February Holiday 2023
B11 zone, A bus stop - that’s the car parked up for the week, we got up at 2am 7th Feb to head to the airport, I’ve not been on a plane for over a decade, we left about 3am and we arrived at the resort exactly 24 hours later! What a journey, trouble free but obviously tiring with a 5 or 6 hour layover at Abu Dhabi airport which doesn’t have a fat lot there. We spent £99 in the Irish bar O’Reagan’s 6 pints, 2 waters, 5 chicken wings and 1 portion of fries = ouch…
It was about 8am Maldives time when we arrived at resort but our rooms weren’t going to be available till 2pm, thankfully they let us have breakfast and lunch plus the bar until then. So we raided our cases for swimwear and grabbed us a couple of sun beds. I enjoyed a swim in the pool, gorgeous, large and it cooled me down, he tried to snooze but couldn’t because of the music, I thought we were best to stay awake anyway so we slept well our first night.
The food so far has been great, it’s now 11am the next day so we’ve had breakfasts, lunch and dinner and we’ve enjoyed them all.
A couple of highlights so far, a heron flew over my head when I first arrived, and again this morning when I was swimming in the sea, there are a few on the island, we stood watching one eyeing the fish yesterday by the restaurant, he was about 10ft away. Himself saw a shark a foot away from him in the sea, that got a reaction 😂 but they are safe apparently.
The island is just beautiful, our villa is right on the beach, right by water’s edge we have a private little sitting area outside where I’m sat now listening to the waves, he’s gone back to sleep. I’ve just enjoyed a cup of Yorkshire tea, I remembered my own this time but I had theirs at breakfast this morning and it’s alright. The waiter gave me a litre carton of milk for our room last night so I could make my tea as they only put coffee mate in, that’s no good for tea is it!
As you can imagine we were drunk when we finished our night last night but it wasn’t late, and we hadn’t been crazy drinking, I remember getting back to the room, being really tired and lying on the bed and then nothing until I woke at 6.30am.
What I don’t remember is sleep walking! Yep, apparently, I did, never done it before to my knowledge but when I woke at 6.30am, I was in bed naked, then I felt sand, the bed was full of sand and there was a little blood too! I’m like WTH, upon inspection I’d got two huge bruises / grazes on my bum, my bra and top were on the floor by the side of my bed, my pants were on the floor the other side of the bed but I couldn’t see the trousers I’d been wearing. I looked outside and there they are, on the floor by the door and so is the top that I’d left Heathrow in (which I hadn’t worn at all since being here) now I’m freaking out a little because I don’t remember anything. My trousers were wet through to the thighs but everything else was dry. I asked himself when he woke what had happened, he didn’t know, he’d slept through it! The only conclusion we can come up with is I went sleep walking down to the water’s edge where there are rocks and maybe I’ve tried to sit on them and fell, or I’ve gone in the sea, scary though, played on my mind all morning because I could’ve landed on my head rather than my bum, but I must have put the catch on the door because I managed to get back in or maybe I used that top as a door stop. I’ll never know and I’m a little scared it might happen again but a holiday neighbour I mentioned it too said I would’ve been exhausted, delirious from the travelling which probably caused it.
Anyway, back to now, I’ve watched a heron for half hour feeding from the rocks on the shore by our villa, just incredible. Later when we went swimming, he was there again and didn’t fly away so we were within 15 feet of him, such a great experience for me.
We are going snorkelling later in our trip and I was gonna buy a snorkel to have a play but the little shop here wants $120 for a cheap looking one that’s £20 on Amazon, so I’ll give it a miss.
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9.30pm Thursday 9th February
We’ve had a quiet, chilling day, just got back from dinner for an early night. There was a group bbq event tonight, my leg pains terrible still so I had to wait till the queue had gone down before going to get food but the tuna steak and beef steak were delicious so worth the wait. We sat with a lovely couple from Smethwick and had a good natter, we both weren’t in the mood for staying out drinking though so I’m gonna make me a mug of tea in a bit and read my book, it’s been a long time since I read a paper book, so glad I bought it at the airport. There’s not a lot to do here but relax which is perfect and much needed.
