The End of Vacation

So the days rolled by pretty much as described in the last blog. … Lazy and relaxing.  We began to spend more time in the villa as we had our own pool, our own ocean and we discovered that there was no charge for food delivery!  It was paradise.

Full Moon over the Maldives

Olga relaxing at the villa

Olga preparing for snorkeling off the villa

Trip preparing for snorkeling off the villa
Despite Doctors orders to stay out of the water 

Olga on one of the many jungle paths 

Trip on the way to Breakfast

Once we learned there was no additional charge for villa delivery,
this was pretty much the lunch scene every afternoon!

A friendly visit to the villa from a Manta Ray  

Mom and Dad squid

The whole squid family
I walked down the latter of the villa and was standing next to them
They did not seem to mind

Sunset from the Villa
It is low tide, so you can see the reef poking through
the surface of the sea in the distance

I can tell you that in my adult memory, I cannot remember any time when I simply did nothing, but recharge.  Every now and again there was a bit of excitement as a Manta Ray swam past the villa or a family of squid came by to say hello, but overall it was naps, punctuated by brief meals and long swims.  Other than the gash in my finger and the absence of hearing in my right ear, I felt great. But like all good things, this too had an expiration date and on Saturday, we were marshaled across the island for the boat that would begin our journey home.   

Olga on the boat with the villas in the background 

Our plane awaits

Pulling up to the floating platform

Last look at the Island

The villas from the air
If you count 7 from the left, that was ours

Our trip out of the Maldives was less of a magical journey than our trip in.  The seaplane arrived in Male without incident, but unlike our arrival, we were not chauffeured in a private car between the seaplane and main terminal, but placed on a bus with the rest of the island vacationers and driven back to the main terminal.  Our bags were placed in a different van and driven in the same manner.  When you arrive at the main terminal, it reminds you more of an open market, than an international airport.  There is a huge expanse of concrete with a tin roof above under which vans of people and bags spill out randomly.  This time, we spilled out, but our bags seem not to have made the same, simply straightforward trip. Our bags had been mislabeled at the resort as Mr. Lu’s bags and were being stacked for the Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong.   Realizing that our bags were not in the right place, Olga set about inspecting other piles until she found ours while I “motivated” our man from the hotel to do the same.  The bags were located and we were handed over to the men from our Male hotel.

We were loaded on to the Traders Hotel’s boat, just like when we arrived, and taken to Male where we would spend the next two nights.  Here is a traveler’s tip, if at all possible, do not spend any more time than necessary in Male.  Imagine the South Indian Ocean equivalent of Long Beach, CA. The whole purpose of the island is to move incoming supplies from freighters to smaller local vessels for the resorts with a secondary mission of fishing.  Cargo and fish do not make for a tropical paradise!

The Male Fish Market 

The Male Harbor

The Male Sea Front

As I said, we spent two nights in Male and by the time the stay was over we were ready to get on a plane and head home.  Isn’t funny how life tends to balance out the good and the bad?  After an excellent vacation during which I felt like a new person, the flight home turned into the flight from hell.

After arriving at the airport, checking in and passing through passport control, I discovered that I had left my faithful iPod companion of 5 years at the back of the safe in the hotel room.  This was disconcerting for several reasons.  First, I loved that iPod.  It was an older model and was the perfect combination of size and functionality.  Secondly, I had a very cool iPod cover for it.  Lastly, and most importantly, iPods are extremely expense in India, so I would not be replacing it until my next trip to the US and I have no earthly idea when that is going to be.  I use that iPod all the time – for music in the car, music in my office and especially to drowned out loud, obnoxious Indians on planes.  This was a critical loss for me. 

We boarded the plane, which left slightly early again (kudos to Sri Lankan Airways) and set about on our hour flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka.  The flight was relatively peaceful, but every now and again, I would hear commotion from the seats behind me.  As we were deplaning, the cause of the commotion pushed itself forward and made themselves know to all of us.  An Indian family of roughly 12, including what seemed to be the grandparents, their children and their childrens’ children were all traveling back to India.  They were loud, pushy and, well, a little smelly, but the flight was over and they were not my problem.  Or were they?

