Como Maalisfushi Wednesday January 17, 2018 Heading Home

Today was our last day in The Maldives, and it was going to be a long one!

We woke up to our last beautiful sunrise from our Villa. Then it was off to breakfast at Madi. I had the chocolate waffle again, and Steve had an omelette.

I tried to take a picture of the pool area just like the professional ones. With this angle you would think that I had one too many Mimosa’s! That was one thing that Como didn’t have that Gili did, champagne at breakfast. I have noticed in my travels that the further north you travel the earlier the drinking starts. When my darling daughter and I went to Scandinavia with her dance group I took detailed notes on the drinking. In Denmark I observed drinking at lunch. In Iceland the drinking was at breakfast!

Here is Steve giving me a worried look. He knows that I have plotting and scheming on my mind. I had noticed this couple at the resort. She was the most beautiful guest there. He was interesting. I had already told her that I thought she was quite beautiful. She reminded me of Megan Markle, but I knew that was impossible as he was no Prince Harry. Steve remarked to me “Are you pretending to take my picture?”

Well yes, I was. He reminded me of a movie star, I couldn’t remember who. Bradley something or other? I texted my girlfriends back home. They snorted back NO!

Scruffy beard was correct as was head angle. However ears stuck out too much. Oh well, maybe we’ll run into a movie star on our next vacation. We did run into Anthony Daniels who played C3PO from Star Wars in South America, however he was gone before I realized who he was!

After breakfast we went to the gym and then back to our villa for the final packing.

Goodbye fancier villas that we didn’t stay in .

Goodbye fish swimming near our jetty.

Packing all done, and final lounging under our sala we returned to Thia for lunch. This time I got the breadsticks without Steve’s fingers in the picture. Steve had the burger and fries. He told me to “Hurry up and take the picture” as he hates cold fries. As a result the picture was a little shaky.

I requested the Caesar salad with grilled fish and traditional dressing. I got the Green Goddess Avocado instead.

Now that almost looks like a professional picture!Now after lunch we went to pay our bill. Here is Reception totaling the damage. Ouch!

Steve admired the wall decorations. They were wood.

I don’t think that I showed you the 360 view from our deck. It was pretty awesome!

Here is Steve asking if I am done yet. “It’s time to go!”

Steve was ready to leave. Here he is pacing. Did you know that he can measure with his pacing? It’s a family trait.

Here we are with S and A. One last picture before we go home. The two of them were very lucky it was our last day together. I didn’t get a chance to ask all my questions.

1. Do the men’s head wear in the sheikh robes have any significance?

2. When do men wear the traditional robes or western street wear?

3. Which is better Emirates or Etihad first class?

4. Can I house sit your house in Malibu?

5. Oh my God! Is that a Hermes Birkin bag?

Well, of course I did ask the last question.

Here I am on the speed boat, holding the Birkin! S didn’t even ask me to wash my hands first! It took her 5 years on the list to get one! Lucky S!

Here is the staff waving us goodbye! Please come back again and spend your money with us!

We meet the boat and prepare to board the plane. You can tell who the pilot is can’t your? He is the one with no sandals on!

I grabbed the front seat. I wanted to see everything!

Here we all are on the plane. Steve looking happy, first leg of trip to commence. A is going me that look, “See if you can behave!”

Let’s take off shall we? Whee!

This map gives you an idea where The Maldives are located. Tourism is a big industry here! All the resorts have to have at least 50% of their employees as Maldivians.

We reached the airport and prepared for landing.

Maldivian Airlines Seaplanes at the dock. Unfortunately or fortunately for S and A their flight on Emirates was to depart before ours. After hugs goodbye, and a stern “Behave” from A, Steve and I waited in the lounge.

After two hours of waiting we got in the shuttle to head to the main airport.

I found it amazing how close the airport was to the ocean. This is on the access road.

Goodbye Male! That white building on the right is a cruise ship, not a building!

That must be A and S’s airplane! I am sure they are sitting in first class!

Here we are in the scrum waiting to go through the luggage x-ray. That must be a surfboard in the orange and black bag.

Now that’s what I call no line!

This was the lounge for business and first class. I only had a bottle of water. No reason to try some food and get ill on the way home. Smart I am!

Finally our flight was called for boarding!

A refreshing lemony mint drink with cool towel before lift off!

This would be the flight path for our trip to Qatar. We would leave around 8:20 and arrive in Male at 11:40 local time (really 1:40 Male time. I don’t even want to think what time it was Como time, that was an hour different from Male time.

Here is one of the flight attendants in one of their four wardrobe changes. I noticed their suitcases in JFK, they were really big!

These are only a few of the named atolls in The Maldives!

I had a glass of tea with my warm nuts.

I wanted to eat lightly during this long trip. I had the lentil soup.

The Arab Mezze plate.

Followed by the pasta. I only ate one. Too gloppy for me!

I even only had two bites of the dessert!

Almost there! A and S are probably in their own beds in Dubai, after going through their mail!

Steve noted this about the flight map. It would show the direction of Mecca, for those who wanted to pray.