When we got out of the sea this afternoon, a heron landed on the rocks as I was walking on them, I got within a few feet before he flew away - amazing!
Have I mentioned the shower in our beach villa? It’s big enough for two! Sounds romantic doesn’t it, it isn’t at all, it just means we both keep bouncing our bellies off each other whilst realising we ain’t got the bodies we once had! But at the same time, it’s lovely because we are both comfortable in our skins and non-judgemental about the others.
Friday 10th February 2023
We are sitting in the bar watching a cultural singing/dancing thing! Mmm I’m not that kind of person if I’m honest, watching this kind of thing doesn’t float my boat, but we have just had the best meal experience, in the largest underwater restaurant in the Maldives! OMG not only were the fish amazing to watch but the food and wine were too. I’m a foodie for sure and this did not disappoint, best meal in a while, tuna starter, steak main and ganache dessert, along with prosecco, white, red and dessert wine. - yep I’m a happy lady, actually drinking water now believe it or not, I don’t wanna go silly!
Just been chatting with Aryn, he’s loving being in control of his food lol, miss him I do but we shall make up for it with a family holiday together later in the year.
Most of our days are food, a drink, swimming and sleeping = just what we need! And although it’s early, we’re off back to our rooms to sleep.
Saturday 11th February
Slept till 8am, that’s late for me and it’s so damn hot, in the 30s, after breakfast we spent a couple of hours in the sea watching the sharks and another long, thin fish (apparently called needle fish) eat the other fishes - fascinating viewing, I was in the water a few feet from the sharks, they were only little ones but at one point, one a metre long went past and apparently last night after we’d left the restaurant, there were three really large sharks swimming around! We’d seen a huge stingray there but we missed the big sharks and thankfully they didn’t swim past us this morning.
We braved a curry at lunch time, delicious but we were already sweating before we ate them, we also had a couple of cocktails in the bar, a whisky sour and a tequila sunrise. It’s half four and I’ve just woke up from my afternoon snooze, contemplating going in the sea again.
Monday 13th February
We’ve had two early nights now; our sleep is good! Yesterday we had a snorkelling trip, we went out on a boat and when we got where the corals were, they handed up snorkels and said ‘jump in’, ERM I don’t think so! I tried, I really did, I went down the ladder into the sea, but I couldn’t get the breathing through the snorkel thing at all, turned out it was the snorkel, he gave me another one and I could breathe, but then I had the issue of my crazy fear of putting my head under water, totally irrational I know but it terrifies me. Anyway I do give it a go but I panic, I try again and all I can see is dark blue sea and nothing else, everyone else is already 30ft or more away and I decide it’s not for me, it’s too much all at once, I need to get used to putting my head underwater first before I try doing it in 30 metre deep sea! We watch them snorkel and I see something pop up in the water, I thought it was a dolphin, he said shark maybe, turned out it was a turtle, a gorgeous big turtle who swam around the boat for about five minutes and gave us a lovely show, made my day it did. Oh I almost forgot the parrot, whilst we were waiting for snorkelling a parrot that’s friendly with the locals comes along and he puts it on my hand, let’s just say they’re claws are sharp and their beaks sharper – yeah they look better than they feel!
Thursday 16th February
The rest of our stay was chilling, eating, drinking, sleeping and swimming in the sea = perfect. I was in the sea on morning when I spotted a shark about a metre long, we’d been used to the small ones being close to us, but he was a little big for my liking so I started to run to shore shouting, big shark to which himself who’s stood on the rock said, there’s another dozen or more coming towards you! ARGH! When I got out the water we all stood watching as about 15 of them swam around close to shore – they say they aren’t dangerous but seriously – I’m not risking it.
The journey home was arduous again, 24 hours out and about 22 hours on the way back, I know I’ve put weight on but plane seats aren’t as big as the used to be (I’ve googled it and it’s true), sitting jammed in between two big blokes is not comfortable, I woke up at one point and I had pins and needles in my arms and hands, my neck felt like it had been broken and don’t even get me started on my leg pain, it really has been the bane of the week, I’ve got to do something about it, I can’t go on like this.