As we boarded our flight to Delhi, sure as shit, the aforementioned family crammed aboard.  My first encounter with them was in the jetway when apparently they felt that the queue did not apply to them.  In my authoritarian voice, I stepped out, stopped them and sent them back to their position at the end.  We boarded, got settled and the family once again appeared in the aisle.  This time, though, we had the misfortune of being seating with a third in front of us, a third behind us and a third across from us.  We were surrounded. 

The first thing that became apparent was that this was one of the first times this family had ever been on a plane. I would venture to say by their lack of hygiene and ignorant behavior, it might have been the first time they have been outside their village.  Boarded was an absolute melee.  They would not sit where they were assigned and when the stewardess (we still have stewardesses in the part of the world) finally got them in the right rows, they refused to sit and buckle in.  Even as we pushed back from the gate, these freak’n nutjobs were running to talk to each other 3 rows back. 

As soon as the wheels left the ground, they were all up again.  The stewardesses tried in vain to get them reseated, but they rushed out of their rows in twos and threes and overwhelmed even the staunchest resistance.  For the next three hours they screamed at each other across rows of passengers, ran up and down the aisle and generally caused mayhem the likes of which I have never seen on an airplane.  The flight crew was helpless. 

About 2 hours into the flight, the crew made a disastrous decision to sell duty free.  As the cart emerged, it was besieged by the family.  They thrusted the duty-free catalogues in the steward’s face and screamed and yelled for more stuff.  When they realized that not everything in the catalogue was available, they bought more of the stuff that was. The cart never got past the family the entire flight as they bought everything that was stocked.  Everything!

This group of animals left no air-travel faux-pas untouched:  they yanked themselves to their feet by pulling on the back of your seat; they ensured they bumped into you when they passed, which was roughly every 3 minutes; they yelled across several rows; and, of course, they had babies – screaming, crying babies.  In addition, because they could not sit for more than a few minutes, they dumped their food trays in the aisle so everyone could walk through the mess and treated the bathrooms on the planes like they were their personal outhouses.  They were, by all definition, the worst airline passengers ever! 

As we approached Delhi, the announcement came on to return to your seats and fasten your seatbelt.  This had no impact.  As the wheels touched down, there was one member of said family standing up in his seat.  Before the engines were out of reverse, the entire family was up in the aisles getting their bags and stood there until we pulled into the gate.  It was unbelievable. As we deplaned, the beleaguered crew bid us a defeated “good-bye.” I have never seen anyone so happy to have landed.

I could surmise that grandpa received a pretty large cash settlement for his farmland as developers continue to expand the greater Delhi area.  He had treated his once farm restricted family to a luxury vacation in the Maldives.  This is India’s new money! I wish I could say that this family and their outrageous behavior is the exception, but they are not. This is simply how they behave – this time, we had the misfortune to experience it on steroids. 

I am, though, truly thankful that we did not have this group of miscreants on the island with us, as I am pretty sure many of them would not have made it off alive.

The Chinese

One of the interesting things about this resort, and apparently a large portion of the resorts here in the Maldives, is that they have been overrun by the Chinese.  It appears that the Maldives in general and Anantara Kihivah specifically is a huge honeymoon destination for young Chinese couples who use all their wedding money to come here, stay for a short period of time, 2-3 days, and return home. 

For the few non-Asians, we are here to relax.  We lounge beside the pool, on the beach, snorkel, dive and generally enjoy all the island has to offer fully exposed in the sun.  The Chinese, though, have an entirely different agenda during their stay in this tropical paradise.

For many Chinese families, the Maldives are a bit of a stretch, so when the young honeymooners are sent to a place like this, they feel an obligation to document the experience through photography and video for their families and friend back home.   This manifests itself with the newlyweds using every available moment to take pictures of virtually everything.  They pose with their cereal at breakfast; they videotape the entire buffet at lunch and dinner simply turns into a photographic bonanza with photos of everything including the silverware and furniture.  We have actually witnessed a couple taking a photo of an empty plate – just the white plate.  Yep!  I’ll bet that slide show will be riveting!  It borders on the absurd, but it is harmless enough and provides a certain level of entertainment to the non-Asian guests.

