Monday, May 30, 2016

The Maldives: A Photo Diary

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Aloha! And welcome to one of my many, many posts on the Maldives. As promised, it is a long 'un, so I hope you have that cup of tea at the ready. So, this first set of photos were taken at the beautiful Angsana Ihuru, which is the first resort we stayed at. The magic starts literally from the minute the speedboat pulls up to the island; like a fat little kid in a candy shop, I didn't know where to look first. We hopped off the boat and were greeted with some homemade cookies and coconut ice cream (much needed, although when aren't cookies needed to be honest) and from then on you kind of just instantly sink into the island vibe, thinking things like, ‘why am I wearing shoes’ and ‘who cares if I left the oven on’. It sucks you in to this lovely Maldives bubble that feels a million miles away from everything else.

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After that we were taken to our rooms and Oh. My. Word. Instantly I was thinking about ways I could stay forever ('if I accidentally on purpose fell and broke something they couldn't get rid of me'). The bathroom was the real highlight of the room; it’s half indoors, half outdoors, so it feels like you’re doing your business in the wilderness.. it’s the most surreal feeling opening the door to the bathroom at night and being hit with a warm breeze. Situated very much outside – but completely private, don’t worry nervous nancies – is the shower and the hot-tub, so you feel like George of the Jungle, ready to get right back to nature every day. The back garden is another surreal aspect; you’ve got a swing, a loveseat and two sunbeds tucked away on your own private stretch of beach. If you look up paradise in the dictionary I'm 99% sure you'll just find a picture of Angsana. The sea I don’t really know how to put into words it was that beautiful, it looks like a friggin swimming pool, doesn’t it? Ridiculous. I keep looking at the picture of my book (below) thinking, 'that can't have been the sea, I must have made a mistake'. But I DIDN'T, it really is. Sorry, I need to calm down.

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I was struggling to sleep on one of the first nights so went out a little wander around the island, and for once in my life was actually grateful for jetlag. Because there's so little around you, and all the lights on the island are turned off, you can see every single star in the sky. Thousands upon thousands of them. My camera's not the best at night shots, but I tried my best to capture even a little glimpse of how it looked. Beautiful, innit?

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We also did a bit of snorkelling here which was – I can’t use the word surreal again already, can I – ridiculous. If you go to the Maldives then you have to promise me that you’ll scuba or snorkel at one point. You see the most beautiful species of coral and every single colour, shape and size of fish imaginable, to the point where you start to wonder if you’ve stepped into Finding Nemo by accident. I spent the entire time pointing and hyperventilating (would not recommend, it leads rapidly to choking) and shaking my head at the sheer beauty of it all. That was until I looked up and saw a 6 foot nurse shark swimming right in front of me and almost vomited. I don’t have a GoPro or underwater casing sadly, but it’s only of those things I think you have to see for yourself anyway. To put your head until the water and suddenly see this whole other world you had no idea was below you is just something else. Truly one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had. No I'm not crying, I've got something in my eye.

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One of the highlights of Ihuru was our candlelit dinner on the beach, during which I felt oddly propelled to propose to someone/anyone. It’s just so romantic. We had a beautiful three course meal – cooked right in front of us on a barbeque – of fresh fish and meat and lots of delicious veg, and watched the sun go down. Oh my goodness, the sunsets in the Maldives.. unreal. I’ve never seen anything like it and, from previous posts, I’m sure you’ll have gathered quite how much I love a sunset, so this was a real highlight for me. Every single one is different and not one of them looked anything like I’ve ever seen before. It’s crazy – it is honestly like someone sat down and was like, ‘right, how can we make this place as close to ideal as possible’. Thank god I’ve got pictures and can confirm it actually all happened, otherwise I’d be severely doubting myself. Here's a round up of some of my favourite sunsets we saw on the island (I definitely tried to get up for sunrise and definitely slept in. Jetlag, you bastard).

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And there we have it! If you missed my first Maldives post about our trip to one of the uninhibited islands then you can catch up with that here, and I'll be back with more very shortly!

Amy
Once again, thank you to the incredible Angsana Ihuru for having us stay