Hello! Welcome (back if you have previously joined in) to the continuing great adventure from Maldives. Always so wonderful (and grateful) to have you participate in my weekly escapade. Such a blessing. 🙏
How was your week? What might have edged you out of your comfort zone? What moments made you think about being grateful? I know my fellow Canadians in Southern Ontario have been experiencing cold winter weather. Keep warm and safe, my friends.
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| Photo courtesy of Tristan Gautherot |
This week is full of interesting people I met and notably absent are any underwater photos and videos as I'm yet to venture out on a snorkeling excursion. There is an amazing special energy that everyone I meet imparts during our time together. It's these moments that I truly feel like I'm part of a greater universe. Maybe, just maybe, we have a chance for a better future in spite of what is happening in the world today. The number and diversity of people I've met over the past week reminded me of the following meditation from Richard Wagamese's book 'Embers':
"We approach our lives on different trajectories, each of us spinning in our own separate, shining orbits. What gives this life its resonance is when those trajectories cross and we become engaged with each other, for as long or as fleetingly as we do. There's a shared energy then, and it can feel as though the whole universe is in the process of coming together. I live for those times. No one is truly ever 'just passing through.' Every encounter has within it the power of enchantment, if we're willing to look for it."
Before I move on from my interesting people theme, it's time to introduce Vikal, a friend from India, who was in contact with me during the week. Vikal connected with me last year, through my inactive
YouTube channel, looking for career advice. He reconnected to continue our original conversation. He's in his second year of college sorting out what direction he wants to take his life in. We had a relaxed, personal and engaging conversation. Vikal knows his world geography with an ambition for first hand experience on his academic geographical knowledge.
At the risk of sounding naive, I learned the meaning of two terms, house reef and local island, during this past week. A house reef is the reef that immediately adjacent to an island and is commonly accessible for snorkeling (remember your water walkers!). A local island is the islands on my travel itinerary as opposed to the resort islands where there is one hotel that is responsible for vacation experience. BTW - I'm also learning how each island community manages its environment differently.
Wishing you an early Happy Valentines Day! Do take a moment to show your gratitude to all those special people in your life! 💖🥰
Let's continue getting physical...
So, are you in a routine now? Please. 🙏 I'm blessed to be approaching my steady state with pushups, the plank and stretching. Now that my routine is established it's time for me to find a replacement topic. Remember, a healthy body may lead to you living a longer, satisfying life with the flexibility to engage more readily in your daily adventures.
May the universe bring endless blessings and moments of magic 🦄 to you and your loved ones in the week ahead. 🙏
Travel Administration
Public Ferry schedules and
speedboat schedules are handy travel companions when traveling in the Maldives, especially if you are traveling between multiple islands. I'm slowly learning the public ferry is an option when traveling within the specific atoll or to an adjacent atoll. Relying on the public ferry for transportation to Male maybe playing with fire - depending on your travel flexibility.
The speedboat option may be the preferred option if you're traveling to a single island and you want to get there quickly. Your hotel should be able to help with the speedboat booking as well as advise you the check-in location in the airport. Expect to pay between $30 - $60 USD for a one way ride. The speedboat cost will be included in your hotel bill if the hotel booked the speedboat. Always best to confirm if you pay the hotel or the captain.
Travel Update
Island hopping in Maldives is in store for the next few weeks. I've booked hotel rooms in Hangnaameedho and Dharavandhoo with Kamadho as a possibility. I'll back towards Male for my last two nights prior to flying to Sri Lanka on February 26.
Travel Maps
This week's travel involved a speedboat ride to Velana International Airport to catch another speedboat to Dhangethi. I continued walking around the small islands. I was thwarted in my attempt to use the public ferry to reach the airport from Ukulhas by the ferry's cancellation due to bad weather.
Maldives: January 28 to February 26, 2026
Ukulhas
My second reservation started on Sunday which meant I got the following for my remaining stay (three nights) on the island:
- a room with an exterior window with natural light,
- half board (I chose breakfast and dinner)
- one excursion
The window was a big plus. My previous room had a window facing the interior corridor. I suggest carefully reading the room's features prior to making your booking.
