Crazy about snorkeling!

My 4 year old is absolutely crazy about snorkeling! I never would have imagined after a couple of months on the island that I would see this! The kids obviously get very close to all the staff on the island. This is her snorkeling teacher. Unlike Bali, where the locals do not swim, here the Maldivians are very good swimmers! Nahiz was telling me that even his mum has started swimming on a daily basis - "because it's good exercise for her, you know" he said. A lot of the staff here take a break for a swim around sunset or after work. Most play football though and are very excited about today's draw ( i was told yesterday that today was i very important day! and no it's not because it is also mother's day). 

Meet Nahiz! Pro snorkeler... 

And my little girl is going out to discover the amazing underwater world of the Maldives!... She was very excited because she finally met "Nemo". We have several anemones around the island in the house reef. I think they are happy small things. I am always happy when I see some when I am snorkeling.  If you want to read more about our cute little clownfish, the Amphiprion nigripes, follow this link to Maldivesdivetravel website. 

Our local Nemo - The Maldives Anemone fish

This was 2 days ago. Yesterday she went out again - 45minutes of snorkeling with Nihaz and one of the staff from the dive shop. She told me that A was talking about all the fishes she saw: oriental sweetlips, pufferfish, unicorn fish, etc. Very casually when they came and I asked her what she saw, my little girl replies: "1 turtle and 2 sharks, white tipped reef sharks"; she stops and goes on "and you know mummy, one was very very big". Some of the staff here ask her if she is not afraid and her expression to that is priceless: she simply cannot comprehend that anybody could be afraid of looking at all theses sea creatures. "No, I am a big girl". 

I love our life on our island. Who knows she might end up being Marine biologist.  

Oooh watersports!

One of the big big perks (a part from the seaplane trips obviously and the sunsets and the amazing weather and... and...) are all the water-sports that come with living in this part of the world.

our resort in the background

I had always dreamed one trying para-sailing and it was one of the first things after we arrived on one of hubby's day off. Wow it was as amazing as I thought. though very civilised haha! I thought they were going to drop me in the water or something like that, but no I didn't even get wet. You leave from a small platform at the end of the speed boat and land there as well.

the little platform -- on the way up up!  

The views are stunning, it is so quiet up there. I was just hanging there and enjoying it and taking it all in and just WOW. It is not one of the things that come cheap anywhere in the world so being to do all this for free is just great!

a picture of me :) 

The kids always like it when they come on a speedboat and they were sitting there eating ice cream and watching mummy and daddy flying high up in the air! Well H, being true to himself, feel asleep... He had been so excited about going to the boat that he didn't want to nap.

Weather is changing

The sky was very very dark yesterday. Southwest monsoon is on the way, and that means rainy season is starting. One other thing I have learned from my expat life is how differently people perceive the weather! I have tried to find out by asking staff here how much it is actually going to rain. I get everything: from "it is going to rain everyday non-stop for a whole week" (they have never lived in northern Europe) or "it is just 10-15 minutes per day". Well I guess I have to wait and see. The rain did not come yesterday, well only about 1 minute of it and not more than a few drops. The kids love it when it rains! They can run outside in the swimming gear, jump in the pool or in the sea; they think it's great fun and H, my 2 year old, asks everyday if it's going to rain.

I love the contrast of the colours on this picture, the sea is so clear compared to that somber sky. The boat in the center is the traditional Maldivian boat, called a dhoni. The other typical Maldivian thing on the picture is one of our little friends, the makana on the left. The makana is simply the local grey heron - we have 3 living her with us, I don't think they ever leave the island. They are a common view on resort islands. 

Our house reef!

First time I heard mentioning the "house reef" I had no clue what the guys from the dive shop were talking about! Then they started mentioning turtles, sharks and other exotic fish names and I understood they were referring to the coral reef that is around our small island! Talking about small island, I measured our little paradise on google earth and it is something like 250m long at the longest point and 200m at the largest point (or maybe the other way around) that is without the extension for the villas built on the water. So yes it is small. I think to snorkel around it, it probably takes around 2 hours. I haven't tried yet, but will soon I hope.

Of course diving here is the big hit, haven't been able to start yet, but just to snorkel is amazing. Here are a few pics of our amazing "house reef". It is home to I think 4 turtles, several white tipped reef shark - not dangerous and generally shy - and wow thousands of fishes: big, small, juveniles and babies! it's another world happening "down under". I am no fish expert, so if you see mistakes please do correct me!

So here we go! ... this is what i see, a couple of minutes of swimming from the shore!