We finally landed in Doha. This airport was hopping, even at 1 in the morning!

We boarded the flight at 1 something and waited for everyone else to board. Nothing like watching some champagne bubbles! My plan was to stay awake until 5 in the morning and then sleep as much as I could. The flight was to be 13 hours long and we would be landing at JFK at 7am local time. I wanted to adjust myself as soon as I could to east coast time. Something that is always hard to do.

Not sure what this was. Ah yes, breakfast. Scrambled eggs with chives. After a 10 hours flying you really don’t know what is going on.

Almost home! Look at all that ice on the JFK approach!

After an exceptionally long drive (never land at JFK during morning rush hour), we finally made it home. This is our side yard.

I will have one last post about the trip, giving Steve’s fishing accomplishments the coverage that they deserve!

Como Maalifushi Saturday January 13, 2018 Steve fishes, I do a Thai Massage

Good Morning! The posts will probably go faster now that I have covered the details of the grounds, spa and rooms. We won’t have many dinner pictures as they were all al fresco except for the dinner that you will read about on the 16th. I still have four days to cover until then, so hold on!

I had the full English breakfast on Saturday. This time the bacon was extra crispy as requested. We still haven’t gotten a Rosti as good as the ones at Blanket Bay in Glenorchy, New Zealand.

Steve had a dish that you would never get in a diner in the United States for breakfast. Obviously, some people thought this would be a great dish for breakfast as it was on the menu!

I though that you might be amused by these salt and pepper dishes. They crystals were so large, that you couldn’t get your food properly seasoned.

I decided to take a stroll to the gardens to observe. I was a wee bit scared to get too close to the vegetables and decided to head to the beach for a rest. This was the beach at 11:00 a.m. I remember posting on instagram saying “where is everybody?”

Soon 12:45 rolled around and it was time for me to head back to the spa for a Thai Massage. I had a Thai Massage once in Washington D.C.. It was somewhat uncomfortable, but my back and shoulders are still so tight, that I thought the stretching might help me. I was given a beautiful set of Thai pajamas to wear. This is the last time I would look so happy, until my massage was over. How was it? Let’s just say that massage did start with a soothing foot soak. Then we moved to the cushion on the floor. Unfortunately I can not lie face down for longer than five minutes before my neck and shoulders starts rebelling. So I moved to the massage table, where my head could stay cradled. The therapist did a lot of stretching. There are no oils, in a Thai massage, just firm stokes of the hand, wrist, elbows and knees. Then she asked me to flip over and lie on the floor. More stretching of body parts, that didn’t really want to go where she was trying to put them! My 90 minutes of treatment ended and I was free to go. I had originally thought to have another massage on Sunday, but we agreed that my body was going to be really sore the next day and maybe another massge would not be a good idea.

So while I had my spa treatment what was Steve doing. Well, Steve was fishing, while his guide Craig, had what is called mechanicals. Now every boat owner knows that the first day you buy your boat is the best day, and the second best day is when you sell it. There might be some good days in between when you have a great day fishing. The worst are days are mechanicals, when something goes wrong with the boat. Now Steve and the kids used to play a board game when the kids were young called ‘Fishing Time”. Most cards said, “Nice fish, two pounds, throw it in the live well. The greatest was when in you would draw a card that said that you caught the biggest fish of the day, and the game was over. Playing Fishing Time you would draw a card almost every fifth time-Go to Cranky Hank’s, which was the boat repair shop. Steve’s new boat has worked out pretty well so far but his last boat went to Cranky Hank’s too often.

Here is the pipe fish that Steve caught on his second day. Steve likes to see his fish pictures, so to make him happy I will post this one again.

Steve caught two of these yellow lipped Emperor fish. Isn’t this a beautiful fish?

In between Steve catching a fish or two, the boat motor would stall every three to five seconds. Craig surmised that “dirty fuel” was the problem. Steve thought that maybe the octane level was incorrect. No, “dirty fuel’ meant fuel that actually had sticks and grass and other junk in it. This totally screwed up the engine and Steve would not be able to go out the next day.

Steve also got a immature peacock grouper , and and another immature peacock grouper..

This picture of the fish on top is of the immature peacock grouper. The mature peacock grouper is on the bottom. They are mirror images of themselves. The adults are quite territorial and would drive the young away if they had the same colors. By looking differently as young, they are not driven away by the adults. Steve also got a lyretail grouper, but I haven’t gotten a picture of that fish yet.

While Steve fished, I rested under the Sala.

For dinner Saturday night, we decided to have a drink and watch the sunset at the bar in the Japanese restaurant, Tai. I ordered a drink that sounded right up my alley, and that looked delicious. Unfortunately it was the saltiest drink imaginable. The bar tender tried to doctor it up for me by adding sugar, but I don’t think anything would have saved it! We met a lovely couple at the bar, and had fun talking to them. They live in Dubai and also Vancouver. I had asked them about flying Emirates and Etihad, and had they ever flown in the Apartment or Residence. These are the super first class seats of those airlines, you know, the ones with the showers, and cost tens of thousand of dollars to be in. They had! Well by now, you know I was just about vibrating. I was so excited to meet actual people who had flown in these seats. They just about broke my heart when they said that the flights weren’t really that special, and a waste of money. You know me, I was hoping we would be able to see each other again the next day, I wanted to hear more stories. This was Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in Real Life! I joked with them that Steve would be slipping them a $20 bill for telling me that the seats were not anything special, and that the Business Class seats on Qatar that we were flying were really quite nice.