During the day, it is very common to come across a young Chinese bride in complete wedding get-up standing in the middle of the jungle while her new husband, dressed in shorts and a “Life is Good” T-shirt snaps shots of her in 93-degree heat next to a standard banyan tree.  She poses and does her best to look beautiful all the while trying to keep her overly applied makeup from turning her wedding face into a clown face.  The other day, we came across one such photo shoot where the young bride was posing simply with a run-of-the-mill sign that outlined which villas were ahead. Another slide show through which I am glad I am not obligated to sit. 

The other aspect of all this which is amazing to watch is that these Chinese couples have no desire to actually participate in the many activities that are afforded the guest here.  There are two reasons for this: the first, and most obvious, being that they are too damn busy taking photos of sticks and rocks to show their soon-to-be bored family back in China and the second is that they are really, really adverse to the sun.   The second reason is a distinctly Asian characteristic.  Asians associate beauty with lightness of skin, so while we, Westerners, are splayed out on a chaise lounge soaking up the sun to cancerous levels, the Asians are hiding under umbrellas avoiding even the slightest touch of Earth’s largest star.  Medically, this is a very prudent approach, but if I were so hell-bent on staying out of the sun, I sure as hell would not drop the kind of cabbage it takes to be in the Maldives.  I am thinking Seattle or Finland in December would be a better spot.  I’m just saying.

The combination of the sun-avoidance and obsession with photography makes watching the Chinese an interesting experience.  In order to get the picture they need, they have to put themselves in situations like swimming or snorkeling, but their abhorrence to the sun makes this a serious dilemma.  The compromise is to pretend to do all the fun things the rest of us are actually doing by doing them briefly enough only to capture it on film (or disc).  I watched this afternoon as a young Chinese husband donned a wetsuit, gloves, fins, a mask and a snorkel and ventured to the water’s edge for just long enough for his wife to get the requisite 30 pictures.  After she snapped enough to satisfy the quota, he quickly peeled off the entire ensemble - never actually touching the water.  This is a pretty extreme example, but not unusual.  Usually, they will actually swim around for about a minute or two before climbing out of the water and darting inside to take refuge.   At the pool, young couples arrive, quickly close their umbrellas, take the shot and shuttle back to the shade of their villa in record time.  It is truly aberrant behavior.   

Such is the pace of life here.  Between naps, we watch the Chinese taking photos, avoiding the sun and dressing up in wedding dresses in 95-degree heat.  It is a little funny, a little strange and now, very predictable.  

Day ... Whatever, I've lost track

The past several days have been more of the same.  Breakfast, morning diving, early afternoon at the main pool sleeping, lunch, back to the villa for more sleep, dinner and bed.  Yep, that about sums it up.  If I wrote a book about this vacation it would be entitled “Eat, Sleep, Poop!”

Afternoon ritual of sleeping at the Main Pool on the swing

Later in the afternoon - the standard after lunch nap in the villa hammock

It can get hot, so in the late afternoon, the napping moves to the villa pool

The diving has been great, though.  On diving day 2 (day 3 here), we did more drills and exercises to hone my diving skills and dove the reef wall again.  This time we went down to 15 meters (50 feet) and drove the length of the wall.   This was a pretty productive dive with the spotting of a few huge sea turtles. 45 minutes later, we surfaced in the middle of the ocean with a small dive boat ready to retrieve us.  I took one look at the small speedboat and thought, you must be joking.  On a good day with no equipment, those little retractable ladders are a pain in the ass, but in the middle of the ocean with 60lbs on my back?  Ugh!  I poked my knee between the last two rungs and heaved with all my strength – apparently swimming must be great for upper body strength, because I shot up the ladder and into the boat landing elegantly on the back seat.  No one was more surprised than I was!

The last diving day was a bit of a change.  We left around 8:30am and were ferried in a proper and fairly luxurious dive boat about 45 minutes to a deserted atoll where we would perform our last two dives.  We stopped about ½ mile off shore and jumped into the deep blue water.  It was spectacular.  We dropped to about 25 meters (82 feet) and poked around a very lively reef.  We saw more Morey eels and thousands of fish the names of which I have no clue.  The highlights of this trip were seeing a field full of hundreds of garden eels, which look like twigs swaying in the current – that is until they detect you and disappear - and seeing a leaf fish.  This is a rare sighting, even here, as they blend perfectly with the coral and are almost impossible to see.  The literally look like a leaf.  Very cool!