Breakfast on the Beach
Welcome to the tough life, my friends! Wonderfully tranquil and warm way to enjoy breakfast at a leisurely pace. The only downside was those pesky blackflies. Blame the open garbage kept by the incinerator for providing an excellent black fly breeding ground.
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| Calm seas |
Picnic Island Excursion
The originally planned dolphin and picnic island excursion was scaled back to a picnic island excursion due to bad weather. The island we headed to was about a 30 minute boat ride on somewhat choppy seas. While the island had great snorkeling and swimming. I made the mistake of agreeing a life jacket was unnecessary when I learned how shallow the water was. Unfortunately, the best snorkeling was a distance from shore which made me, the non-swimmer, nervous without a life jacket. Our picnic lunch was a chicken sandwich, cold french fries and a wonderful assortment of fresh cut fruit.
The amazing blessing I had on this adventure was meeting Tristan and Inés, the two other people booked on the excursion. Tristan, an industrial engineer, and Inés, intensive care nurse, were from northern France. My newest friends, who also have their
promotional business, were on the excursion to take photos and videos to help our hotel promote their various excursions. They had reached out to about 100 Maldivian businesses to find a business (our hotel) wanting to collaborate. Exciting, right?! Do check out the link I've shared to experience how this couple is bringing their passion to life.
Tristan and Inés are moving to Montreal in June with plans to stay for two years. Inés has a job in a Montreal hospital and Tristan is busy looking. He did an internship at a Montreal company in the recent past so he'll be reconnecting with the company as part of his job search. Welcome to Canada, my friends!
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| Our lunch location |
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| Distance between Ukulhas and Picnic Island |
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| Southern tip |
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| Wildlife up close |
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| Wildlife |
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| Beautiful blue (and warm) water |
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| Very few people around |
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| Sandy beaches |
Sunset Dining
A second collaboration between my new friends and the hotel was capturing a sunset dinner. They had also been on a sunrise excursion earlier in the day to capture video and photographs.
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| Tristan and Inés sunset dinner |
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| Second sunset dinner location |
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| Photo courtesy of Tristan |
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| Photo courtesy of Tristan |
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| Dinner continued into the evening |
Friends
What an extraordinary week of meeting amazing people. Tristan and Inés are so incredibly inspiring! Traveling to Maldives with the opportunity to continue build their collaboration business. They will be traveling to Thailand and other destinations to be confirmed for three weeks prior to moving to Canada. What was I doing at 23? A gift to see how this couple is taking advantage of what the world has to offer!
The hotel team were also kind and thoughtful throughout my stay. I admire their patience as I practiced my limited vocabulary in Bahasa, Nepali and Bengali. The team included Noor (housekeeping), Linda and Widan (sisters from Bali working in reception) and Sima, Pruttyani, Shifath, Ria, Siska and Serita (restaurant team).
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| Wonderful new friends |
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Hotel reception and restaurant friends
missing is my two Bangladesh friends) |
Sunsets
Sunday, February 1
Oh where, oh where did my Sunday sunset photos go? I'm unable to account for where Sunday's photos are! Head-scratcher!
Monday, February 2
Tuesday, February 3
Wednesday, February 4
I was in transit to my new home on Dhangethi Island. I arrived around at the island under an overcast sky right about sunset.
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Many thanks to Tristan for sharing
this Wednesday sunset photo |
Dhangethi
My public ferry ride to Male was canceled due to bad weather about 20 minutes prior to its arrival in Ukulhas. The transportation gods were watching over me as there were seats available on the speedboat scheduled to depart around 10 am, the same time as the public ferry. The faster ride to Male meant a longer layover before catching the 4 pm speedboat to Dhangethi.
I was blessed to meet Jan on the afternoon speedboat ride. Jan was the first German tourist I met in Maldives which may have been an omen as I was about to meet so many more German/German speaking tourists on Dhangethi. He and his partner were on their way to Dhigurah. He was from Ludwigshafen, BASF's global headquarters and site of the world’s largest integrated chemical complex. Jan mentioned wanting to avoid the traditional path of working for BASF as employees were slotted in roles with limited to no autonomy. He patiently and kindly listened to my endless stories. He also expressed an interest in my travel blog which I was pleased to share. He was also thoughtful in offering to get together if I made my way to Digurah over the next five days.