Here is a picture of the sunset. People were holding the parasols so they wouldn’t be bothered by the glare. Every few minutes they would peak around the parasol and pose for selfies.

The fish were circling under the restaurant and I had to jump up to video them. I did a lot of jumping around this vacation!

I am a little leery of Japanese food. I didn’t enjoy the experience at Gili Lankanfushi at all. I have been to Japanese restaurants where they put on quite the show, with knives flying and food being tossed into pockets, hats and plates. I ordered the tempura udon soup.Steve had fried dumplings as his starter.

For dinner I had the very American grilled lamb chops with mashed potatoes and shaved apple. Have you ever eaten mashed potatoes with chop sticks? I challenge you to do so!

Steve had fried rice with wagyu beef with an egg on top. For dessert we had ice cream cones. Then off to bed, we had a big day of nothing to do but relax as the boat was busted and Steve couldn’t go fishing anymore.

Enough for now. Next post will be Sunday. Maybe you’ll get to explore a beautiful yacht.

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Como Maalifushi Friday January 12, 2018 Dhoni Boat

Part of our arranged packaged was a sunset cruise in a Dhoni boat at Como Maalifushi. You have previously seen pictures of the dhoni boat floating calmly in the water at each of our resorts. When we arrived at the resort our itinerary only showed champagne and canapés at sunset on the beach. While Steve was off fishing and before I did my spa treatments I inquired about the discrepancy. I had brought confirmations with me in case there was a problem, and although the current packages from our travel agent as of the first of the year do not include a sunset dhoni cruise we would get one after all. So it was arranged that Friday evening would be the time of our cruise.

We arrived promptly at the beach at six, in order to board the dhoni. The marine biologist showed us to the boat. I was thinking about wearing a dress or long skirt for this festive occasion, but decided on my black Chico’s travelers pants. It was a good choice as we needed to wade to the boat to board it!

So here we are, reclining in our dhoni. Vacation hair at it’s finest!

So long Como Maalifushi! I hope that we return in time for dinner!

Here is our bottle of Tattinger, and the canapés that I had ordered.

Here is our captain, adjusting the sails. Like every sail boat that we have been on we ended up motoring most of the way as we always seem to be becalmed.

More boat rigging.

Bored captain.

Me showing how shallow the boat was. I think it was about six inches deep. I have a wee bit of anxiety and was constantly trying to tell my self, “Stay in the boat, do not jump over the side. This will be over by seven.”

Here you also see my three carat fake diamond ring. When traveling not only do I like to stay at places nicer than my house, I like to wear big diamonds. I got this one at Home Goods/Marshalls.

Now our captain was getting even more bored. I think he was checking the cricket box scores.

The sun was starting to get lower and we started to turn around and head back. Our Tattinger and canapés remained untouched.

“Steve, do you think you should ask the captain if we should open the champagne?” I was nervous about this, as every time we adjusted ourselves on our cushions the boat rocked.

Yes yes. Can’t you dolts tell that I am busy with the boat? This is something that I spoke with management after the cruise. If the marine biologist at the launch had told us to serve ourselves we would have. We were waiting for instructions.

So what was inside the containers? Fried vegetarian spring rolls with Saucy Susan sauce.

Cheese, nuts, fruit and bread. And of course the Tattinger’s.Here is my he man. He is giving me quite the saucy look isn’t he?

Sun going down even more.

Selfie with our captain. I really need to do something about those age spots.

Saucy thoughts over, Steve contemplates all of the beautiful fish that he caught. He is also thinking about the next days fishing.

In case we would have problems this boat would have rescued us.

Safely back to the resort, Steve says lets go to dinner!

Alright, alright. I will pose for another picture.

When we got off the boat, we met a family of Canadians who were inquiring about the dhoni boat ride. They were enjoying their last sunset. They had a long way home tomorrow! They had been at Como Maalifushi for two weeks. Two adults and two teenagers. The daughter looked happy, the son looked like he was eager to get home to his friends. Imagine their bill!

I told them all about it, and then mentioned the couple I saw earlier getting their pictures taken with all sorts of poses. So here I am with my fancy posing of us with a half empty bottle of Tattinger. Steve looks so happy and relaxed.

I had to do one last pose of us kissing. The gentleman taking the picture said “That was more like you kissing him!” He was right! I’m a tad aggressive! I do need to work on the gut sucking in, and proper bottle turn for optimal label placement, though!

The dhoni all ready for the next day’s excursions.

Goodbye last rays of the sun.

The Madi Restaurant all lit up at dinner. It was really romantic.