We surfaced in what seemed like the middle of the ocean and awaited pickup by the dive boat.  Once on board, we removed our gear and relaxed with cool scented face towels and assorted fruits on a stick for an hour as we transited to another awesome location.  Once we arrived, we changed our tanks and set out for the last dive which once completed, would grant me certification.  This dive ended up being the best of the four.  Again, it was a reef wall, but this one was full of caves into which we poked for the good part of an hour.  We saw all sorts of unusual creatures and even saw a giant shrimp called a Mantis Shrimp which I am told is quite rare to see.  We also saw clams as big as your head.  For a beginner diver, the caves were a bit intimidating as you had to control yourself both up and down which is much easier said than done.  After the requisite time, we surfaced, boarded the boat and sat back and ate fruit on a stick for the ride home. 

When we got back to the dive center, we completed the paperwork, filled out my dive logbook and received my temporary PADI Open Water Diving Card!  I was thrilled, but the thrill was short lived as, with my 4 dives, I also got a slight ear issue that would prevent me from diving for the rest of the vacation.  Seriously, it is not my week.  In the end, though, I achieved what I set out to achieve and that was all that counts!

As my sister so aptly commented on the previous blog, the injuries “must be hard to take with all the scenery.”  She is right - it’s all good!

Maldives - Day 2

(Note to reader, these are a bit late as my motivation for typing is about zero)

Olga and I woke up around 7:00am and trundled across the Island to grab some breakfast.  Breakfast is served near the main pool in an open restaurant directly along the shoreline.  We grabbed a table next to the sea and attacked the buffet like we had a tip on a famine.  

Breakfast

After breakfast, we went back to the villa where I gathered my diving gear, bid the wife good-bye and set out for the dive center.  My appointment was not until 9:00am, but I thought I would get there a few minutes early to make sure I had everything I needed. I was a little anxious, a little excited, but mostly curious on what the morning would produce.  

My instructor is Lilli.  Originally from China, she has been at the resort since January.  Pleasant enough, she set about to teach me the finer points of diving.  We learned the equipment, what it does and how to put it on.  With that short briefing, we were suited up and off to the water.  

Lilli helping me with my equipment

Let me just insert here that although divers look graceful in the water, the equipment actually weighs quite a lot on land and the walk to the water across the sand was looked easier from the comfort of the dive center.  Also, a wet suit is great for keeping the chill away in the water, but, again, on land and in 90-degree heat, it makes for a very hot walk.  I have never been so happy to be submerged in a body of water.  

Drinking my last water before the plunge

Instructor and student ready for the water

The long walk to the sea!

Thanks to having completed all the theoretical work beforehand and having a private instructor, we blew through the exercises in record time.  The only evolution about which I was nervous was the removal of my mask and opening my eyes underwater. I have never actually done this in a pool, let alone the ocean, so I was bit nervous.  When the time came, I cowboy'd up and completed the task.  Interestingly, opening your eyes in salt water is not too bad … that is until you put your mask on again and reopen your eyes. Apparently it is not the salt water which burns your eyes, but air mixed with saltwater that really stings.  Anyway, with enough exercises passed, we set out on our first dive on the local reef.

The islands in the Maldives are all basically the same.   A clump of sand surrounded by a reef which then drops off to create a huge wall under the surface.  Up to this point, we had been in roughly 5 meters (16 feet) of water, but as we swam over the end of the wall, the ocean floor dropped straight down to about 40 meters (130 feet).  This was a bit daunting, but Lilli had already begun descending, so what choice did I have.  Descending, mind you, is easier written than done.  Every meter you go down, the pressure increases and your ears begin to block – like at high altitudes.  You must go down slowly and remember to clear your ears frequently or it can cause serious ear issues.  Not hard to do when you are standing still at the top of a mountain, but the exercise of clearing your ears gets a tad trickier when you are floating by a large drop-off in the middle of the ocean.  I eventually got the hang of it, descending to about 10 meters (32 feet) and began my first real dive.

