Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Maldives, Pearl in Indian Ocean




Recently we had a chance to visit Maldives, the Island nation in Indian Ocean during Christmas holidays. We took Sri Lankan Airlines from Chennai to Colombo and from Colombo to the capital city of Maldives, Male. The trip started with an adventure with my son’s passport not valid for six months, expiring in 4 months. The Sri Lankan Airlines officials refused to give the boarding pass for Anish and said he can’t travel to Maldives. It was a huge disappointment for Anish since he was excited about the trip in the last 10 days before the travel. We were waiting for around 30 minutes, bit puzzled what to do. Then the Sri Lankan officials checked with Maldives immigration authorities and informed us saying Anish can travel if accompanied by parents at their own risk. 



Anish came back to the spirits and he was very much excited to board the flight to Maldives finally. Male is the capital city and most populated city, traditionally called the ‘King’s Island’ for its central location. Independence Square, the mosque in Hulhumale, Parliament House are some of the attractions in Male. We went for a snorkeling and it gives a great view of the coral reefs, fishes underneath the water. Then we went to a local island which gave the glimpse of the life style of the Island nation. The Sand Bank Island is a small island somewhere in nowhere in the midst of Indian Ocean. It was fascinating to see the water all around in pristine green color and a very small portion of the land mass where stayed for a while.



The most fascinating experience in the Island nation was Scuba Diving. Wearing tight fish like dress, carrying a cylinder, wearing the masks and jumping in the middle of the ocean. For the first 10 minutes, I couldn’t survive inside the water, with heavy pain in the ears, couldn’t breathe properly. But the instructor guided well to release the pressure by pressing the nose, ears, shaking the head and after that I started to enjoy the stay inside the ocean. Honestly, the depth, the flora and fauna, the colorful fishes inside the ocean was simply breathtaking. Its indeed one of the tremendous adventure to try out for one time.


Anish thoroughly enjoyed the pristine beaches and we did lot of water sports. The kayaking, jet speed boat, banana boat, building sand castles along the shores of the beach were truly rewarding experience in the island nation. What fascinates about the beaches in Maldives are the Green color, shallow ones to try various water sports, low tides and the warm temperature to do swimming/bath any time. The economy of the island nation is mainly tourism and fishing. Most of the people were speaking fluent English. All in all, a perfect touristic country to visit during December and January when it’s damn cold in Europe/USA. 


Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

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