Would I go again? Honestly, I don’t think so, don’t get me wrong, it was absolutely a hell of a destination, but I sure as hell wouldn’t pay the costs involved, I can go somewhere a lot cheaper and enjoy myself just as much, okay I may not see sharks but I can live without them.
Elle did tell me not to moan about the heat but 30 degrees is REALLY HOT and I’m not a sunbather, we loved the air conditioning in the bedroom, we spent a lot of time there in the afternoon hiding from the sun, damn how sad are we, we weren’t even spending it doing sexy time lol.
One thing I expected was to be able to walk around barefoot all week on powder soft sand, I couldn’t it wasn’t powder soft, in places it would’ve cut your feet to ribbons! We were also sad to see so much rubbish in the water, don’t get me wrong the staff cleaned the beach every morning but this was washing in from somewhere else, very sad. One day we were walking along the beach and they had dug a huge hole on the beach and were putting in all the bits of coral they’d got off the shoreline, they’d also thrown in a couple of beer bottles that had washed up! I was shocked, they then filled it back in!
The food was excellent, but rarely hot, I like my food HOT, I don’t know if that was because it was buffet style or the fans blew it cold by the time we sat down but the only guaranteed hot thing was the soup which reminded me I need to eat soup for lunch at home more. And I like my water cold which wasn’t available in the restaurant, it was almost always room temperature.
We were lucky to have a beach villa right at the other end of the island away from the bar and pool where the music was so loud you couldn’t hold a conversation and that type of music you can’t make out the words if there are any! If I want that kind of thing, I’ll go to Magalluf! It’s a new resort and I know from talking to other people that it’s not necessarily what other islands are like thankfully. The staff were all really lovely and helpful and doing their best, hopefully as it works out what kind of resort it is, it will sort itself out. Something as simple as a water and ice machine would make a huge difference, instead of having to wait at the bar for some.
It's the first time we’ve spent a week together alone EVER, because he works away and we have Aryn now, so we made the most of it and I feel like I’ve been away for a very long time, so it’s definitely relaxed me. We both forgot it was valentine’s day until someone mentioned it but I don’t need that one day to tell me how we feel about each other, the fact we didn’t have a cross word all week proves we’re happy, more than that when we do have cross words the fact we get over them quickly proves we’re in love and very happy. I did get him some valentine dessert at dinner though.
My bruises are still very visible on my bottom, that fall won’t have helped my already existing back and leg pain would it – DOH!
I’ve already done three loads of washing, the house wasn’t in as bad a mess as I expected. I’ve changed all the cat litter trays (real life returns), I’m delaying doing the other housework stuff by writing this instead.
Now to start saving to take Aryn somewhere, but where? He’s not a fan of the hot weather, we’ve got to go when he’s not at school, I’d like to take him on a plane but not too far after that long haul trip as it’s put me off if I’m honest, but it was an 11+ hour flight slit in two, so that made it worse with the layovers. Any suggestions of where to go appreciated, I know he likes to do stuff not just sit in the sun so activities wanted too.
I can’t wait to eat a HOT meal tonight, mmm tempted to go buy a chicken and make a dinner with gravy, will go check the kitchen out I guess and then decide.
Now you know why I haven’t been blogging, because I haven’t been here. My brothers do a good job looking after Aryn for me but to be honest, Aryn’s done a good job of getting himself up and to school as well, we’ll pretend we didn’t open his bedroom door when we got back (OH MY DAYS WHAT A DUMP!), I’ll give him a few days to sort it. Let’s just say the bins are empty because it’s mostly on his floor!
Friday 17th February is day 1 of getting my healthy back, I need to lose weight to help my pain, standing in queues at airports has been excruciating, I can’t go on like that, so now I have a real reason, painkillers ain’t working that’s for sure.
I’ve not had a glass of red wine since before I left so I’m going to enjoy some tonight and then any after that will be measured and tracked and I will definitely be cutting down on it.
It was lovely to have time together but it’s also lovely to be back home with my crazy cats and waiting for Aryn to get back from school – I like what we have, holidays are wonderful but there’s not place like home x
I’m not much of a reader Bev. But have throughly enjoyed reading your holiday blog……🌞
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