It all started with a little congestion in my ear. I first noticed it while snorkeling off Rasfari Island with our friends on Slow Flight. We were looking for the manta ray cleaning station that was supposedly in this area. I didn’t feel the pain until I tried to dive down and discovered my ear…
The Maldives may be known for its beautiful water and luxury resorts, but there are still pockets of important Maldivian culture to be found if you know where to look. We found one of these on Thulhaadhoo Island, a small part of the Baa Atoll in the northwest Maldives. Trade with mainland Asia, and China specifically,…
A small atoll in the Maldives named Dholhiyadhoo was set to be the home of a new, luxury resort in the Maldives from the same company that built the Zitahli Kuda-Funafaru Maldives. The project was slated to be finished with a grand opening in 2011. However, someone defaulted on the loan, and this year the property was finally…
Most of the tourism in the Maldives is all-inclusive resorts or liveaboard dive boats. There are definitely some benefits of the tourism industry here, such as the government requiring resorts to employ a certain percentage of locals or the tourism industry boosting the economy. The Maldives went from being one of the twenty poorest countries…
All prices are in USD. We are Americans, Blowing Bubbles is Canadian. In October, our friends on S/V Blowing Bubbles were in a major accident in Indonesia. Kyle was evacuated to Singapore, where they received a $78,000 medical bill. We’ve had small medical bills here and there in our four years of travel. Many of…
I’m a proud Houstonian; I’ve lived there most of my life (from about two years old on). I graduated high school out in the ‘burbs, bought my first house inside the loop, and my parents still live out in Clear Lake. And all my life, Galveston has been about an hour drive away; a fun and…
Our jeep creeps to a stop, and Richard shuts off the engine. Another jeep faces us, engine off and headlights shining in the dusk. We wait quietly, the noises of the park around us. Then, we see the movement; from the edges of the headlights next to us comes a pride of lions. The lionesses…
We arrived in the Maldives from Trincomalee, Sri Lanka after five days at sea with spectacular sunsets and a dolphin escort. We were dropping anchor on March 27th, our anniversary! Already, we were stunned by the beauty of these atolls, and excited to be spending 6-8 weeks in the Maldives. Anchoring in Uligamu Anchoring in…