Boy, do I feel spoiled getting to visit Maldives over Dawali weekend. It is just over an hour flight from Bangalore. If I were to fly from Los Angeles, I’d be looking at 30+ hours each way including layovers. Yikes, right? From the Malé airport, Claire and I took a quick speedboat ride out to Paradise Island. Look at that water.

Maldives is indescribably beautiful. The water is a crystal turquoise blue and unlike India, it is free of honking horns and polluted air. What a refreshing change. We’ve been working 12 hour-long days, so a mini-vacation was a much needed refresher. I can see why Maldives is a top honeymoon/vacation destination. Muy romantico! Our room opened up onto our own private beach.

All we had on the intinerary was working on our tans and a little floating around in the water. Apparently the reef sharks also had the same idea. I think I’ve watched a few too many Shark Weeks on Discovery Channel, because I was thoroughly freaked out by them. Some of them were just bitty babies that weren’t more than two feet long. Every time I saw a shark I would run away. I did happen upon this little colony of fish (aka shark bait) when I was playing around with my underwater camera.

It was all very peaceful and relaxing. The most work that I did all weekend was collect sea shells/coral and watch the sunset. Sheesh. What a spoiled brat I must sound like.

I really liked this shell because it looked like it was painted with hearts.

We had rain and lots of it on Saturday, but eventually the weather cooperated and we were able to lay out. Thank goodness because vitamin D deficiency is a serious problem. I also got a lot of quality Kindle time. I’m now on Part 3 (of 5) of Shantaram. Here you see the dark sky and the sun fighting hard to burn away the storm clouds.

I wasn’t ready to leave this morning. I wanted to burn the image of the island in my head because no matter how manner pictures I took (and I took A LOT), none of them came close to capturing the true color of the Indian Ocean and its breathtaking beauty. You will have to take my word for it or come see for yourselves. You deserve a vacation too.