Beach
Bikini beach was on the island's east end, a few minutes walk from my hotel. There was so much sand and such limited shade as hopefully the photos below demonstrate. The limited shaded areas were hot commodities with every beach chair claimed early in the day. The other challenge was the shallow water requiring waders and snorkelers to walk a long distance to get to more ideal swimming/snorkeling depth water. Nice problem to have, right?!
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| Local beach with restaurants on left |
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| Local beach - opposite direction |
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| Blue Moon Cafe dining area over water |
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| Looking out to sea |
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| Dhangethi jetty (white canopy) |
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| Bikini beach |
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| Bikini beach |
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| Bikini beach |
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| Bikini beach |
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| Shallow water for a long distance! |
About the Island
This is the first island I've visited that has a 'shopping street' with stores and shops on both sides of the lane from near the port on the north to the jetty on the south. Lots of construction in various stages of development. I was reminded while on Ukulhas that concrete in this climate takes about a month to cure (set) so the lack of activity may be related to waiting for the concrete.
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| Restaurant row - three restaurants to choose from |
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| Welcome to the island |
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Administrative center on left
Shopping street in the background |
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| Jetty - my favorite hangout |
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Forgot to inquire about the significance/meaning
of this. |
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| Shopping street |
Important Reminder
Maldives is a Muslim country where drinking alcohol is strictly prohibited, except... Yes, there are exceptions, namely the bar boat in the photo below that is moored a short distance off Dhangethi's southern shore. The Blue Moon Cafe staff were one of many contacts you could use to get to the boat. The staff would contact the bar boat staff and that small boat on the right would be dispatched to pick you up (roundtrip was included) for a night of drinking. I met a group of 19 Danish young adults about to have a night of fun. They were at the start of a two month adventure that included Maldives, Sri Lanka and Indonesia (Bali and the Gili Islands).
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| Get your alcohol drinks here... |
Friends
I'm pleased to introduce you to four amazing and thoughtful people I met on Dhangethi. I'm holding off on introducing the remaining new friends I met until next week's post. I met Archie, Lucy, Lukas and Louisa while eating lunch at the Blue Moon Cafe. I overheard them talking travel so I asked if I could join them to listen in more easily. They kindly welcomed me to sit down. This lunch would be the first of many meals we shared during my stay. The two couples met each other while on a diving excursion while on the island.
Archie and Lucy are from the same same community near Portsmouth in southern England. Archie works in the HVAC business and Lucy is a hairstylist. Traveling is their passion. Lucy, at 23, has already been to 35 countries. Imagine that! I wish I had the succinct words to capture the depth and breadth of their traveling experiences. A notable experience they shared was when they were separated while traveling on Palawan Island (Philippines) during a recent cyclone. Landslides, washed out roads, no cell service with Archie sleeping in a community centre and Lucy sleeping in a taxi. They were blessed to have the adventure end favorably for them. Gratitude to the travel gods for their safety!
Lukas and Louisa met in Sri Lanka where they were both traveling independently. Lukas invited Louisa to join him in Maldives and the rest is now history. Lukas is a student studying cultural business that involved studies in SE Asia and Louisa is a student who is moving to Vienna to start her program in theatre, art and design (I hope I got that right!) next month. They too are travelers at heart.
Lukas and Louisa would introduce several more German speaking people into my life, so stay tuned.
I also met Adreana, a lawyer from Vienna, while sitting on the Dhangethi Jetty. She is a solo traveller with plans to be on the island for eleven nights. We exchanged some great stories about our respective travels. I spared her from my travel blog!🤣
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| Lucy, Louisa, Lukas and Archie |
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Lucy and Archie's last evening before returning
to England. Aja, our Sri Lankan waiter, in background. |
Flora & Fauna
I have fauna only for this week. Enjoy
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| Parrotfish - photo courtesy of Tristan (Ukulhas) |
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| Parrotfish - photo courtesy of Tristan (Ukulhas) |
Sunsets
More dramatic sunsets where clouds are an integral part of the Mother Nature's overall glory!
Thursday, February 5
Friday, February 6
Saturday, February 7
Next Week
I start the week in Dhangethi, then take two different public ferries on Monday to reach Hangnaameedho for a five night stay. On Saturday (Valentine's Day), I take two different speedboats to reach my next home on Dharavandhu in the Baa Atoll northwest of Male.
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