That night Madi had a special seafood buffet dinner. We ate from the regular menu as we didn’t feel like paying the $65 per person up-charge. I took a picture for you of the seafood, it did look really good!

Last photo of the day was Steve letting one of his fish swim away to be caught another day. That was the beautiful bluefin trevally.

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Como Maalisfushi, Friday January 12, 2018 Linda goes to the Spa

Well you didn’t think that I would just sit under my thatched sala reading and doing blog posts while Steve fished did you? I found out that canopy was not the correct term for that delightful spot on our deck. Those aluminum canopies that you see at soccer games and the beach have really nothing in common with the thatched Salas here at Maalifushi. So from now on, thatched sala it shall be.

I last left you waiting in the spa lobby with my cup of hot sweetened ginger tea. Between my soak in the steam room, sauna and the hot tea, my muscles and pores were ready for action. There was a coupon in the room for a half hour treatment followed by a facial or body scrub. I elected a deep tissue massage followed by a facial. The paper work asked what you wanted out of your facial and I sweetly wrote done, “My husband loves my face as it is, I’m not asking to look any younger!”I was assigned treatment room number one. There are eight treatment rooms available at the Shambhala spa here at Maalifushi.

Here is Chandra, my therapist beckoning me in.

The treatment rooms are incredibly large here. This room could be used for a couples massage. Steve was out fishing, and I couldn’t find anyone suitable to join me, so I was alone with Chandra! I hope you snickered at that comment! Steve knows that I prefer my massages solo, I can’t stand hearing the therapist talk to anyone else in the room.

The treatment began with a foot soak, followed by a scrub. It puts you in the right mind frame from the get go.

The massage room was on the same side of the island as our room. Our views were very similar. You could see the pounding waves as they hit the outer wall of the atoll. Did you know that there are about 60 islands in the Thaa atoll? Now you do.

The music was just right, and the air conditioning was set at a perfect temperature. I enjoyed the massage immensely although at several points my mind would wander to what I might write about in my blog. I had to constantly bring my thoughts back to zen, and what was happening to my body. The deep tissue massage was great, and I enjoyed the facial also. At one point Chandra put a mask on my face and I was going to ask her to take my picture for the blog. I had a moment of sanity and my gooped up face is only in your imagination. Spa treatment over, I returned via buggy to our villa to await Steve, wondering if he would think I looked years younger!

He did not. He was more excited about telling me about all the beautiful fish that he caught. I think that in editing this post he will try to make up for his faux pas and will spend the rest of the day gazing at me adoringly with goo goo eyes as is most proper.

Until later kids!

Como Maalifushi Friday January 12, 2018 Steve fishes and I go to the Spa.

So I last left you with Steve off fishing, and my enjoying life beach side.

Steve caught another beautiful peacock grouper, or perhaps this was the same one, but from a different angle. My what sharp teeth he has!

I had decided that I had enough laying about and was off to explore the gym and spa. Down the garden path I went admiring the landscaped grounds.

I removed my designer Croc sandals and entered Como Shambhala, the spa.

Here we have the reception desk. You could get earphones, and locker keys here.

There was a fresh fruit display, and cold water or piping hot sweetened ginger tea was offered to you. The ginger tea slightly burned my throat, but in a good way. I could feel healthier by the minute!

If you forgot your designer yoga outfit, you could make a purchase in the gift shop at the spa. I had brought enough Lululemon workout gear of my own, so I didn’t buy anything. There were yoga mats provided in your room. Complimentary yoga sessions were held once a day, I didn’t take any classes.

The spa treatment rooms were located in these villas along a small jetty. The first building on your left was the yoga pavilion. Would I try a treatment? You have got to be kidding me, of course I did! How many is the question, and you will have to wait to find out the answer!

This is another view of the spa lobby. You would sit here while you waited to your treatment.

The locker rooms, indoor yoga studio and gym were down this walkway. Their were shallow pools of water interspersed with sculpture. All very soothing.

This is the indoor yoga studio. Several mornings during my stay a number of the female staff were practicing for a dance to be performed on Como Maalifushi’s anniversary. I forgot to mention that there was a performance by several of the male staff our first night. The little kids loved to run up to the dancers, and try to steal the drums that they were performing with.

Let’s now enter the gym shall we? On the right is a sign in table. I think that Steve and I were the only ones to sign in. Steve told me that that stack of gym weights was very expensive. How he knows that type of stuff I don’t know.

There were treadmills, an elliptical and a recumbent bike (Yay!). I rode the bike every day that we were there from Friday on!

This is the view in the other direction. The gym also had a number of weight machines, and balance balls.

More of the gym and the expensive weights. They were in kilos, so I couldn’t use them. Ha Ha!

I tried to use some of the weight machines. I couldn’t figure out how to get on, off, or move the seat positions of the machine in the top middle of the page. I don’t think that anyone else could figure it out either, as it remained in one position our whole stay!

I am done riding the bike, so lets go see the changing rooms. Males to the left and females to the right. What an interesting piece of driftwood on the wall.

