Maldives February / March 2017 |
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By this time (Tuesday afternoon), I was ready for something other than sea and fish so I'd booked to join a guided tour around Male, the capital city of The Maldives. It's apparently the smallest capital city in the world with only c.150k citizens. Off I went to join the others (9 of us in total). That was too large a group for one guide so we had three between us which was really nice. |
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Coastguard station |
Shaheedh Hussain Adam Building |
There were mopeds everywhere! |
The President's Office |
Tallest building in Male - 14 storeys. |
This is the tomb of Kan'baa Aisha Raniklege, mother of Sultan Ibrahim Iskandhar I. It also houses the graves of 4 other royal women. |
Sultan Ibrahim Iskandhar I built the Male Friday Mosque, of which the tombs form a part, in 1658 AD. He reigned from 1648 AD to 1687 AD and was the son of Muhammed Imaadhudhdheen I of the Utheemu Dynasty. |
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Our guide, Ahmed, advised that nobody knows the meaning of this shape but it appeared quite frequently. |
The Friday Mosque is built from coral and this wonderful carving was all done by hand. |
Also part of the Friday Mosque, the smaller the gravestone, the younger the person buried there. The rounded tops represent females, the pointy tops males. |
The prayer mats were woven from coconut. |
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The Islamic Centre, housing the newest mosque in Male. |
Another view of The Islamic Centre |
The road to The National Library, so peaceful with no mopeds! |
Ahmed, our tour guide, is in the left of this photo. |
This is The November 3rd Memorial in remembrance of the 8 servicemen and 11 civilians who lost their lives in the terrorist attack on 3 November 1988. Their names are listed on the black plaques. A few sundry photos to give you a taste of Male next: |
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We didn't go in here but did go into the fruit market where we were encouraged to try some of the local produce in the hope that we would buy some. Pradeep (the one in the turban) did so the ploy worked. |
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After a good walk around, a drink in a local restaurant, a trip to the inevitable souvenir shop (at least I could get some postcards and stamps), it was time to head back to the harbour. |
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15 minutes later we were back at the Sheraton. By this time, the wind had got up and the sea was too rough to venture into (even for Jonathon) so no more swimming until the following morning. |
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The rain started about 7 p.m. on the Tuesday and it certainly rained and rained and lightened! It stopped in time for us to go out for a snorkel before brunch on Wednesday morning but then started again (we were already wet so it didn't matter) and got set in for the day. Jonathon still managed to find some new fish species (new to us anyway). |
Blue Trevally |
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Brown-blotched Sandperch |
Slender Silverbiddy |
Titan Triggerfish - you really don't want to get in the way of this one. It will defend its nest vigourously with its very sharp teeth! |
Whitespot Maori Wrasse Not sure I'd want to get in his way either. |
Whitespot Maori Wrasse |
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Yellowhead Butterflyfish |
Yellowstripe Goatfish |
Threespot Dascyllus |
Longnose Parrotfish |
Fine-lined Bristletooth |
Lagoon Goatfish |
Blue-lined Wrasse |
Brassy Rudderfish |
Nine-band Sergeantfish |
Zigzag Wrasse |
In case you're wondering ... this is what a wet Wednesday looks like in the Maldives. Very damp! |
We had a very quiet day with it being so damp. We lingered over brunch then strolled back to our bungalow to catch up on some admin, sort out laundry, write postcards (all me) and sort our photos (Jonathon). There were a few fish that we couldn't identify so off we went to the Dive Shop where the very helpful team told us what each of the unknown (to us) fish were. We popped into Tea 4 for a drink and cake and decided the sea was too rough to snorkel. It was definitely too wet and windy for table tennis / ping pong so we gave that a miss as well! |
Thursday's sunrise was a promising start to the day (even with a bit of drizzle) The sea was calm enough to snorkel before brunch so off we went. |
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Black-tipped Reef Shark (we were lucky enough to see these every day). |
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Blotched Porcupinefish |
Collared Butterflyfish |
Eyestripe Surgeonfish |
Dash Dot Goatfish with Bluestriped Sabretooth Blenny |
Flutemouth |
Four Saddle Wrasse |
Sea Snails |
Kleins Butterflyfish |
Orange-striped Triggerfish |
The Scribbled Pufferfish (right) is a nocturnal creature and usually rests in caves during the day so Jonathon was very surprised to see him / her. It was also a really big fish - much bigger than any of the others we'd seen. Quite a shock (but a nice one!) |
Scribbled Pufferfish |
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It dried up so it was time for me to get out and about with the camera and a walk around the resort. The landscaping was wonderful - very lush with plenty of interesting plants and trees and lots of colour. Some of the following photos are from Thursday (after the rain) and some from Friday (before the rain!). |
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Some of the trees looked really old. How they survive on sand is beyond me. |
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Getting these plants to stay still despite the strong breeze was a challenge! |
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I don't know how many gardeners there were but wherever I went someone was busy making sure that all was neat and tidy. Their hard work certainly paid off. |
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There was a lovely orchid house - a very calm place. |
These two photos are just a very small selection of the orchids. |
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The misty effect in the photo on the right is not anything clever - just the camera fogging up due to the high level of humidity! I'm quite pleased with the end effect though. |
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All looked calm on the beach. |
Away from the areas that are sheltered by the breakwaters, the sea was quite a bit rougher. This was the view from the club house. |
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Some of the staff whizz around on these bikes - a very efficient way to get around. We didn't hire a catamaran - far too energetic. |
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There were quite a few of the knobbly trees around the place - very interesting texture. |
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A selection of boats to ferry guests to and from Male |
Arrivals / welcome area |
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The view from the Dive Centre - so inviting - you just want to jump in. |
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Friday was our last day so we needed to know where the lobby was so we could go settle up etc. |
Lobby |
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The hedges around the resort were full of colour. |
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These little yellow flowers formed abundant ground cover. |
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There were a few of these lovely creatures scampering here and there. They didn't let you get too close though. |
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As seemed to be normal on this holiday, the main activity for the day was snorkelling. We ventured a bit further as the current wasn't as strong for our first snorkel. I walked some of the way against the current and then let it drift me back to our hut. At one point, I seemed to have an escort of different fish as they came to see what this drifting thing was! We went out again around lunch time - the swell was much larger then so I didn't stay in the water long but did manage to spot a Black-tipped Reef Shark which was nice for our last day. By evening, it was raining hard and the sea was in full flow so we handed our masks, snorkels and flippers in and called it a day. |
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Yellowmargin Triggerfish |
Ember Parrotfish Some Triggerfish might be a bit dangerous but others are incredibly pretty. |
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Humpback Red Snapper |
Orangespine Unicornfish |
Orangestriped Triggerfish |
Black spotted Pufferfish |
Juvenile Yellowmargin Triggerfish |
Longbarbel Goatfish |
Octopus |
Queen Coris Wrasse |
Yellow Boxfish |
Bluebarred Parrotfish |
Possibly a Neon Damselfish or a Philippine Damselfish - not sure which. |
Ember parrotfish |
And now for those we haven't been able to identify. All assistance would be gratefully received. |
No idea but they seemed to be scrapping like brothers! |
No idea |
The highlight of our last evening was a swim past by a beautiful Manta Ray. Don't think he/she could have been much closer without being on our decking! Such a lovely end to our holiday in the Maldives. |
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