Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Day 3 at the Conrad Maldives: water villa, diving with manta rays, meeting new friends - March 30, 2014


Trip Index

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On Sunday morning, we had buffet breakfast again at Atoll Market, then checked out of the beach villa as we were moving into a water villa in the afternoon.  There was some miscommunication as we had asked if we could stay in the beach villa until it was time to check into the water villa, and the answer was initially yes, but we were told later to vacate at check-out time, pack our bags and leave them in the closet to be transported to the other villa.  But no worries...we spent the wait at the pool on the main island.  Beautiful!

infinity pool
George the heron hanging out
pool attendant brought a complimentary fruit plate

Our water villa #329 was located on the smaller 2nd island over the bridge, near the Over-Water Spa where I had my massage the first day.  We rode over by golf cart with our resort host Naoko.  After showing us around the villa, she asked if we wanted to make any reservations, so I requested dinner at Sunset Grill as well as cocktails at Ithaa, their underwater restaurant.  We got confirmations for those requests in our mailbox that night.

Kaleb narrated a (2:06) video tour of the villa; click here if you cannot see the preview below:


desk with a view below
comfy king bed
fruit plate
soaking tub
nicely furnished bathroom
additional toiletries (swabs and cotton in wood container)
large shower stall
two bottles of drinking water provided daily
what's inside the fridge
price for the contents
the best part of the villa...the view from our deck and our personal jacuzzi

We hustled over to the main island as our diving trip was starting soon.  Fortunately, the dhoni shuttle boat was arriving when we got to the pier.

serene shot of the dhoni pier on the small island

Our diving dhoni was already parked at the main island pier with our gear all stocked.


We were off to Manta Point to be spoiled for my first real open water experience and Kaleb's first ocean dive!  I bought a marine case (up to 120 ft depth) for my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 waterproof camera but initially we didn't have the proper settings for underwater filming.  Lots of bright blue pictures but hopefully you get the gist of what we saw.  I was too nervous on my first outing down to 20 meters to deal with the additional burden of taking pictures so there aren't any of Kaleb. :(

No hurting ears! (though that is not the official "ok" sign)
puffer fish
soft fluttering coral
turtle
don't want to touch that fish!
getting comfortable in the water

After diving around the floor and seeing lots of sea life, we reached the area where the manta rays were feeding.  Visibility wasn't 100% clear, but it was still awesome!  I had a hard time holding onto a rock to stay still in the current while trying not to step on any coral.

hanging on trying to be still
manta gliding by
cool to see the cleaning fish underneath
front side

1:35 video of manta rays swimming by: (click here if you cannot see the preview below)


When the dive was over, we needed to do a 3-minute safety stop at 5 meters, my first time doing it on my own.  During my dive training, the instructor held onto me while we waited for the mandatory time period.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hover at the same depth for 3 minutes, but somehow I made it through.  It was also the first time I've ever used a dive computer and it was really helpful.

Returning to the resort, we signed up for another dive on Tuesday.  While waiting for the dhoni back to the small island, we saw a black tip reef shark in the shallow water.


1:05 vid of fish trying to get away from the shark: (click here if you cannot see the preview below)


That evening, a group of FlyerTalk members met up for a non-hosted dinner at Rangali Bar, organized by Kat (not me!), the hotel representative who responds to posts on the Conrad Maldives FlyerTalk forum.  It was refreshing to talk to others who have the same enthusiasm in collecting points and miles.  It was amusing to see that the significant others, like Kaleb, mostly had no clue about the intricacies of points and miles but begrudgingly participate in order to enjoy the benefits of it.  Kaleb commiserated with them, everyone nodding their heads when he said, "She tells me 'use this credit card', and I just do it."

It turned out that one of the couples had checked out of the water villa next door to us today and moved into our old beach villa.  One of the other families was staying in the water villa on the other side of us.  I guess we all requested similar locations via tips from FlyerTalk.  A few of them were divers, and would be on the same trip that we signed up for...the more the merrier!

champagne and snacks courtesy of Kat and the Conrad...sweet!
Kaleb ordered Thai curry for dinner
I ordered the Maldivian lobster, yummy
we sat and talked for quite some time

Tomorrow will be a lazy, indulgent day..stay tuned!

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Previous post:  Day 1 and 2 at the Conrad Maldives: beach villa, overwater spa, Atoll Market, snorkeling

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