The opening to the left leads to the steam room and sauna. There was a soaking jacuzzi in the background. I used it commando, I didn’t read the sign on the wall that said “Please wear a bathing suit!” Uh Oh,

Here are the lockers. I got a different locker every time, and got quite confused remembering which locker was mine. As I fumbled with my key once too often I realized that the keys had numbers on them. My life suddenly got a whole lot easier! Inside the lockers were sandals, towels and a fluffy robe with sash. When Steve went to the spa his robe was too small as he is so powerfully built. They had to get him an extra large from storage!

This is the ladies toilet. There were these hoses in all the bathrooms. I wasn’t sure what they were for. I didn’t ask. Sometimes I really don’t ask questions, hard as that is to believe!

This is the shower. Along with two toilets, there were two showers.

Here we have another view of the jacuzzi. It was kept a little too cool for me. But I do enjoy a waterfall edge!

Part of my thorough investigation led me to try the steam room. Yes, it was quite steamy!

The sauna of course was dry heat, so you could see inside.

Here is the interior of my locker. I sure can fill up a small space with my junk can’t I?

Steam room is ready, so I’ll see you later. Would I see the treatment rooms?

Would this yellow lipped emperor be the last fish that Steve would catch? How many fish would he catch for the trip? Would the guides’s boat have mechanicals? Would I have a massage? Would I meet an interesting couple? Stay tuned kids, it’s only Friday and we’re here until Wednesday!

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Como Maalisfushi Wednesday January 10, 2018 We finally see the Water Villa Interior

I have made you wait long enough, and it’s time to go inside our water villa.

We arrived after sunset, and this was the romantic view of the interior of our room. You can see the outside shower in the background of the picture. Here we also had the four poster bed with decorative mosquito net style draping like in Gili Lankanfushi.

Here we see the room in the daylight. A very clean, modern look. Nice wood walls, a bench at the foot of the bed where you can tie your shoes (if you were to put any one during your stay). In the box was Steve’s laundry. What a pretty presentation! There were goose neck laps with a high intensity light, that way you won’t annoy your partner, if you are a late evening reader. Outlets were conveniently placed on the walls by the end tables. No need for long extension cords, or plugs not fitting into floor sockets like some places we have been to. Persnickety person that I am, I found nothing to complain about.

The bathroom was more than good sized. You could have put another bed there! A deep soaking tub with bath salts provided. Twin vanities across from each other, not side by side; so you would get annoyed at how messy your partner was with stuff strewn all over the place. The room always had a tremendous number of towels available. On the floor you can see a scale. It was in kilos, so I can’t tell how much weight I have gained.

The last vanity view was of Steve’s. This is my mess. You can see I come prepared with my own emergency medical kit. Have I ever used the band aides, ace wrap or sewing kit? Never. I am lucky that Steve didn’t see this when did our final purge of unnecessary items in our luggage! Water bottles were left by staff on the vanity also. The water was safe to use for brushing your teeth, although it was recommended to drink the bottled water. To the right of the vanity is the dresser with lighted makeup mirrors. We used the area as another flat surface to hold my purse, sunglasses and other detritus.

Look what a good job we did covering up almost all available space with our stuff! I even managed to hang my pants on the chair!

A great view of the soaking tub. I’m not sure how deep it was as I haven’t taken a bath yet. As it is now really Monday and not Wednesday, and we leave Wednesday afternoon perhaps I shall try it out tonight. I sure have a lot of catch up to do for you!We’ll find out if there are bath crystals or bath bubbles supplied. Now to see if I can find a model to pose in the tub for me!

Here you see the shower on the left and the toilet on the right. I can’t tell you how long it took me to figure out that the doors swing both ways, and the bath mat won’t get stuck in the door if you swing the door toward you in the shower. I’m not quite as smart as I think I am after all!

Here we see Steve starting to put away his clothes in the closet. You have to be quick to take pictures before he starts unpacking!

Now we are all unpacked! Can you determine whose sides is whose? Hint, I wear the dresses in the family!

The shower had a rain forest head and a spray attachment. I’m not one for spray attachments, as I am a bit clumsy and might accidentally raise the sea levels, by getting water all over the place. The shower had a great ledge in it where Steve could lay his glasses when he took a shower. He is the only one I know who wears his glasses in the shower. My attitude is that you know what parts are dirty, and where to clean them, and how to do so. When we stayed at the Broadmoor I tried their steam shower with many shower heads. It was delightful

Here is the outdoor shower, all lit up at night. We tried it during the day time but couldn’t quite figure out which handle was for the hot water.

Our very own private cabana lit up at night! I really was besides myself at this point quivering with excitement! Imagine, our very own private cabana that I don’t have to share with anyone but Steve! Heaven!

Plus our very own plunge pool! No, it doesn’t quite get any better than this! We even had two lounge chairs to lay about on if we wanted to sun ourselves!

You wanted a day time view also, didn’t you? In the background you see the spa area. Treatment rooms were in the little villas. Of course Steve and I had treatments. Wait until you see the treatment rooms!

Now for the day time view of the plunge pool. Sorry about the finger on the lower left.

