish when we went on an snorkeling excursion. Otherwise, there were some funny-looking birds with black tops, big white bellies, and spindly legs. Their beaks were small, and they seemed to like walking more than running.

At the marina, a Hard Rock representative took us by golf cart across the main bridge that was about 100 meters long to the reception center. They had us sit on a sofa during the check in. While chatting, we discovered that the girl checking us in was from Almaty, Kazakhstan. That was fun. She left Almaty for the US for a while and then worked her way over to the Maldives. She didn’t want to live in the cold anymore. She won’t. The lowest recorded temperature in the Maldives was 69 degrees. The southern most atolls of the Maldives are actually below the equator. I was hoping that we were below the equator, but no such luck.

The evening we arrived we ate at the Hard Rock Café on the marina. The food was good and there was live music. Of course at the Hard Rock, there was music all the time, with speakers throughout the resort. The live band played popular stuff and we stayed quite late listening. When we got to our over-the-water bungalow, we saw that we could continue to listen to the live band on the TV in the room. The sound system was not good, however, and sometimes listening was painful, but it was fun to see. Otherwise, the TV fare was mostly World Cup Soccer. The US broke through into the elimination round, but frankly, soccer is unwatchable if you do not have a child or grandchild playing or something else at stake. It’s ninety minutes of endless back and forth. I don't know if it will ever catch the American imagination.

Monday: breakfast at the Sessions restaurant – the only place to get breakfast at Hard Rock. It was pretty good. For some reason, waffles sounded best to me. Then the days fell into a pattern of gym, pool, cleanup, then bicycle to dinner on the cruiser bikes they provided for us. We rode over to the Hilton resort and ate at Miss Olive Oyl, which had great pasta dishes. They offered a lava cake, but we didn’t eat it because it was too late and would keep us awake. The Hilton side was very nice and new. Someone told us it was cheaper. I doubt we will return to the Maldives, but if we do, it could be at the Hilton because you can do all the same things without the constant music at the pool. We didn’t really make use of the bungalow over the water. It was a good experience, but any future trip will be fine in a condo or a beach bungalow, which are much cheaper.

Tuesday: pretty much the same except we went back to Miss Olive Oyl for lunch. We got Rasheed, a

Maldives native, to get the chef to make us lava cake, and it was good! It was fun talking to Rasheed. He said he was tired of nice weather every day but that his wife had a chance to work in Singapore but wouldn’t go. So, he is in the hospitality business. That evening, we had dinner at the restaurant Mr. Tom Yam. The food was probably the best we had. Terrific steak.

Wednesday: The Hard Rock had a beach party with a Brazilian meat dish that was delicious. They also had Brazilian dancers and a live band. I was pleasantly surprised to be that far into the week and not have had any substantial issues from work. It pretty much remained that way all week.

Thursday: we walked on the beach and saw more crabs. There was a lot of broken coral and stuff on the seafloor, and there were not extended beach areas, so the walk wasn’t a long one. We had a late lunch on the Hilton pool bar and later had the International Buffet at the Hard Rock. We were appropriately irresponsible and had chocolate ice cream and chocolate fountain before eating some pasta and other things, followed by more chocolate ice cream. Our mothers would have been horrified, but they weren’t there! Over the day, we both felt a little ill (I went with a bad cold, having worked from home most of the prior week), and Rhonda started getting it.

Friday, we had a big breakfast, relaxed a while in the bungalow, and then got ready and left. The boat ride was fine, and the airport went more smoothly because we had filled out the forms and received the QR codes. The flight to Almaty wasn’t bad, but what a long night in the airport! We spent some of the time playing 500 Rummy. We were home midday last Saturday, and we slept quite a bit.