On Monday, there is a festival related to the elephant god Ganesha, and the schools are closed. During the festival, people buy statues of Ganesha and display them in their homes for about a week, then discard them at a shrine near a pond. Wealthy people apparently buy huge statues worth over 100,000 rupees. Hmm. I don't really understand. It's like a rake in Japan. Some people buy huge ones even for that.
Anyway, I used that three-day weekend to go to the Maldives for the first time.
I took Air India, but even though I reserved my seat online, the ticket showed a different seat. I don't understand. What's the point of seat reservations? It's typical of an Indian airline; people might think it's careless. I've never experienced a situation where seat reservations are ignored with any other airline. Well, I did manage to get a window seat (my goal was to see the Maldives from the air), so it's okay.
The departure time was also changed without any notice, and it seems to be delayed by about 40 to 50 minutes, but there's no indication of a delay. Is this considered a delay, or are they considering it a change? Typical of India.
The airline ticket said "direct flight," but it seems like the plane makes a temporary stop in Kerala, which is in the middle of Bangalore and the Maldives. This is located in southwestern India. The Maldives is in the southwestern sea of India.
They served in-flight meals, but of course, it was Indian food. It was bad, so I only drank water and didn't eat anything else.
And even though they said it would depart in 40 minutes, it actually took about an hour to depart, and as expected, it arrived over an hour late. Well, it's an Indian airline, so there's not much you can say about it.
And then, the Maldives.
I was worried about the weather in the Maldives because it was raining heavily and the weather was bad in Kerala (southwestern India), but it wasn't perfect sunshine, but the weather was decent. The color of the sky wasn't the best, but it wasn't bad either. I was relieved.
I tried to buy a SIM card there, but it seems they only accept US dollars or local currency cash, and credit cards are not accepted. I forgot to exchange money in Bangalore, and it seems you can't exchange Indian rupees at the airport. To exchange Indian rupees, you have to go to a town in Malaysia. I tried to use my credit card to withdraw cash in the local currency from an ATM, but the only ATM at the airport was out of order. What is this? This is supposed to be a tourist country... Ugh. The fact that there's only one ATM makes the airport feel like a rural one, even though it's the capital's airport.
So, I gave up on buying a SIM card and took a boat to the hotel. I don't have any US dollars for tips, so I'll have to use Indian rupees. (In the end, I rarely gave tips directly; I mostly left them in the room or in a tip box, so it wasn't awkward to use Indian rupees.)
I chose a hotel called Bandos Island Resort, which is relatively close to the airport and has a good reputation for diving (or so I heard). The transfer is by a private boat from the airport. The boat was ordinary; some people take seaplanes if it's far.
The room was a standard room and cost about 18,000 yen per night, including tax. The price included breakfast, and the round-trip shuttle boat cost approximately 80 US dollars. Dinner was a buffet at 50 US dollars per person, excluding drinks (fresh juice was 8 US dollars, but I don't know the prices of other drinks because I didn't look at the menu). I was full after breakfast, so I didn't eat lunch.
First, after arriving, I swam lightly at the beach, which was 20 meters in front of my room.If you swim 30 meters offshore, you will reach the coral area, and you can see schools of fish just by swimming normally. I only brought underwater goggles that I use at the gym, but that was enough for now. It would be easier to have a snorkel, but swimming while holding your breath occasionally isn't bad either.
However, I felt that the seawater in the Maldives was saltier than the seas of Izu and Okinawa in Japan, and the seas of the Philippines. I wonder if that was just my imagination. The feeling of the saltiness seeping into my eyes and mouth when seawater got in was more intense than I had ever experienced before.
...However, I got used to it in a few hours.
I grew up near the sea, so it's fine for me, but I thought that if someone swam in this sea for the first time and seawater got into their eyes or mouth, they might end up disliking the sea.
In the Maldives, there is a rule that anyone who has not dived for more than two years must take a refresher course. Since I had not dived for a period slightly less than two years, I decided to take the course. The course includes a brief explanation of the equipment and some basic practice (such as clearing water from the mask and recovering from a regulator coming out of the mouth), followed by a dive at a nearby location (approximately 40 minutes).
Also, here in the Maldives, there seems to be a rule that you cannot dive within 24 hours of your departure flight, so I could only dive once. Well, I'll come again sometime, so it's okay.The waters around the island were not very clear due to the weather of the past few days. The instructor said that the water clarity was this low only a few times a year.
So, perhaps it was a good thing that I didn't dive in these conditions.
The guidebook says that the Maldives is a year-round destination and is always okay, but I think the dry season probably has better weather. I feel a little like I missed out. There are also large fish that can only be seen during the rainy season, so it depends on what you like.
The hotel is a normal resort hotel. There were almost no complaints, so it's okay as a resort hotel. The only drawback is that there was often a smell of cigarette smoke, which was unpleasant. However, compared to the content, the hotel price is a little high. There are many hotels that are cheaper, and there are many good beaches. But, as expected of the Maldives, the fact that there are few complaints is a good thing.
Also, even though I was alone, I couldn't use all the space in the cottage, but it seemed like it would be comfortable for two people. In addition to the cottages on land, there are also overwater bungalows. The land cottages were about twice the price of a standard room, I think? The overwater bungalows seemed to be even more expensive... (vaguely).
The water cottages look really nice, but they are a bit too expensive, so I can't afford to rent them. A land cottage would be fine. I'm staying in a standard room. (It's still good enough. I'm alone, and my purpose is diving.)Also, I tried the massage at the spa, and it was quite relaxing.
There was also a live performance at night.
Although I wrote various things, it's a good point that you can arrange a schedule to arrive in 3 hours from Bangalore, and then do one dive in the afternoon of the first day of the 3-day holiday, and another dive in the morning of the second day. If you then relax or enjoy a spa, it seems like a meaningful way to spend the 3-day holiday.
