Rangali Island, Maldives
I saw the sunrise today! Any of you who know me well know there has to be something good on the line for me to be willing to get up before the sun. This morning the incentive was two dives off a scuba boat. After enjoying the buffet Ben and I boarded the dhoni right on time at 8:15AM. The dive started with Lydia giving our party of seven the dive plan.
The sunrise through palm leaves.
Our sunrise breakfast view.
Morning cleaning of the infinity pool with a single blue bucket.
Lydia explaining the currents of the Angaga Thila.
Our first dive of the day was an hour boat ride from Rangali at Angaga Thila in the South Ari Atoll. The ride itself was gorgeous. The blues of the water are the stuff found in fantasies. Being on the ocean with the breeze and smell of the seas is like a dream. I didn’t have to spend much time on the boat to realize why Rob was convinced he has the best job in the world even though he only makes $600 a month.
The Angaga Thila was a great place to make our first boat dive. The site is almost perfectly round, so you basically just swim in a circle. Half of the reef is exposed to the current, while the other half is protected. During the course of our dive I believe we did two full laps around the reef. We saw all kinds of interesting critters including starfish, octopus and spotted box fish. We also saw many varieties of wrasse and angel fish. My hands down favorite fish was a purple rhinopias scorpion fish.
Thank you internet for this picture of a rhinopias scorpion fish.
Can you find the moray hidden in the coral?
In-between dives Rob, Ben, André (another diver) and I hung out talking and warming up on the roof of the dhoni. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t noticed André earlier on the boat. He was a very nice looking and nicely built Danish guy. I found out later that he was a recently retired professional soccer player who was a member of the Dutch World Cup soccer team that lost to Spain in the 2010 WC Final. Bailey would be excited to know that goal scoring is not required for shirt removal during scuba diving trips. And that’s a very good thing since evidently André was a defenseman.
Our second dive stop was at Manta Point. Swimming with mantas is a surreal experience. Their sheer size and grace is hard to describe with words. Instead of trying to wax poetic, here is a video of one of the three mantas with whom we swam. Our guides estimated that this Reef Manta Ray had a roughly 15 foot wingspan.
On this dive we also saw a Hornback Turtle swimming along gracefully. Below is a short video of his swim. This dive was my favorite of our four open water dives thus far. It also marked the completion of our Open Water Certification. It’s crazy to think three months ago I hadn’t spent much time thinking about scuba diving and now I’m a certified open water diver. I’m thankful to Ben for pushing the idea and feeling blessed for the opportunity to learn and enjoy this new skill in what has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.
We returned to Rangali around noon. I was debating doing the afternoon whale shark snorkeling trip in order to give myself two chances at seeing the whale sharks. I could tell Ben was super tired and I didn’t think he wanted me to go without him, so we decided to clean up from scuba diving and go to lunch.
We ate lunch at Mandhoo. The menu was divided into five sections, representing the five characteristics of the elements (air, earth, fire, water, plant). It was presented on an ipad. The menu concept and delivery were sort of, uhm, shall way say, pretentious. But the meal was the best I’d had yet on the island. The view was ridiculous. I settled on ordering tuna that was nothing short of delicious. I wanted to lick the plate.
Mandhoo restaurant.
Baby palms guard the entrance to the restaurant.
An explanation of the five elements on the ipad menu.
Quite possibly the best tuna I've eaten in my life.
After a nice long leisurely lunch with pleasant conversation, Ben decided he needed a nap. I decided to explore the islands more. I took a few photos, hit up a few of the free Hilton Gold snack options, blogged a bit and enjoyed the sunset.
Our room marker.
The coconuts are removed from the palms on the island for safety.
I love palm trees.
The sun setting on a great day.
Eventually I woke Ben up so we could go to dinner at the Rangali Bar and listen to a whale shark presentation by Lydia. We both enjoyed the talk and our Italian dishes (bolognese and gnocchi) . We also had fun chatting a bit more with Rob. At the conclusion of the presentation they switched the screen from a slideshow deck to Casino Royale for “movie night.” Ben and I were too tired to watch a two hour movie but we enjoyed the set-up for fifteen minutes or so before calling it a night.
More movie screens should be surrounded by palm trees and sea breezes.
Until tomorrow,
Katy
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