Final Diving Day: Rich 2, Whale Sharks 0

First off, I'm home.  My whirlwind adventure is complete.  That's why the updates have fallen off. However, I still owe you some so here we go!  So, since I'm now home and can access a few more things... here are some cool underwater photos from Day 1:

 If you look closely at the next photo, you can make out the silhouette of a shark!

 Your favorite blogger right after seeing the shark!

Well, my second and final day started just like the first. Although a little tougher getting up as I had a pretty fun time at the Diva "disco night" and introduced some of my new Maldivian friends to the vocal stylings of Flo Rida and Taio Cruz! Don't worry, they reciprocated with a great song too. Great time at the Musik bar at the diva!

Diving Day 1: Whale Sharks 3, Rich 0

Well, Saturday here in the Maldives I was up bright and early for my morning, 2-tank diving adventure. I decided to rent a camera in the hopes of catching a whale shark on film. As you might have guessed based upon the title of this post, day 1 the elusive buggers stayed away. The diving here however is fantastic. Unfortunately, the tsunami of 2004 that struck the Indian Ocean damaged almost 100% of the coral reefs. The amazing thing, minus the broken coral that litters the sandy bottom of the ocean, it is hard to tell! So cool to see how nature can rebuild itself after such a catastrophic event. As I stated earlier, my diving was through a company called the Euro Divers. Here is a shot of the dive center:

So, this is where I started every dive. We got our gear and hopped on the boat for our ride to the first site:

So, my first dive was at a site called Huddu Thila. We had planned to go to a different site but the current was too strong. Every dive the dive masters check the currents before we jump in. Huddu Thila was considered a medium current and was still pretty strong. We eventually aborted our planned trip around the one side of the reef and went with the current towards the back side. It was still an amazing dive. Great corals along the reef or Thila as they call it here in the Maldives. I saw white tip reef sharks, sting rays and countless fish. I have my photos from the whole day awaiting my viewing on CD. So, all in all a great first dive, but no whale sharks to be seen. Traveling to the second site, I made friends with three chaps from France. They introduced me to a Hungarian dice game that they didn't even know the name of. Basically, it is like another version of Yahtzee with very different rules. Here's a pic of me playing with Jonathan, Vivian, and Fabrice:

You can see the scoring sheet on the left. It passed the time between dives brilliantly! On our way to the second site, we caught sight of a manta ray swimming near the surface. These pics don't do it justice but it was very cool to see. Luckily it wasn't my last encounter!

Holy...

CRAP!!! Diva Maldives is awesome. Almost feel it is too nice for me. ALMOST. Friday I arrived via sea plane as you now have read. I spent the rest of the day exploring the island/resort. So an atoll is essentially a group of islands. The Maldives is made up of several atolls. The Diva Maldives is located in the south Ari Atoll. I picked the Diva Maldives because of the dive shop here. Typically whenever I'm going some place to dive, I check PADI for the diving operators that are in the area. As you might expect, there are hundreds here in the Maldives. Euro Divers has several in the Maldives and is considered a 5-star dive center. When I emailed them and expressed my interest in the local whale shark population, their first answer was the Diva. More to come on my diving adventures but I can definitely say the diving in the Maldives is AWESOME!

Okay, back to my resort. When I arrived and had checked in, I was escorted to my room. Now, I just have the standard "garden villa" but it is pretty pretty cool. Check it out:

One of the coolest features is the shower. It is "outside" and in fact, the entire bathroom is basically outside. Check it out:

So you can see the walls end right above the shower. Pretty fun! The rest of Friday was exploration...

Maldivians know how to TAXI!

Okay, as you hopefully are now aware, I'm in the Maldives. The Maldives is a country just east and south of the southern tip of India (east of Sri Lanka). Here's another shot:

So, on Friday, I hopped on an Air India flight from Bangalore to Malé, the capital of the Maldives. Here's another shot of Malé

And the little slice of a landing strip they call Malé International Airport:

So, once I landed, I connected with the Diva Maldives contact after clearing customs. Funny little fact, the Maldives prohibits alcohol coming into the country. Now, granted, it is essentially a Muslim population, but certainly works out in favor for the resorts! I read this from a post on Trip Advisor but not like I was going to try anyway. Seriously. Okay, maybe I thought about it! ;)

So, from Malé International I'm taken to the Diva hospitality suite. Sweet.

Here, we wait for our ride on the Maldivian Air Taxi to the resort...

Getting Ready

Well, I'm getting ready to leave this week! So excited! I've been talking a lot about the Maldives but first I will be traveling to Bangalore. My work is bringing me to the city and fortunately I'm going to be able to have a weekend to explore before really getting down to business.  I'll be definitely posting my weekend adventures!  One of my coworkers leaves the night of the first day we are there so I am hoping to see him too. Then, during the weekend we most likely will be traveling to the Mysore Palace.  I've heard great things about this day trip so I'm hoping that happens as well.  All in all, it will be approximately 18+ hours of time in a plane to get to Bangalore.  So, nothing but a quick post before my departure but expect much much more later this week and over the next two weeks.  I'm prepped and ready with my iPad, camera, and can't wait to share it all with those interested.  Cheers!

BTW - Here's a quick picture of the Mysore Palace... More to come!

MALL-deevz!

Well, as promised, I'd like to start by sharing more about what I have planned for the end of my trip.  I'll be going to travel south to the Maldives (officially, the Republic of Maldives).  As you can see, it is officially pronounced MALL-deevz, but the "dives" portion is what I'm really focused on!  First, some more information on the Maldives.  It is located just south/southwest of the tip of India.  See here:

Basically, it is just a ton of islands that form the smallest Asian country in both population and land area.  So, as mentioned, the main reason for me going there is diving.  Obviously, with basically a nation made up of islands, there are plenty of options for diving.  So, on that Friday after my week in the Bangalore offices, I will fly into Male' airport from Bangalore.  The picture below is of Male', the capital of the Maldives.

From there, you typically take either a sea plane or speed boat to make it to your resort.  Most resorts are located on their very own island!  All in all, I made the decision to travel to the Maldives because I doubt I'd ever take a trip from the US to visit.  Perhaps this trip will change that but I wanted to not lose out on the chance to visit what looks to be paradise.  Couple that with the diving options available and I made the call to extend my trip a few more days.  My plans for my next post will include more on what I intend to see in the Maldives and how that lead to my hotel choice while visiting... for now, one more pic of paradise!

A-OH! This is my blog...

Greetings loved ones... Let's take a JOURNEY! 

If you have found yourself here you may, just may, be interested in my upcoming trip to India and the Maldives.  If so, I really hope you stick around and keep up-to-date with me... If not, your loss.  This will be the primary way that I document my upcoming trip and the best way to connect with me while I'm there!  I'll begin sharing things here as I begin preparing and eventually travel to India.

So far, the main decisions have been made.  I'm leaving in early November in order to hopefully arrive during the day in Bangalore on a Friday.  This will give me the "full" weekend to explore Bangalore and get rid of my jet lag.  We will then spend the next week at our Bangalore offices.  Finally, on that next Friday, I will fly to the Maldives.  More on that paradise in a future post.  I'll be there for essentially the weekend and then back in the States that next week.  Otherwise, up until now, I have just been planning so more to come overall. 

Last but not least, yesterday I received my 5th of 6 total shots that will be required for this trip.  Oof.  I'm half-serious.  They weren't bad at ALL.  And are all very important.  Anyway, enough for now.  Please keep an eye on this spot and send me all your comments!