Married to a lobster (Day 4, 12 Feb)

Grace will be off tomorrow when we have our last breakfast and stopped by to say goodbye. Decided to eat more of the Asian selection for breakfast today, there was chicken congee. It lacked condiments but was tasty enough on its own. I made my own honey lemon drink, using the honey and lemon from the buffet spread, don't know why I never thought of this before, I don't have to subject myself to coffee at buffets from now on!



Nick felt blah most of the day so we didn’t do much and he tried to stay in the shade wherever possible. He is so red, I’m like married to a lobster.


It was off to Dhigu after breakfast so I could take some underwater shark shots, was hoping to snorkel with them but it was too shallow where they congregated, up to my calves only.




He dipped in the pool and I joined him after I cam-whored by myself. He takes the worst photos, here I am in paradise and I can hardly get any decent photos of myself! He would plonk me in the middle of the shot, take a blur one, take against the light, crop bits of my body or ignore the fact that my hair is flying and I look like a troll!

When we arrived back on Veli, another surprise awaited us in the room. Mohamed the room attendant had prepared a bubble bath decorated with flowers, as well as done up the bed. We didn’t want to mess it up just yet, so Nick snoozed on the daybed and I snorkelled around our bungalow however the wind and currents were too strong so I gave up.




Nick ordered a kids burger from room service, portion was actually just nice while I made use of the bubble bath. After spending some time sorting out my photos, we made our way to the Aquafanatics sports centre only to be told the dolphin tour we had signed up for was cancelled due to the strong winds.

I had been so looking forward to it, in fact there was a tour on Thursday when we arrived which I wanted to join but Nick needed to get his sea legs working so we opted for Saturday. Bugger!

Since our plans were thwarted, we walked around Veli for a bit, going to the longer stretch of bungalows opposite ours to snap some pictures. Saw a stingray and some big triggerfish. Then it was back to the room where I watched New In Town while he snoozed again.



We changed for dinner and took the pontoon to Dhigu, walking along the sand during sunset to Fuddan where we had a reservation for the outer deck. There was a tent set up for sand dining and a musician to serenade whoever was eating there but we got to enjoy the music too, a medley of slow rock classics.




Apparently we were the first to view the new Fuddan dinner menus, hot off the press and delivered that day. Nick ordered a tomato soup and bolognaise, while I had Vietnamese rice paper rolls to start with followed by a grilled red snapper with lemon butter sauce, topped off with a glass of 2008 Forrest Estate Sauvignon Blanc.

My fish was a very thick fillet but I finished it anyway! It was very fresh, you can’t go wrong with seafood when you’re in the Maldives.



We had decided this was to be an early 8th anniversary dinner because we both had work events on 1st March. It was a lovely setting, and we had a direct view of the sea and the sky in front of us and the music in the background. Occasionally we would see fish skipping across the water.

It was a clear nite, the stars were out in full force and because we were on the other side of the island, we didn’t feel the effects of the strong wind blowing from the east.

Back on Veli, we found out our late-check out request had been granted, we could use the room till 6pm, better than I expected, most places give you until 3pm and our transfer was not till 7.30pm.

As it was a Saturday night, we went back to the room to watch Liverpool vs Wigan that ended 1-1. Kenny Daglish has been a positive influence on the team and I now have hope that we can salvage the season and secure a spot in Europe!

Somewhere, beyond the sea (Day 3, 11 Feb)

I am having the best time! While I miss the kids and all, I’m so glad they are not here. Selfish I know but I am a firm believer in taking time out for ourselves from time to time, though Nick is berating himself for being a horrible father.

We got a nice table for breakfast, a coveted booth-type seat. Our hostess Grace is from the Philippines and she’s really friendly and addresses us by name.

I ended my meal with a crepe, too bad they didn’t have any bananas, it would have gone well with the chocolate and vanilla sauces I drizzled on the crepe. Settled for some stewed apples instead and made a roll of it!



After breakfast, we changed into our swimwear and snorkeled around our bungalow again. I saw a bit more than yesterday, thank goodness I invested in the underwater camera bag, I can snap away as much as I like!




Next we took a kayak out to the house reef which is a tiny island after Dhigu, it took a bit of work getting there, most people would kayak from Dhigu but Nickypoo insisted on starting from Veli, it’s his form of exercise. As the tide was low, we got stranded on some rocks halfway and he had to get out and push.

Eventually we made it to the house reef. I doodled in the sand, saw some washed up sea cucumbers. The currents looked strong especially when boats passed and we debated whether to go in the water but decided to anyway, because there was some turquoise fish I spotted from the surface and I wanted to see them in person.



When I found one, I chased it around snapping away indiscriminately because I couldn’t see a damn thing on my camera screen, what with the water’s reflection and the foggy snorkel mask!

These are the sea creatures we saw, there was even an octopus. After surfacing he spotted a cuttlefish but it zoomed away before I could whip out my camera.






As we made our way back to the kayak, this Great Blue Heron came to rest on the shore. And on the way back kayaking, we saw people dining in the middle of the lagoon.


A dip in the pool was next and after half an hour, we went back to the room to chill and have the first of our instant noodles.

No nap today, it was back to Dhigu via pontoon to do another walkabout and visit the Chef’s Garden, Coral Nursery and have a look at the black tip reef sharks we spotted lurking around Fuddan the night before.



We arrived back on Veli at the appointed 5pm meeting time for our sunset cruise, only to find ourselves transported back to Dhigu as the boats depart from there! There was only 1 other couple on the trip with us, the majority had opted for sunset line fishing. Keisha and Amer were from Washington DC and expecting their second child.

