Maldives

After the craziness of Jakarta, Matt and I were so excited to celebrate some time together in the Maldives.  Free Heineken was a great start on Silk Air!

  

After four hours over open ocean, the barrier islands were a very welcome sight.

 

We were picked up in style from the Male airport and a 30-minute ride took us to Kuda Huraa and our resort.

 

I doubt there are any "bad" islands in the Maldives, but I was beyond excited when we pulled up to this one.  No roads, no cars, no sidewalks...just white sand, palm trees, and golf carts if the walk is too far.

Our first home was an adorable little beach bungalow just a few steps from the ocean.  It was still nice relaxing in our own pool and cabana as well.

The beach was picture perfect and because every bungalow has its own pool, we rarely even saw other people out there.  It felt like we had the island to ourselves most of the time!  Except for the beach attendants who would bring us cold drinks and clean our sunglasses.

Many a happy hour was spent reading or napping here :)

We also enjoyed the main pool (also nearly all to ourselves) and the fish just on the other side in the ocean.

This was a cool eel that hung out and enjoyed our pizza crusts.

One of the beautiful sunsets.

I loved visiting the sea turtle rehab clinic at the resort and learning about all the different turtles.

We moved to an overwater villa for the second half of our stay.  The inside was beautiful but we spent every waking minute out on the incredible porch.

When we ordered room service on the convenient cordless phone, we never even had to get up to open the door.  We quickly figured out where the rest of the guests were spending all their time!  It was so hard to leave the peace and serenity on the deck.

Our own pool overlooking the perfect water.

The top item on my bucket list - jumping off my own porch to go snorkeling.  We went several times a day because we would find different creatures at different tide levels.  We did take a boat out to see sharks, rays, eel, and countless schools of fish.

Paradise!

Just what the doctor ordered - some R&R before we went home to begin our international relocation.

This was my favorite friend off the porch - a huge sting ray that hung out all afternoon.

Black-tip reef sharks were common but thankfully small and shy.  On the other side of the reef, we saw some that were much bigger and a little more curious.

It was not easy leaving such an idyllic place!  But I'd never left the kids for two weeks before and I was anxious to get home to see my babies.  That helped make it a little easier.

We made the most of a long layover in Singapore on the way home - one massive pepper crab at East Coast Seafood!