This is the view from the cabana. It seems my fingers keep getting in the way! Our room faced the exterior of the atoll, you could see the waves from the ocean crashing into the outer atoll. As Steve says, the Indian Ocean, next stop Indonesia! Unlike Gili Lankanfushi, there wasn’t too much coral outside our villa. There was an increase in the ocean temperatures a few years ago that killed a lot of the coral. It has been growing back, so there is still beautiful water to explore for you scuba and snorkel enthusiasts! Come visit the Maldives! You won’t be disappointed! visitmaldives.com

No chocolates on the pillow, but sweet dreams anyway.

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Como Maalifushi, January 10, 2018 Room Tour Continues, possibly!

I am back from the beach, and ready to continue the tour. I had approached a beach attendant for water, telling him I would be sitting pool side and would like some water. After waiting twenty minutes I eventually did get a glass of water from the pool shack myself. It was deserted, as the pool boy continued to be missing in action. However when I got up to leave to meet Steve, the attendant was sitting in the shack. I nodded, gave him a smile and departed from my table. This was our only staff slip up here, I surmise that the first attendant didn’t speak English. I think some of the staff doesn’t understand English, and only smile when you ask them something.

So to drag out the suspense a little longer of what does the bed look like?, and what is a plunge pool? I give you the front landing. Here we are, unit 301, the first of the villas off of our jetty.

This is the view of our jetty, from the apogee of our oval. What a fancy word! Did you know what it meant with out looking it up? Of course you did, all my readers are smart! Our villa is the building at the one o’clock position. The Japanese Restaurant Tai is at the almost twelve o’clock position. The coral garden lies in between. You are only supposed to snorkel there during high tide. Unfortunately high tide has been at inconvenient times, and we haven’t gone. Part of the reason also, is that Steve has been fishing and I won’t snorkel by myself.

Here is another view of the restaurant. In the area with the vertical windows is the Sushi area. Will I hang out there at the Sushi bar? You have got to be kidding me! Although I secretly did want to watch the chef in action. Maybe I’ll just look up some videos on You Tube when I get home. I’m a bit uncomfortable telling the chef, I don’t want to eat, I just want to watch.

Back to our villa, here is just inside the front gate. There are umbrellas there, not for rain, but to keep the sun off you. We haven’t used them yet, preferring to wear hats. Here are the bikes that are provided for all the guests. When we stayed at Gili Lankanfushi I fell off my bike and landed in the bushes. I found it really hard to peddle the old clunkers, and steering on the sand was difficult going around curves. Which is what happened to me. I was going a good clip as instructed by Steve. Once we got off the jetty there was a sharp turn to the right. Steve was far behind me and missed my fall. As he was riding by me, I yelled “Steve!” He was shocked to see me in the bushes, as I had left him in the dust. So I had enough of the bicycles in Gili!

Having seen tricycles at Gili, I figured Como had them also. Voila, we were given a tricycle for me, and a bicycle for Steve who says real men don’t ride tricycles. We attempted this method of transportation, but as I started veering off towards the edge of the jetty and into the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea I put the kabosh on it and told Steve “Buggies only!” Now the buggies are actually golf carts. They have three rows, and the third faces backwards. I found the third row to be the best, although I don’t like looking backwards, but there is more leg room that way.

Now to drag it out even longer, here is a view of the pool equipment and pump area.

More to come, but Steve needs to proof read this. Remember to like me, and please leave a comment. I don’t bite. Much.

Como Maalifushi Wednesday January 10, 2018

I left you yesterday somewhere over the Indian Ocean hading toward the Thaa atoll, where Como Maalifushi is located.

We flew over a resort that was under construction, just before we landed. Here you see all the over water villas along a jetty. It appears that these villas will have plunge pools also! The black areas in the water are coral reefs in shallow water. In the distance you can see the barrier atoll where the deep water crashes into the reef.

It looks like there is construction going on here also. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find out what was being built, or what the new resort was going to be named. Am I expected to know everything?

We finally landed, next to a floating dock. You can tell that this gentleman is not the pilot as he is wearing sandals!

Here is the approaching ferry to take us to Como Maalifushi. Did you think they would leave us bobbing on a float the rest of our lives?

We were greeted at the landing dock by the heads of all the departments. The staff knew the names of all of the arriving guests. I think they had cheat sheets, and each head was assigned a family to greet by name. We were met by Steve’s fishing guide, Craig. We have a good friend who is from South Africa, and his name is Greg. I think that white males from South Africa only have a choice of two names, Craig or Greg. Steve, however thinks Craig really looks like a Trevor, which is really messed up if you ask me! Steve and Craig discussed the upcoming day’s fishing and then we were escorted into our buggy by a driver and driven around the grounds. We finally arrived at our villa. Our first day we had arrived late, and my pictures were a bit dark. The pictures from this post are from the next day.

