Maldives Part 4 - The Art of Doing Nothing

The art of doing nothing is actually not true. It was just something I saw on a t-shirt in the resort's souvenir shop. There are actually quite a lot of things to do at Huvafen Fushi. But with the view we had and the relaxed mood we were in, it was just as easy to just laze around and do nothing.

Non-motorised water sports are complimentary so everyday, my sis and I went snorkeling. Each guests gets their own set of snorkeling gear that they can keep with them for the rest of the stay. The underwater was simply stunning. I never quite understood the appeal of scuba-diving but having seen what the shallow reefs had to offer, I am tempted to tryout for a scuba-diving license now. Over four days, I spotted a reef shark, a sting ray and a tiger fish. Too bad, there were no sea turtles in sight. Motorised activites are chargable to the room so plan your days carefully.

Underwater world.

We also went kayaking on our second day there. In the middle of the afternoon. With the mid-sun beating on our backs, we went around the whole island in a hour. Bad move because it was really hot! The kayaks have a glass bottom which lets you look at the reefs beneath you. I prefer snorkeling for an upclose view of the reefs. Still no sea turtle.

 

Kayakking under the sun.

The resort also has a daily stingray feeding session at 5:30pm. The stingrays have been coming to the lagoon beach for ten years now so it's pretty much clockwork routine for them and allows them to be familiar with humans. (God bless Steve Irwin's soul..). The resident stork whom I call Si Bangau also drops by every evening for food.

Stingray feeding

On days when all we wanted to do was chill out and escape the sun, we hung out in the island library, the Lair and played with the gaming consoles. I was so happy when I found Need For Speed. (yes, I do realise that I went all the way to Maldives to play video games). The resort also has a resident kitty cat which demanded to be let into the Lair when we got there. I wanted to ask if I could take it to our room....

Now seeing dolphins is a personal dream of mine so we booked ourselves on the resort dolphin cruise as soon as we got there. The cruise only takes place on Sundays from 4 to 7pm at USD175 per person. But if there are more than 6 people, it gets cheaper. What an experience it was, being able to see wild dolphins in their natural habitat. According to our guide, Lana, this particular pod has over 200 dolphins in it and during that hour, we certainly saw plenty of them. It was magical.

Dolphin sighting.

0%Here's a video of the dolphin cruise: http://youtu.be/tbZVCUPpSgQ . I had to remove the actual sounds because it was just too noisy from the wind and other tourist boats. Music in the video is by Daniel Veerapen, an Malaysian artist.

 

 

There are many things to do in Huvafen Fushi. You can adopt a coral reef and plant it yourself. Then in 50 years (if Maldives hasn't sunk) you can come back and marvel at your contribution to Mother Nature.

 

 

 

Or if you're Asian like us, then take lots of pictures. Whilst there, we noticed all the Asian guests had DSLRs and digital cameras everywhere they went hence the theory: picture-taking is an Asian thing.

 

It's impossible to take a bad picture in Maldives. In fact the only thing that can spoil a picture is, well, us. We took tons of pictures; camwhoring, weird shots, jumping shots.... this shot below...

 

Fireball!

We were saddened when the evening for us to check out came about. The resort manager, Marco and our Thakuru, Nahu saw us off at the jetty as the speedboat took off for the airport. The resort representative escorted us to the Singapore Airlines check-in counter and bide us farewell. We boarded our plane and prepared for the comfortable ride home (flight experience here) It was a memorable vacation to Maldives and Huvafen Fushi was the dream resort (read about it in my previous post). The food was delicious (drool over it here) although I was missing teh tarik by the first morning.

Pristine blue waters, colourful reefs and fishes, majestic dolphins, friendly locals and resort staffs...I see now why Maldives is the place to visit before you kick the bucket.

To finish off this post, a momento of our holiday there.

From Maldives with Love.