We swam the wall of the reef for about 30 minutes and it was awesome.  First of all, you are completely surrounded by hundreds of fish.  Big fish, small fish – all types colors and variants.  We saw huge Groupers that were around 4 feet long and small Indian Ocean Lobsters hiding in their hideouts.  There were little blue fish that swam like tiny manta rays and large dark fish that were none to happy to see us.  The highlight of the dive was seeing a Morey Eel, although he made it clear we were not the highlight of his day.  It was all over too soon, but rules are rules and soon we were back on the beach.

The triumphant return!

I dismantled all my equipment (part of the certification), dried off and trundled over to meet Olga at the main pool.  She had been there for a few hours and had secured a one of the bed-swings that hung over the pool water under a Maldivian hut.  It was comfortable, cool and out of the relentless sun.  We ordered some lunch and within about 6 minutes of the last bite, I was out cold! 

Does it get any better than that?
Seriously?

I spent the remainder of the first day floating in and out of one long nap on my swinging bed enjoying the sounds of the ocean rolling up on the beach just feet from me. Every now and again, I would get warm, roll off the bed, splash around and climb back in for another 40-minute nap.  Now that’s living!

That evening, we walked across the island, a 20-minute walk, and had dinner in their overwater restaurant "complex".  The have 3 restaurants, Sea, an underwater restaurant, Salt, an Asian restaurant and Fire, a Japanese restaurant, as well as a bar with rocking chairs outside in which to relax and have your evening cocktails and snacks.   Sea and Fire, we were told, require reservations well in advance, so we had a nice meal next to the ocean at Salt.

The spa is the left and the restaurant complex is on the right
The thatched roof on the left of the complex is Salt and Fire is the tall structure on the right
The bar is the two tiered structure in the forefront of the complex

The restaurant is spread out both under a huge wall-less grass hut with a 40-foot ceiling and on the open-air deck over the ocean.  We choose the outside seating over the ocean. The restaurant is called Salt as they have many different types of salt that they recommend to bring out the flavor in the food. The catch is that since you have been in the salt air and salt water all day, you are already bloated like a beached whale, so added anymore salt into your system seems a bit redundant.  Overall, though, the food was excellent.  

One last note about the restaurants on the island.  There are about 130 villas, beach and overwater combined and they have 5 restaurants, each with a different theme. I addition to the 3 mentioned above, there is also an Italian restaurant and a buffet style place.  This is great, because you never feel crowded, but the downside is that since you are on an island and a run to the Kwicki-Mart for a burrito is out of the question, they have jacked the prices in these eating establishments to extortionate levels.  I suppose someone has to pay for the logistics costs of getting the food to an island.  

As the first full day came to a close, we returned to the villa and despite spending the majority of the day asleep, went immediately to bed. I guess napping really does take a lot of energy!

Tragedy Strikes

As we had decided to stay in the villa and enjoy our pool and piece of ocean, it was only natural that we would make our way into the clear, blue water surrounding our villa.  After a quick dip in the pool, I donned my fins, snorkel and mask and darted about in front of our villa like a hyperactive fish, while Olga slowly swam around, basking in the sunshine and generally enjoying the peace and quiet. 

Roughly 20 minutes into my adventures, I decided to come back to the villa and take in the scenery from the pool and surround myself with the relaxing feeling of bubbles.  I made my way near the villa and as I stood to remove my fins near the steps, I lost my balance.  As you typically do in 3 feet of water, I flailed my hands through the water to regain balance, but to my left was a small coral just under the surface.  As I flapped around trying to regain my balance, I dragged my finger across the top of said coral.  This was bad, very bad. 

Now, this may not sound like a big deal, but if you know coral, those little bastards are like razors and cut deep.  Worse yet, since they are living organisms, they leave a little something behind that if not removed immediately can cause serious infections.  After a series of explicatives, I looked down to see the blood draining from my finger.  I asked Olga to grab a towel and call Hushy, as I knew that this cut was deep, already infected and would need a professional. 

As we waited for Hushy and the Doctor, I began to feel really depressed.  If the cut needed stitches, I would not be allowed back in the water.  Not only would it suck on a major scale to be in the Maldives and not be allowed to swim, but I could feel the diving experience slipping away, as well.