Como Maalifushi has a choice of beach villas, and over water villas. I believe all of the units have plunge pools. Some of the villas have a little bit larger living room. The two bedroom villas, are basically two villas connected. We didn’t get a chance to look at the beach villas, they are supposed to be more private as they are not attached. Steve and I thought that they might be a little more hot, as they are surrounded by trees and they might not get much of a breeze. I asked a staff member about this and he told me they were quite breezy. I’m not sure if there was a communication error there, as I can’t see how the villas would catch a breeze, nestled in the trees. Let’s go into our villa, shall we? I have skipped over the front door and entryway as I am currently sitting on the beach; not enjoying a mai tai as the pool and towel attendant is elsewhere. I did not take the picture of the front door and for that I profusely apologize. Perhaps later. Anyway, here is the living room. There are two chairs, and a table to drop your stuff off on.There should alway be one designated shit collector area in every house. Unfortunately, like most people we have a tendency to leave stuff on every horizontal surface! Every evening the room attendant would leave on the table a sheet detailing the next days activities. The hanging light over the table was hung at such a hight that every time I got up from sitting there I would hit my head. Swine light fixture! There is a lovely sofa in which I sat for two minutes to try it out. Very comfy. A huge flat screen tv complete with Bose sound system completed the entertainment area.

There was an adapter supplied in case you forgot to buy one at Target before you left home. No usb cords, but I am sure that you could get one if you asked. My key pad seems fully charged now, so I won’t need to borrow a usb cord. It seems that my keypad was not fully charged before we left home , although the literature with the device said that it was shipped fully charged.

Enough about adapters, and key pad you say, show us more of the room!

Here I show you the outside of the credenza. We were supplied with bottled water each day. They were free in the room, if you wanted water at your meals, there was a slight charge. The price for still water was $3 and $5 for sparkling water. A name brand was higher. What’s inside the credenza you ask?

On the right side was a coffee maker, electric kettle and various teas. This coffee maker was so easy, even Steve could use it!

In the middle was the mini bar, supplied with all sorts of expensive goodies. That bottle of Corona looks really good right now, and where is that beach attendant when you want him?

I don’t seem to have a picture of the door on the left, it must have held beverage glasses. We were given a plate of fruit, which rotated daily. I don’t know what the fruits that look like pears are. I’ll have to sample them before we leave. Until now I have only eaten the grapes. Which of course you can tell as there aren’t any grapes in the picture!

Here is another angle of our room, looking toward the sofa and television. It appears that we have a bucket of champagne in melted water. Hmm, the management must have left us some bubbly before we went to bed our first night, and clueless couple that we are,we didn’t notice it! Perhaps we can bring it to dinner and have staff exchange it for a chilled bottle!

It’s a bottle of Tattinger, we don’t want to waste that!

That’s enough for now, I have gone in search of the pool/beach attendant for ice water. Back home, you are likely sipping a hot tea or coffee while I am bedraggled and spritzing.

Remember to show me some love, by liking the blog, subscribing and making comments. I finally got my husband to post a like, and I even grabbed his ipad to post a comment. It’s not enough to post a comment on Facebook, I need actual interactions to see who is reading me!

P.S. Wouldn’t you know that after proofreading this post, Steve still conked his head on the light fixture!

Gili Lankanfushi, Wednesday January 10, 2018 Our last day at Gili

Now that it is our last day at Gili, it is time you learn a little history and about the geography of The Maldives. We are located in the Indian Ocean, in the Arabian Sea. The Maldives is located southwest of India and Sri Lanka. There are about 26 double atolls comprised of almost 1200 islands, 200 of the islands have been leased to tourism. The territory is about 115 squares miles, it is the smallest Asian country measured by size and population which is around 400,000. Fisheries and tourism are the main industries.

Male where the Main airport is located is the Capital. It is the lowest country in the world, with the highest natural point being only at about 8 feet above sea level! It is though that the first inhabitants arrived in the 5th century. The Maldives is 100% Muslim. During out stay here at Gili Lankanfushi we could often hear the call to prayer.

On our way to breakfast we saw this ray off of our jetty. We thought he was going to bury himself in the sand. Of course since i was videotaping he divided to just flap. So we left him to his life and went off to breakfast.

I had another shot of the morning starter, a pineapple orange combination. I also tried the healthy green juice drink. I can’t tell you how much stronger, vibrant and alert i am. Ha, Ha, just kidding! I’m the same old Linda.More fruits form the fruit bar. The little white balls were quite interesting. The hairy one was different from the one that looked like fish eyes. They were both very wet, and the hairy one was a little more opaque appearance than the three to the left. It was also larger when removed from the shell All were delicious. There is that beautiful dragon fruit again, on the lower right. It looks like a purple kiwi! There is also a pineapple tart on the upper part of the. picture, but we are just going to ignore that piece of heaven. Too many calories to think about.

Steve was feeling a little sluggish from all our relaxation and insisted that we hit the gym. The view from the exercise bike was delightful, but it was a little too warm for me. I adjusted the air conditioning, but I was still a little too warm for comfort. Plus the bike was not a recumbent one, so I was eager to quit after twenty minutes of cardio. I decided to try the Pilates Reformer that was in the gym. There was an instructional DVD going on, and it was a lot of fun to try to imitate the sleek and limber model. Later that day my groin was killing me, I think I went at it a little too vigorously.

