My roommate and a few others had a very early morning leaving the Theia last Saturday, the dhoni left with them at 6:30a for the airport.  I’m afraid I don’t know what time Delphine left the room, I think I just rolled over and went back to sleep.  I had a leisurely 9:30a departure so no hurry at all.  I could leave my bathing suits and snorkel gear out to dry till the last minute, not that it matters much as they won’t be packed long – my resort is only 12 minutes by speedboat from the airport.

As I’m not at a really exclusive resort I had no compunction about upgrading to my own personal villa for my short stay here.  Outdoor bathroom and all!  I’ve a massive room, private porch, no view but I only have to duck around the seagrape trees to fall into the water.  I’ve got a TV with satellite channels, wi-fi, buffets at every meal and an open bar.  Perhaps it’s a good thing I’m only here 3 days!!

The resort is the whole island, less than 10 minutes walk in circumference.  In the center are a couple of large 2-story accommodation blocks – the “garden” view rooms.  As they remind me slightly of a housing project I’m doubly glad of my bungalow.  There’s a spa, gym, 2 beach bars, and a water sports center.  Apparently there’s a Maldivian dance show tonight in the Bluu beach bar at 9:30p but somehow I doubt I’ll make it.  I think an afternoon of swimming, beachcombing, and relaxing are in store for me.

Well, a new day and nothing to do.  How wonderful!  Sometimes vacations can be a bit over scheduled, I least I often do that to myself.  I took a couple of laps of the island before breakfast, then another after to take the long way home.  I found a beach chair under a sea grape tree and contemplated the horizon for an hour or so before gathering my snorkel gear for a dip in the ocean.   The water is quite shallow and there’s dead broken reef (from the build or global warming?) for several yards so I was sucking my tummy in and trying to swim on the surface until I reached deeper water.  There is a 1.3m tide here, which would make all the difference in getting out there, unfortunately 9am is the Low.  I didn’t have high hopes for the snorkel but it really wasn’t bad. No coral but decent marine life.  I saw a black tip shark a few times, for some reason not having my scuba gear on and not being eye level with it made me slightly more uncomfortable when it passed closely but I reasoned there were a whole lot of tastier and less trouble to catch morsels in the sea than me.   I snorkeled for an hour, managing to cover about a 1/3rd of the island, both there and back.

there are 5 mega yachts anchored offshore, waiting for….

Suntanning (in the shade, beach lounging?) and reading followed until lunch.  Then more reading and not-suntanning until it clouded over and I found some good old movies on TV until dinner.  

Day 3.  My last full day on the island as I leave tomorrow by 7am.  I expect it to be a full repeat of yesterday which will fill my quota completely for rest & relaxation.  By Tuesday I’ll be eager to get sightseeing again!  I’m off to Dubai to start an 11 day cruise in the Arabian Gulf on the MSC Lirica.