We only travelled for less than 30 mins before stopping in the middle of nowhere to wait for the sun to set. The boat crew invited us to sit on the roof of the boat, I was wearing a dress and mindful of exposing too much as I went up the ladder.

There weren’t proper seats or anything, we sat cross-legged on the floor and it was a little precarious because the railings were less than a foot high, and the boat was rocking, we had no life jackets on.

They served us some champagne and canapés, which were mainly samosas and spring rolls. It wasn’t a brilliant enough sunset as I would have hoped, the sky was a bit cloudy. As soon as the golden orb hit the water, we were back on our way to Veli.




Dinner this evening was at the signature Thai restaurant Baan Huraa, Anantara is a Thai brand so we felt compelled to try out the food. Nevermind that they charge US$32 for Pad Thai!

We had a table indoors that was next to a ‘hole’ where we could see fish swimming if we looked down. Unfortunately the weather seems to have shifted, it was extremely windy outside and the fish were struggling to swim against the currents.

I decided it was more worthwhile to order a set menu and the one chosen for 2 pax with about 5 dishes cost about US$110. We had a crispy fish salad, tom kha gai, stir fried veggies, stir fried prawns and a beef green curry.

The salad and tom kha gai was good but the green curry had too much coconut milk and not enough green curry paste. We ended the meal with ice cream, he had a raspberry sorbet, I had coconut but it tasted more like vanilla.

At the end of the meal, our waitress asked if she could make us a fish from a leaf. I had seen them do it for kids at another table and wasn’t really expecting one for ourselves but it was a nice gesture. Will bring it back for Nat, provided it doesn’t get squished!



When we got back to the room, a surprise awaited us, a bowl of chocolates and the bowl was made entirely of orange-colour sugar.

Nick might have had too much sun today, he’s developed a fever and is giddy, probably a case of mild heatstroke.

All the fishes...(Day 2, 10 Feb)

We are 3 hours behind Singapore and set the alarm for 8am local time but woke up at 7plus and decided to have breakfast early, That welcome pineapple turned out to contain a fruit salad, I didn’t know it had been carved!


The weather is perfect, not too hot and not humid either. We are in an over-water bungalow, and don’t need to venture far to see fish, they are at our doorstep.



Had breakfast at 73 Degrees, the usual bacon, baked beans and sausages was on offer but they also had a small selection of Asian food like chicken congee, fried noodles and fried rice.



Read a bit of the newspapers we took from the plane last night and went back to the room to freshen up before heading out again to explore the island.

We walked to the Thai restaurant Baan Huraa and along the way saw lots of tropical fish swimming among the dead coral. Even saw a couple of eels and octopuses, and a posse of crabs scaling a rock wall, like an army invasion!



Went to book ourselves a sunset cruise for tomorrow and a dolphin quest for Saturday and then checked out the infinity-edged pool. Am sure it will be perfect at sunset.

Chilled at the jetty, I snapped pictures while Nick snoozed before stopping by the library to use the computer. It’s not much of a library, just one shelf of books and hardly any English ones. Lucky I brought my own book, ‘Things I Wish My Mother Had Told Me’ though I’m not sure if I’ll get down to reading it!




Snoozed a bit in the afternoon, before taking out a kayak to the sister resort of Anantara Dhigu, about 200m away. It’s a much bigger island and we took a short walk around, spotting a stingray along the shore but it moved each time I tried to take a picture.

On the way back kayaking we saw tiny fish skipping across the surface of the water, chased by bigger fish that also leapt out in their pursuit of the prey. We snorkelled around our bungalow next, there’s a limited variety because there’s not much coral here but these are the fish I saw.



Just when we returned from the snorkelling, a room attendant dropped off a little complimentary snack, some fruit skewers and mini juices. What a nice surprise!


The resort had a complimentary hour of cocktail and canapé session for guests just outside 73 Degrees in the evening, so I put on some white capris and a Trina Turk one-shoulder top.


The staff were present to chat to guests, we had a cocktail drink each and some crostinis, which came with an assortment of toppings i.e. olives, sun dried tomato paste, artichoke or salmon.

We talked to a couple of Malaysian hospitality interns, one of them was called Wendy and we saw her at breakfast earlier. She’s on a 6-month attachment and had only been at Anantara for 2 weeks.

The highlight of the evening was surely the sunset, the area where we were was a perfect vantage point to witness the myriad of hues as the sun set over the horizon. The infinity-edged pool glistened as dusk settled. I was a happy camper, I absolutely love sunsets, it’s my favourite time of the day.



For dinner we decided to take the short pontoon ride to Dhigu, the plan was to eat at the Italian restaurant Terrazzo but they were full and we didn’t have a reservation. Settled for sitting at Fuddan, the restaurant on the 1st level but we could still order Terrazzo food.

I had a tomato soup and he had minestrone. For my main, I opted for a chicken and mushroom risotto that came with peas and truffle oil. I love truffle oil in risottos, my dish reminded me of the Skinny Pizza one though the latter is better. Nick had spaghetti with romana sauce, it was bacon with cream and cheese so it was a tad salty. The damage? About US$120.


Food here costs an arm and a leg and lacks variety, which is why I came prepared with some cup noodles and cereal bars! Can’t afford to spend so much on food, and even if we could, I just find it too extravagant.

The plan is to have nice dinners and skip lunch because we tend to still be full from breakfast. Of course if we are hungry we’ll just order something but the cup noodles and cereal bars should be sufficient for snacking.