We returned to our villa, finished packing, called our Ms Friday Shazu to pick us up. We got a picture of her with her buggy in front of our villa. You were wondering what our wonderful Shazu looked like, weren’t you?

We had a lovely lunch of Chicken Caesar Salad with another beer, and waited to be picked up to be brought to Male for our afternoon flight to Como Maalifushi.

You might have been wondering about the guest make up at the resort. When we talked to our travel agent I had mentioned that I loved to stay at small resorts, and meet the other guests. He had told me that would be an unlikely occurrence. He was correct. The majority of the guests stay to themselves. You can tell the guests that are Americans as they are always friendly! I did manage to meet a lovely couple from Texas on their honeymoon, and we exchanged Instagram account names. So now I have a new friend to see again! At Gili there were honeymooners, families with toddler children, families with older children and older couples like us. Some of the guests were from England, Germany and also Russia. I chatted up the Russian couple at breakfast. He had been coming to the US for vacation for over 30 years. This was the first year that he couldn’t get a visa. So instead of spending his money in LA and NYC, he was at Gili. I asked him what he thought about Trump. He was hard to understand with his accent. So I am not sure what the average wealthy Russian thinks of him.

That’s it for now. Show me some love by liking my post, and please post a comment!

Gili Lankanfushi January 8, 2018 It’s Monday!

Time to get up and start our day! Looking at the Instagram postings for Gili Lankanfushi I found this picture…

Whoa! What a beautiful pool! I didn’t recall seeing it anyway on property and thought I would ask one of the servers at breakfast how I could find it!

After my fortifying juice shooter, I inquired.

Well Madame, I am sorry to but that will not be possible.

How so? Please break it to me gently. Yes, I am sitting down now, you can tell me.

“Perhaps you might like to see if you Rosti and two egg mozzarella, mushroom, spring onion and pepper omelette is to your satisfaction first. ”

It’s “varah Meeru’, very tasty. The picture is from the Residence, and it is fully booked! Oh well.

I guess I will just have to satisfy myself with some of the fruit from the buffet.

The fruit was just so pretty that I couldn’t stay disappointed for long.

Maybe I’ll just have some more fruit from the fruit chef and go on with my day.

Look, things are looking up, Steve saw the lounger under pool canopy was empty, and we could sit there for a spell!

Now how do you say, “I am so happy?’

I could sit here and look at the boats, listen to the bubbler all day long!

Would Mr. and Mrs. Lant like a towel, some ice water, sun lotion and two bread sticks while you enjoy the shade and the view? But of course, we would!

Alas, all good things come to and end and it was time for use to get our snorkeling briefing by the resident Marine Biologist. No pictures of the pretty fish again, but we did see several different species and we even saw an octopus! There were three others with us on our expedition; the tennis instructor and two guys. I asked them where they were from. Guest C said Columbia, and Guest E said England. “Where did you meet I inquired? ” ‘Ibiza!”

Of course I asked them if they knew Gary Goldsmith the uncle of the Dutchess of Doolittle. Will and Kate had vacationed there several times. The house has been nicknamed “Chateau Bang-Bang”! Alas, they knew nothing of what I was talking about, and you probably don’t either. Guest E took some pictures of Steve and I snorkeling, but we never met up with them again. So the cute pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Lant are probably deleted.

We headed back to the Over Water Bar for lunch. There was a very interesting cocktail on the menu board. What are the odds that I would order one?

It was called the Kaashi Cocktail. Fresh coconut water, rum, Midori, Amaretto and pineapple juice. Yummy!

We had more delicious bread.

I ordered a pizza, with ground beef, mushroom and pepper.

Steve had some kind of stir fry.

Of course when we left the Over Water Bar (which I seem to have been incorrectly calling Over the Sea, or Over The Water Bar), my hat flew off and Steve had to rescue it for me! My Hero!

While we were snorkeling my favorite spot at the pool was taken. We were never able to claim it again unfortunately, as a new family of lounge hogs took over. They left their gear there even when they were lounging in the sun on different loungers and while they were at lunch! I was very disturbed, but Steve remarked that the didn’t find the low cushions under the canopy that comfortable. I ended up calming down eventually the more that I studied the family. The father was in his 60’s, the wife was in her 40’s and extremely scrawny, there was a young boy we thought was six, who the older gentleman was extremely affectionate toward, and then there was a 40 year old man who might have been the older man’s son from his first wife. We have seen that type of family on a number of our trips. I never quite figure out who the lady belongs to. However as she rarely sits near the younger man, I have decided that she is with the older guy. Anyway, that is my intrigue for the day. I never did find out who they were, who was with whom and where they were staying. I deduced that they weren’t at The Residence as the little boy would likely want to be in that pool and on the slide every day.

No more about Monday, we had more caviar at dinner on Steve’s tuna tartare, and we had chocolate with raspberry sorbet for dessert. What can be better than that?

Don’t forget to show me some love by liking my post and leaving a comment. Otherwise I won’t know who is reading my blog. You can’t go through your life as a lurker forever can you?