Lots of Sun and No Internet

It has been a while since my last post as I had a tour group from Tulsa followed by a visit from Angie’s family. The group from Tulsa hired a safari boat and cruised to three atolls and had a wonderful time. It was truly an unforgettable experience. Here is an exert from the photo book I created for them.

In February of 2007, friends from Tulsa, OK experienced the culture and beauty of the Maldives by cruising the Indian Ocean aboard the safari vessel – Gahaa. The journey will surely be unforgettable for us all. The following photos tell our story and are a feeble attempt to catch a glimpse of God’s creativity and the kindness shared between islanders and Americans.

We left from Hulhumale on Monday and cruised to Maalhoss in Baa Atoll. The next morning we encountered several hundred dolphin on our way to Kurendhoo in Lhaviyani (Lah-vee-ah-nee) Atoll. On Wednesday, we weathered the north-eastern wind and rough seas and cruised to Naifaru and anchored in a lagoon near Veyvah for the night. Veyvah became our home away from home and favorite snorkeling site as we spent the night there again and enjoyed a BBQ on the beach after visiting Hinnavaru and the shipwrecked dive site of Skipkack II on Thursday. We walked the uninhabited island of Maavaafushi before returning to Maalhoss for the cultural village. The sea calmed for our long journey across the channel back to Kaafu Atoll on Friday as we returned to Hulhumale. After a sight-seeing and shopping tour in the capital city, Male, we spent our last night in the Maldives before catching our morning flight back to the other side of the world. The people, the ocean, the colors… simply unforgettable!

Angie’s family arrived while we were on the safari. Just a few days after the Tulsa group left, we hired a safari boat as a family and enjoyed a few days together. We all got more sun than we planned and saw some creatures we had never seen before. Take a look at the Water Creatures pics to see a few. Angie and I saw a 15ft Whale Shark.

We had only heard of them. We jumped out of the boat equipped with snorkel, mask and underwater camera. Sorry its not the best picture, but I had to dive about 12-15 feet to snag this shot and the light was a little dim. I stayed in front of the whale shark for maybe 5-8 minutes until he got too deep for me to see him anymore. We say lots of dolphin and some whales.

Oh, Kyndal lost another tooth and went snorkeling for the first time.

She was excited to see the blue starfish. She was a little scared at first and kept her eyes on the big fish. She kept pointing them out to me to make sure daddy saw the big fish too. It was so much fun.