The doctor arrived and confirmed that the cut would need dressed and treated properly.  She, did, though, say that I could swim again as soon as tomorrow, but she rather I did not for a couple days.  Ha!  She dressed it the best she could to keep it safe in the water and I promised to stay dry for the rest of the day. 

In the end, I have a huge white bandage on my finger, which looks rather ridiculous and is a huge inconvenience, but all said, I am cleared to dive, so I am not too upset! 

The Arrival

Today started out with hope and optimism.  The day was breaking beautifully as we awoke at 6:30am in preparation for our final leg to paradise.  We fueled up at the breakfast buffet and put the finishing touches on the suitcases.  Like children on Christmas morning, we rushed down to the lobby eager to begin.

The journey to the airport was the exact reverse of the night prior.  Car, then boat.  This time, though, it was in the daylight and we could see, for the first time, the beauty of the Maldives.  As the boat pushed off, you could see right through the cerulean, clear water directly to the bottom.  It looked as if the boat was floating on glass.  Between Male and the airport, the water was turned a deep, calm blue by the depth and struck a dramatic contrast with the shallower, clearer coastal area.  It was a perfect backdrop!

We arrived at the open-air, airport terminal and were greeted by the resort guide who stewarded us through the check-in process.  Said check-in process consisted of a makeshift desk with a guy and a van parked behind him.  The guy issued the ticket and loaded your bags onto the van.  Hum?  If we had not been accompanied by the resort rep, I may have been a tad more skeptical.  We were then given to a driver who loaded us into a very nice minivan and briefly shuttled us around the backside of the airport to the seaplane terminal.

Passed off again, we were now in the capable hands of another resort employee.  The resort smartly runs a private lounge in the terminal to ensure their guests are made comfortable throughout the journey.  It was smallish, but has a nice bathroom and the attendant brought you any non-alcoholic beverage you liked.  The lounge faced the harbor of seaplanes and one had the option of sitting outside on the veranda and watching their comings and goings. Finally, though, our plane was ready and we were beckoned to board. 

Olga waiting in the Resort's Airport Lounge

The plane was small and sat around 15 people.  It was slight cramped, relatively hot and really, really loud.  That said, the views were spectacular en route since it flew at a relatively low altitude.  You got a grand view of the entire archipelago ensemble.  We made one stop at a neighboring resort to offload some passengers and then finally, we touched down into the azure waters of Anantara Kihavah. 

Our Island

The plane pulled up to a floating platform roughly 200 yards offshore and unloaded the remaining few passengers.   We were promptly met by a boat and greeting by our personal concierge, Hushy (pronounced Who-Shi).  We boarded the boat and after cool, scented face towels and water, were treated to an overview of the resort.  I heard nothing.  I was completely memorized by the surroundings.  The view from the boat looked like something out of a Hollywood movie … a really good Hollywood movie.  The boat ride cleverly took us around ½ of the island just to get the full effect – They had me at hello.  We eventually pulled up to a long, stately, wooden pier and were guided off the boat.  We had, in fact, arrived!

The floating platform and the plane loading people on their way home

The boat coming to pick us up

Our Island as seen from the boat

We troddled down the gangway and on the sandy shores where Hushy drove us through a sandy network of narrow byways that stealthily cut through the lush jungle.  We emerged from the brush at the entry to the water villas.  The villas sit on an oval shaped dock-way that splits in the middle with villas on either side.  Hushy led us to ours, about half way down the right side.

First steps on the Island

Leaving the jungle and on to the dock

The villas

From the front, the villas look quite plain with darken wooden facets and an imposing double door, but once inside … Holy crap!  You enter into a large arched-ceiling foyer which, behind a beautifully crafted sideboard, contains your full stocked wine refrigerator, your regular mini-fridge and your cupboard of goodies – none of which we could afford.  It also had a coffee maker and an electric kettle for tea – which we could afford, because it was complimentary.    This area also served as your junction between the large bedroom and the enormous bathroom & changing areas. 

