Jon & Maeva: Maldives

On October 31 we headed out for a quick, much needed getaway!!! I had not left the country since early May because of traveling restrictions pre delivery and awaiting for Keilani's passport and paperwork to arrive after delivery. This vacation could not come fast enough. We decided to do a redo and go back to the Maldives. It was just as wonderful and beautiful as we remembered! We stayed there 5 days and packed our days with snorkeling, scuba diving, bumming around at the beach and just good fun!

Those red eye flights are always tough!

Day 1:

The weather forecast prior to arrival said that we would get rain and thunderstorm the entire time we were going to be there, and indeed it rained on Male as we landed, but as soon as we took the boat out to Bandos (the resort we stayed at), we were welcomed by a clear blue sky.

Buggy ride to our villa

We could not get to the beach fast enough. As soon as our suitcases were brought to our room we changed into our bathing suits and headed to the beach. The first fish we saw was a stingray.

oh the good old sand burials...

Kia Ora enjoyed snorkeling with her daddy!

and Eden liked to go on a dolphin ride with his daddy

Jon and I went out snorkeling as well while the boys watched the younger children on the shore.

That very night we started our date night routine. Jon and I went out on our very first dinner date of the trip! Eden was so tired that he fell asleep very early, before any dinner. Every night after that Jon and I would order room service for Kiki and Eden so they could eat before falling asleep because being out in the sun made them tired early.

Day 2:

Off we go to lunch!

Here we are getting set up for our check dive for a reef dive.

We were so excited to put our diving skills to the test and see the beautiful Maldivian sea world below.

Our first dive was awesome! Unfortunately Logan could not equalize and could not complete the dive with us. He needed to rest and retest later that afternoon.

Pool Time!

Jon and Julien accompanied Logan on his retest meanwhile I took Kiki, Eden and Keilani to the beach.

Beach fun!

Dinner date #2

Of course this little cutie tagged along!

Day # 3

Another House Reef dive! This time we all dove together!

We saw at least 7 black tipped sharks, and 1 white tip shark, some fire topi, some clown fish hiding in anemone. It was a great dive!

Jon pulling me down!
"Here is Maeva, snorkeling with a scuba tank on"- Jon

I don't know what I would always shoot up to the surface and could not stay at the bottom of the ocean floor. No matter how much weight I added to my waist I could just float straight up!

Dive full of sharks!

It was an absolute blast and we could not wait for our next dive!

After our dive we picked up Kiki, Eden and Keilani from the Koko kids club and headed out to the beach!

Oh how I would love to be a mermaid!
Marine life is so beautiful!

My babe and Me!

Lunch time than off we go to the kids club for some amazing fun: painting coconuts and baking cookies!

The children loved going to the kids club!

Kiki and Eden showing off their artwork in front of our villa

Keilani and daddy time

and a kiss from mommy

Julien and I were able to get a few runs in during our stay. It was so nice to be able to soak in this beautiful scenery while jogging!

and a scratch... ouch

Dinner date #3

Day 4:
On day 4 Jon, Julien, and I headed out early on a boat dive to Barracuda reef and Magaari Caves.

On our first dive we saw some eels, octopus, lion fish and much more

On our second dive we saw some clown trigger fish and a green turtle.
It was an amazing site!

Off to lunch!

We love Bandos and the Maldives!

A boy and a sword...

Beach babe!

"I like the beach" -Kiki

My baby girl and I

Later that afternoon Jon enjoyed a relaxing massage

Night dive!

Julien and Jon went to stingray city for their first night dive.
As they descended from the surface to the reef, the water was life a black abyss, even their torches would not illuminate the emptiness of the water, At 18 meter they arrived side by side to the reef and go to see a giant moray eel, trumpet fish, guitar shark, and several other sea creatures.
There were masses of stingrays feeding on the reef, they rays were swimming over, under and all around them. Prior to surfacing during the safety stop, with their torches off, the black emptiness of the sea revealed millions of luminous plankton, floating in the water.
The dive trip was very frightening and exciting. They both said they were glad they did it!

Dinner date #4
This time Julien tagged along since he and Jon came back late from their night dive.

Day 5:
Jon convinced me last minute to go on one last dive. Today we headed out to Lanka reef to see some giant Manta rays. It was spectacular!
We could only do 1 out of 2 dives because per Maldivian law we could not dive 24 hours prior to flying home. So precisely 24 hours minus 8 minutes we finished our first dive!

While we waited for the divers to dive a second time and during the boat ride home it rained so hard!
We were freezing cold! But it was an absolute blast none the less!