www.NavAshika.com

Mirihi, Maldives

6th - 17th July 2008

Celebrating the 5th year wedding anniversary in the Maldives 

Having been in the UK over a year now, we thought we'd try to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary in some style. Ashika decided that there was only one choice, the Maldives. After much seaching, we chose Mirihi Island as where we'd go.

Also, don't forget to see the underwater pictures we took while snorkeling and diving.


Day 1 - 6 July, Traveling
We'd booked a semi-decent time for the flight. Departing on Sunday 6 July at 2pm on Emirates EK 2 to Dubai with a 2 hour stop-over then EK 558 at 2.30 am from Dubai to Male (main port in the Maldives). There was a 2 hour delay in Dubai so we arrived in Male around 10am. We were then escorted to the airport lounge for our Island resort (Mirihi) where we spent the 1 hour then boarding the seaplane to the island.


Day 2 - 7 July, Snorkeling
Arriving at Mirihi, we were greeted by the general manager (he must greet all guests upon arriving), we were shown around the island by the lady from guest relations (it took 15 mins to walk all around the island). We were pretty tired, but had the lunch before going back to the room to rest some. After resting, we took out snorkeling gear and hit the beach (we weren't confident enough to snorkel straight out from our bungalow at this stage). The reef is 10 metres from the beach, so we felt confident enough to go there and then follow the reef out further. After a while we felt we were doing really well, until we came to the edge of the reef (around 50 metres out from the beach) where the reef drops away suddenly into a gorge, we decided to call it quits at that point. We spent  the rest of the afternoon swimming and relaxing on the beach.

In the evening, after dinner, the islands' dive staff (Pro Dive) did a small video presentation of Mirihi, the diving facilities available and the types of fish/sea live you can see around the Ari Atol area.

Arriving at Male airport after a long flight	Male airport
Transfer to the seaplane	Ashika carrying our flippers
	Seaplane transfer to the island
Mirihi had a lounge at the seaplane terminal where we could wait. Nice!
The pilots didn't wear any shoes.	Earplugs for the seaplane, not necessary really.
Male, from the air.	Another resort from the air.
Stopping off to drop other passengers
Mirihi from the air	Our bungalow
There were about 20 bungalows in our area	Personalised
Inside the bungalow
The deck	View from the deck
Bathroom opened onto the deck. Luckily it was organised such that it was all private.
Mmmmm, the food! Also, no shoe policy.	View from inside the dining room
Walking outside the dining room.
Where I whipped Ashika in table tennis most days	Such a poser

Day 3 - 8 July, Relaxing
Having had the breakfast we decided to take a leisurely walk around the perimeter of the island. This took a whole 30 mins, with us simply dragging our feet. Not much else to report during the day- swimming, snorkeling, testing the gym facilities in the resort and relaxing.

In the evening, the resort had organised a sunset cocktail event to meet the hotel management, staff and the other guests currently on the island.

Such a postcard shot	The water was quite warm
Fish from our bungalow	Walk from our bungalow back to the island
	Awesome view of the sunsets from our deck
The setup the screen for various things, this was for a dive presentation.

Day 4 - 9 July, Scuba diving
Having seen the dive presentation on day 2, we decided to try the facilities. Well actually, we'd decided even before coming here that we'd try some basic scuba diving to see if we liked it or not. The islands' dive centre had an introductoary dive program for 2 hours where you get taught the basics and go out for a dive up to 7-8 metres depth. This is exactly what we did with our instructor, Atif. As the island is very small, it was just the two of us and the instructor and it was great, albeit a very quick learning experience.

Other than that, due to m (Nav's) recurring shoulder niggles, we got massages in the spa. While it was good, it didnt totally get rid of my shoulder niggle, but much better than the one I got in Bulgaria while skiing. This time I got a Sweedish massage, more deep tissue and pressure.