Moorish Idols, Empress Angelfishes, Blue Surgeons, Butterfly fishes, Parrot fishes... just to name a few! 

Maldivian Anemone fish (our local Nemo!) and a family of Blue Stripe Snappers

Batfishes and a Oriental Sweet Lips in the background

A cute Porcupine Fish

Yellow Margin Triggerfish

A White Tipped Reef Shark - I was chasing it for a picture, but he is very camera shy! unfortunately visibility was not the best that day.

and finally one of our sea turtles! These pictures are taken on 2 occasions, but I think it's the same one...

and there are so many more! next time... 

Remote island life with small kids

When we told our families and friends we were moving to the Maldives, there were 2 questions that came up: what about you? what about the kids? - well to be honest i'd rather be on a small island in the "middle of nowhere" than to end up in a big polluted and busy-busy city with 2 small kids who don't really need to go to school! There are also a couple of things I have learned since we started being expats over 4 years ago:

- Always take the positives of where we are and don't waste time on the negative stuff - if there is nothing to do about it, leave it - if I can change it, I do my best to do so. Yes I am on a small tiny tiny island, but hey I can actually learn how to kite surf, sail a catamaran and to scuba dive with the most amazing scenery.

See what I mean?? ;)

- The second thing I learned was to always put things into perspective.... what I mean is when I was pregnant with our biggest one, living in the UK, we visited Dubai to see if we could move there - and to be honest I did not like it very much - no soul, no culture, only malls, big roads, lots of cars etc. Then we moved to Jordan - not a lot of shopping (at that time, it is much better now), lots of roads with no lights but holes in (maybe that has improved as well!!). We then went to Dubai and of course after having been in Amman for a few months I could have easily moved to Dubai! All a question of perspective.

- With the kids, I have learned that if I don't make a problem out of it, well it's likely not really to be a big problem for them either - so we prepared for our move with them, talking about the Maldives, looking at pictures, telling them what was going to change... and they adapted quite fast to their new surroundings. Of course A talks about her friends, her school, and H about his nanny and his toys which are still not here. H is younger than A was when we moved to Bali and he is actually very aware of this move (2yrs, 7months).

I think there is a lot of positives for the kids to be out here: healthy lifestyle - full of sunshine, running around outside, water, sand, turtles and sharks, boats, kayaks and paddling boards - people from the whole world - both staff and guests. Good food. I home-school our biggest one, thing I really enjoy - doing science projects on the beach, learning to read and doing maths at home, playing football or doing yoga, oh and swimming as well of course. No stress about going-to-bed-times or waking-up-times, it's a holiday everyday! living at our own pace, trying to get as much out of every day. Finally the island is their size, nothing is too far away - okay we don't have roads and cars - but we have buggies and even a tractor.

I plan our day according to the kids - we always have a morning walk and swimming: sometimes we hunt for crabs on the beach - sometimes for turtles in the kayak. we go snorkelling, my girl with her kit and the small one on my back. we go for a boat ride and ice cream! always a sunset walk and a play on the beach and in between all that we try to squeeze in some house work for the mummy, some home-schooling for A and a nap for my little boy. dinner time, play time, and finally bed time. long days but filled with laughter and lots of discoveries.

I love it as much today as 4 weeks ago when we first arrived. I am sure it is not for everybody though - and many guests come, enjoy their time but are happy to leave again; others come back and back to get the serenity you only can find on an island this size, far away from the craziness of our world.

First trip on the sea plane!

"Life is about the Journey"

So when you go to visit or live on a small island away from Male, I guess you only have 2 options on how to get there... either you transfer by boat or your take, well... a sea plane. 

The sea plane stand, as in taxi stand, is on the same island as the airport. Maldives Airport hosts the biggest sea plane operation in the world (according to Male Airport's website). It operates as a taxi service and the sea planes can fly to several islands in one go - leaving and picking up passengers to fly them to their destination. 

It was a first for the kids and for me as well - and wow I absolutely loved every minute of it! It took us 25 minutes to reach our little paradise and it was just amazing to look down at all the small island and lagoons on the way... the kids also thought it was great! It is a bit noisy though, but you can ask for ear plugs on board. 

View of Male, capital city of Maldives

Male Airport

There used to be 2 companies Trans Maldivian and Maldivian Air Taxi, but they are both owned by one company now, since last year they operate under Trans Maldivian Airways. 

This poster from their website tells you a little bit about it all! 

TMA in brief

Back to our little trip - here are a few pictures I took!