Maldives Day 9 - Success in the Investigation & Lots of Sharks

August 3, 2021

The sea is completely calm today!

First, this morning we search the entire bungalow again for the stuffed animal. It is still missing. Even the room boy has no idea where it could be.

My husband goes to the reception with our son and the 'wanted poster'. They record the case and promise to inform us as soon as they find the stuffed animal.

After breakfast, we go snorkeling right away. Unfortunately, our son still refuses to snorkel. However, he had earache after the last snorkeling session. He prefers to stay on the beach with his Nintendo. Happy Holidays...

Right at the rope that leads to the reef, we see a large turtle at the beginning of the coral roof. Cool! She eats and digs right next to the rope and is not bothered by us.

Since the sea is so calm today, we want to snorkel towards the overwater bungalows, but the visibility becomes extremely poor just a few meters in that direction, so we turn back. So we go on the familiar snorkeling route to the next rope in front of our bungalow.

Shortly afterwards, several blacktip reef sharks swim past us without paying any attention. In addition to many colorful fish, parrotfish of all sizes, and triggerfish of all sizes, we also see the two Mobulas (devil rays) again, which we initially mistook for small manta rays.

Eventually, the third nurse shark swims past us, followed by more blacktip reef sharks. There are suddenly so many that it makes me uncomfortable. And when an unusually large specimen starts circling around my daughter while she completely unabashedly records everything with her phone, we've had enough.

We swim quickly to the other rope and leave the reef for the lagoon. There, we are greeted with excellent visibility and a Picasso triggerfish defending its coral. It keeps attacking us, darting towards the camera or snorkel mask and then darting back at us. Is this the same one we saw on the first snorkeling day?

We leave the little guy alone and swim to the beach. Today we've been snorkeling for over an hour again. And it has been very exciting!

On the beach, our son comes towards us with a big smile on his face, his stuffed animal firmly in his arms. It had actually hidden itself in the sheets when the beds were stripped and now it has come out freshly washed from the laundry 🤭

Phew, the vacation is saved 😉

During lunch, we hear from our table neighbors that the two-person table in the corner by the window, overlooking the beach and sea, was completely washed over and cleared out by a wave this morning, shortly after we left.

It seems that water is still seeping under the restaurant, as there is a big puddle under our table and the table next to ours.

After lunch, our son and husband play a round of table football and table tennis, while I relax on the terrace of the bungalow with our daughter.

In the afternoon, we convince our son to go for a short snorkeling session by the edge of the reef. Unfortunately, the visibility is terrible and we can't even see the rope to the reef.

After we reach the front, we watch some fish and then turn back.

At least our son tried snorkeling again without experiencing any ear pain.

We spend the rest of the afternoon chilling and wave-hopping in the lagoon with our swimming pillows and inflatable mattress. The big waves come out of nowhere, I get washed over twice, much to the amusement of the kids 🤭

We spend the evening watching the sunset again at the beach bar with a Pina Colada and beer 🍻, later of course with the evening Black Russian

Almost only German people are sitting around us now. The alarming thing, however, is that the young Germans without exception either don't have any sunscreen with them or have underestimated the sun here to such an extent that some of them look like lobsters. One male specimen has burned the silhouette of his tank top onto his back, and for many ladies, it is the bikini that can be seen in white on their bright red backs - ouch...

That already hurts just by looking at it.

Due to the large number of clouds, the sunset today is not as spectacular as in previous days.

However, today we see 2 flying foxes directly in the trees in front of our bungalow. I have seen a flying fox flying from the sea several times in the past few days, but I have never found one in a tree. Our daughter has a talent for that and manages to film and photograph the animals.

Dinner is delicious again. Our son has fallen in love with all the chicken dishes and goes to the buffet 3 times for another schnitzel, chicken skewers, or tomatoes with cucumbers.

Just be careful with the curry - it's usually very spicy 😬

Like the past few days, every vacationer in the buffet queue has their temperature measured. Mostly during breakfast, but sometimes also during dinner. So far, we have always been on the safe side with temperatures of 36.2-36.4 👍🏻

After dinner, we go to the sand bar to play. They show a half-hour diving video, which must be over 20 years old judging by the many colorful corals and intact reef... (the format doesn't look very up-to-date either).

On the way back to the bungalow, we see a little mouse 🐁 sitting under a lamp. That's something new, we haven't seen any mice before. When a big crab approaches the mouse, it jumps up and hurries into the thickets. Very funny.

With the sound of the waves in our ears, I toss and turn for a while until I finally fall asleep on the hard mattress.