Maldives - Conquering the Sea

These are my last photos from the Maldives. It was nice to slowly upload them over the last few weeks and enjoy the moments all over again. The Maldives is an extremely beautiful and unique place... and I hope to visit again. Thank you to The Perfect Wave for helping me to book the trip and thank you to the Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Island for providing luxurious accommodations.

I took these photos from a sandbar that formed between the surrounding islands. During low tide, you could almost walk to the sandbar (just had a deep section surrounding the island)... and during high tide, it was completely covered. The easiest method of navigating to the sliver of sand was by kayak or stand up paddle board (I tried both methods). The feeling of being surrounded by water with only a spec of dry land to rest was a surreal experience.

On this particular afternoon, I decided to paddle out right after lunch. I could see some dark clouds forming in the distance, but was hoping that they would pass to the north. The squalls in the Maldives move incredibly fast... and can form at any minute. If you're caught in the middle of one, you will be drenched in just a few moments and the vast amount of wind makes it difficult to traverse by water (I basically would have been stuck hiding under the kayak until the squall passed). When I started paddling, the sky was bright blue... but as I made it to the sand bar, the dark clouds were getting closer and closer. It turned out that the squall was headed in my direction. So after relaxing for a short time, I decided to pack up and head back to the safety of the lagoon. As I made it back to the shore, I could feel the first few gusts of wind on my back as the torrential downpour followed shortly after.

The Resort at Musket Cove

Looking down at Musket Cove Resort

If I was asked to describe Musket Cove Resort in one statement, it would be "laid back luxury". If you wanted to hang out in the spa, hire a private sailboat, or arrange for a private picnic on the beach, there was someone at the resort that would do that for you (at a cost)... or if you wanted to borrow a kayak for the day and find your own private beach, you could do that as well (for free). I've stayed in many luxury resorts that would charge you for every little extra thing, but Musket Cove wasn't like that at all. In fact, they even encouraged guests to go to a local market for food and hand crafted souvenirs. You definitely got what you paid for... and they made you feel like part of a community.

Welcoming beach party

The watersports area.. free snorkel gear, kayaks, and wind surfing equipment for all (I had some struggles with the wind surfing stuff) 

A true "house boat"

Looking at my beach front villa accomodations

My Fijian Adventure - Exploring the Ocean

About a mile out to sea (from Malolo Lailai Island in Fiji), a sandbar forms between two reefs at low tide. I decided to take a kayak, my camera, some snorkel gear, water, and A LOT of sunscreen with me to this amazing spot. I started my journey around medium tide... so the sandbar had not shown yet. However, I scouted out the spot the day prior (when I was passing by on a boat to go surfing) and had a pretty good idea where it would form. A mile paddle on a kayak is relatively easy in calm seas... but I had a lingering fear that my camera would fall out and get destroyed. Therefore, I went a bit slower than I otherwise would have (and wrapped my camera up in several plastic bags, a camera case, and a backpack).

When I floated up to the spot, a sliver of sand had started to show (as seen in the top image). It was incredible to be in the middle of the ocean with no one else around me... and no sounds other than the ocean and an occasional boat. As the tide continued to drop, the sandbar continued to grow... at its biggest, it's about a half mile in length. However, like anything in the ocean, it's constantly changing... and by the day I left, it had shifted a couple hundred meters to the south.

Surrounding the sandbar are coral reefs... and just outside the reefs, the ocean depth drops rather significantly. This made for some incredible snorkeling! (which is why I brought the snorkel gear) I did some free dives down to the ocean floor and was surrounded by hundreds of colorful fish. It was a pretty rad experience.

In the second image (with sailboat), you can see how shallow the ocean is in this area. During low tide, boats coming to/from the island had to take a much longer route to avoid the reefs. If I had wanted to, I could have walked all the way to where that sailboat was.