The entryway - to the left is the bathroom
Straight ahead the bedroom and ocean

Straight ahead through an arched doorway is the bedroom.  This is a huge room with a 20 foot cathedral ceiling and a king size bed right in the middle.  The bed is surrounded by other furniture, TV, desk, etc, but they are all done in the dark wood of the Southern Indian Ocean giving the room a particularly exotic feel.  There is also a comfy daybed flanked by stained glass windows in a bumpout just in case you wnt to take a nap inside. As hotel rooms go, it was splendid, but the bedroom, believe it or not, was not the real attraction.  What surrounded it really that made it spectacular.

Entering the bedroom and standing behind the bed 

Looking at the two sliding doors
Ocean in front and pool to the left

The pool from the bedroom
No sleepwalking here!

On the bed looking out at the sea
Note the giant bed-swing - great for napping!

On the left side of the room, through a pair of large, wooden sliding doors, was a private, infinity pool sparkling in the sunlight. The pool abutted the doorframe, so you were either in the room or in the pool (more on the pool later).  Facing forward, there were two more large, disappearing, sliding doors through which spilled forth a large veranda, complete with a huge bed-swing, table and chairs and three hammocks which hung out over the water.  This veranda then led to another veranda about 4 feet below which housed your lounge chairs and umbrella for sunbathing.  Behind the lounges was the aforementioned pool, but the level with the lounges was low enough as not to impede your view if you were floating in the pool.  To tie it all together, there, then were stairs the fed into the sea another 4 feet below.  The stairs ran to the lower veranda and then along the far side of the pool terminating at a glass door into the bathroom behind it all

The lower vernada

Looking up from the lower veranda

The bedroom and veranda from the pool

The second veranda in front of the pool

One of the three hammocks the jut out from the top veranda

The verandas from the pool

Ah, the bathroom!  Leaving the entry foyer to the left, you pass through a small arched hall with separate his & her dressing rooms on either side.   You enter the bathroom through a huge twin pocket door, arched ingress and step into a massive space with a 25 foot cathedral ceiling.  There is a lounging couch in the middle of the room with separate toilet and shower rooms at the back.  There are two separate vanities on either side of a large glass door that leads to a second shower … outside! But really, the outside shower is a side show compared to the tub.  Sunken into the floor, it is located directly in front of yet another wall of sliding glass doors that completely disappear giving the bather a full view over the pool and out into the sea.  The most amazing part is that the tub has a glass bottom, so you can see the ocean directly beneath you (I know, so many questions about seeing the other way).

Looking over the pool to the bathroom

The bathroom
Note the sunken tube right inside the door and the shower with a view on the right

The bathroom as entered from the foyer
Toilet on the left and shower on the right - The divot in the ceiling is a shower head

To the left are the vanities and outdoor shower
beneath the shower is the sea - note the glass panel on the floor 

The tub

The glass bottom of the tube
What you see there is the ocean bottom - what the fish see is your bottom!

The shower is also unique in that the rain showerhead is in the ceiling of the shower enclave… 15 feet above you and is fronted by a ginormous glass window, so you can continue to enjoy your views even whilst showering.  The toilet room next door also shares the same view thanks to a huge pass-through between the two.  The toilet also benefits from having a glass floor, so you can enjoy both views! 

Lastly, there is the pool that is tucked into the corner that the bedroom and bathroom create.  It is about 15 feet by 26 feet and about 3 feet deep.  On the backside, next to the bathroom and facing the ocean, there is an underwater bench equipped with soothing massage jets, so if sitting on your private lounge chair or on your bed-swing is not enough to take in the views, you can submerge yourself in your pool and enjoy a Jacuzzi.  It is serious overkill, but anything worth doing is worth doing in a pool with a Jacuzzi bench!

The pool - wedge in between the bathroom and bedroom
You can almost see the long bench in the back 

The pool looking forward

After being given the tour of the villa, Hushy did our paperwork and disappeared to allow us to relax and enjoy our surroundings.  We lounged, sat, and laid about for a short while and then decided to head down to the dive center to get all the paperwork ready for the week.  With this done, we grabbed lunch and retired to the villa for some afternoon swimming and more lounging.  We finally made it and it exceeded every expectation we had! 

That is, until the accident …