Before the massage	After the massage
The a la carte restaurant was completely open, with a hole in the middle

Day 5 - 10 July, Another dive
Not much to report today. Apart from the meals, we did another dive with Atif in the afternoon. While I am really enjoying the diving and was keen to do the PADI introductory course (while would allow me to dive in open water), Ashika wasn't as keen. As such, we decided that we'd do the course the next time we're at a diving location. That said, we got to a depth of 15 metres today, having past the deepest point we were in yesterday within the first 5 minutes of today's dive.

We did however, go to the gym and do some more swimming after the dive, which was nice.

Our deck had steps leading down to the water	Snorkle right from the bungalow
The french doors opened onto the deck
Some kayaking to work off the awesome food	One for each butt cheek

Day 6 - 11 July,
Lazy day lounnging around.

A sample of the cocktail we were enjoying
Sand crab	View from the dinner table, when the weather was clear

Day 7 - 12 July,5 Year Anniversary
We got up later in the mroning and exchanged persents. After breakfast, we were off to get our 'his and hers' massages - this being the third we'd had in the trip (the first being a 15 minute welcome massage, the second on day 4 and now the third).

After this, we pretty much just relaxed on the beach and then had lunch. After more time on the beach we went to the gym, then some snorkeling on the house reef.

As this was a special day, we'd organised a private beach seafood BBQ dinner (one of the private dinner packages the resort offered). The view and food was amazing. We (well, mainly me) also polished off a complete bottle of champagne over the dinner, which was a 5 course meal. We were so full after the dinner, we simply couldnt move. The resort organised a small aniversary cake for us, but we were so stuffed after dinner that it went straight into tthe room fridge.

Mmm, waffles for breakfast	That's my second helping
Stop posing	Chilling, maxing, relaxing...
Ahh, this is the life	I wonder what the poor people are doing?
	Massage time
Private beach BBQ dinner
Just us, waiter and chef
	Arty shot, well that what I call it
	Deep in thought, doesn't happen often
	Cheers
We demolished the seafood
	The staff did this while we were at dinner
Quite nice of them	They left a cake, we were too from dinner though

Day 8 - 13 July, Relaxing
After the dinner of last night, we decided to skip the breakfast this morning and went straight to the gym around mid-morning. After the gym we did have some room for lunch. Spent most of the afternoon in the bar, reading and surfing the net. Had a lisurely swim, then got ready for dinner. Very much a relax and recover sort of day.

	Baby shark
	View from the Water Restaurant
Did I tell you it was a no shoe policy?
	More cocktails

Day 9 - 14 July, The heavens open up
Got up late, had breakfast. The reason I mention the breakfast as it is quite significant. Breakfast composes of a selection of the following: cheeses, fruit, muslie, yoghurt, cold meats on one section, breads, crousaints, muffins and other bread-based products on another secion, fresh omlet and waffle bar including fruits, syrup and condiments for each of these, and then a whole section of hot food which includes rice, wedges, hash brows, grilled vegetables, baked beans, chickn sausages, bacon etc.

After breakfast, we spent some time walking around the island then went to the gym. It was lunch after that.

Went to the bar after lunch for a while then went back to the room as it started to rain. It was very heavy rain actually, this combined with the strong wind meant there were some large waves hitting the bungalows - some strong enough to shake the bungalows quite hard. We were due to partake in some night snorkeling, but this was cancelled due to the weather.

No pictures today.


Day 10 - 15 July, More relaxing
Some very heavy waves and wind overnight. Shook the bungalow many times during the night, we thought at some points that our bungalow might be washed away, the winds and waves were that strong. Due to the inclement weather continueing, the morning was simply breakfast followed by relaxing, reading and surfing the net in the bar...

The writing is in the sand
I love... Jetstar
Yep, I had to do some work while on holiday

Day 11 - 16 July, Last day in Mirihi
Was a das day, for the last full day in Mirihi. Don't wasnt to think about it.



Day 12 - 17 July, Going back home
Spending the morning jus packing and sayng  goodbye to our home for the last week or so. Caught the seaplane back to Maale. From there is was back to London via Dubai.

Oh, last day before we departed
Goodbye Mirihi

Underwater Pictures
We'd bought a cheap underwater camera from Amazon as we knew we'd be doing some snorkeling. Having it while we were diving was even better.