The Maldives: A Trip to Banyan Tree

And back to the Maldives we go (if only literally). We took a little speedboat across to the Banyan Tree hotel one evening for a tour and some food and, oh my, what a rush. It's an absolutely beautiful hotel; the rooms, the island, the restaurant, the sea... errrrrthang. They have this beautiful building at the back of the island that was set up for a dinner later that evening, so we had a little perv (mouth, as always, hanging wide open) and then sat there to watch yet another beautiful sunset. After a delicious dinner - complete with fresh coconut water - we headed back along the jetty to get our boat and I heard the biggest scream coming from ahead of me (I was hanging back to take 5 million pictures of the water because that's what I do).. turns out there was a big-ass shark swimming around the jetty. I tried to get a wee picture, as you can see above, but darn that thing was fast. All the sharks in the Maldives are vegetarian but they still make you wish you'd been wearing an adult nappy when you see them.

Oh, speaking of marine life, one of the highlights of visiting the island was seeing the little baby turtles - how cute are they? Seriously, my heart. Banyan Tree are one of the leading hotels when it comes to protecting the Indian Ocean's eco-system, and one of the programmes they run is a conservation for sea turtles where they can nest and breed safely in the area before being released into the wild, free willy style. They've released more than 400 since it began and, as a guest, you can go along and help monitor their growth as well as attending feeding sessions. Pretty amazing, huh? They truly the most adorable little things, for added fun I'd give them little voices like the turtles in Nemo (I know, there I go with Finding Nemo again).

If you missed out on my last Maldives post - it's a big 'un - you can catch up with it here.

Amy

Once again, thank you to Angsana Ihuru for such an incredible stay