Kate's fish=our dinner
Macey's 1st fish
Jolee and Julia enjoyed the beach-entry kids' pool
Girls having tea at the spa
Timothy in a coconut tree
Swingin' Kate
The only monkeys in Maldives
Best way to enjoy the beach - in the shade with a sweet sleeping baby!
The way I like my toes!
Our beach
Timothy and Chris ready to snorkel
Glamour girl Julia
Macey
Katelin
Jolee - the only time she put the mask on! We have been wanting to go to the Maldives for years! Now, in Dubai, we are only 4 hours from them. So, our first vacation is to the North Atolls. There are 20+ Atolls - north of Male and south of Male. Within each tolls are several to thousands of islands. All together, there are almost 2,000 islands. Some are resort islands, some are native village islands, and many are deserted. Our island was called Kaafu, and we could walk around it in about 20 minutes. Our 2-bedroom house opened up to a garden area that lead to "our" beach - complete with soft, white sand and clear blue water filled with coral and colorful fish. We snorkeled every morning after a buffet breakfast, swam in the pools every afternoon, and dined on an International buffet every evening. Saturday night we went night fishing, then to a BBQ on a beach where they cooked our fish. Macey caught 3, Katelin 1 - the rest of us caught coral! We were entertained on the beach by local drummers. Another evening we went on a sunset cruise to see the dolphins. The dolphins put on quite a show for us - swimming, jumping, twirling. Very beautiful creatures! One of the staff on the boat carried Jolee around so she could see - even taking her to the top with the Captain. Matthew had about 6 staff members following him, ready to grab him as he jumped all over the front of the boat - I'm surprised he didn't fall overboard. Our last excursion was the most exciting. We went island hopping - 2 other resort islands and a village island. The natives were happy for us to look at their island and buy souviners. There is a big difference between the haves (fishermen) and the havenots, and, unfortunately, neither know about trash cans. At the last resort island, the rains started, and we played in the rec room for a few hours waiting for the winds to die down. Finally, we left and took a long, roller-coaster-like ride across the sea in a boat. Thank goodness, the kids thought it was great! The next day it rained, and the girls and I just had to go to the spa! We left at midnight Wednesday, and arrived home Thursday at 4am. Would we go back? Of course! But there are so many other places in the world to see!
