Day at the Sandbar (Friday)

We made arrangements to leave at 10 am for the sandbar, but after breakfast, we headed back to tourist beach and found a sandbar right there. The morning light made for great photos. 

At 10am, we boarded a boat with, believe it or not, a fresh White Russian. Not the drink, an actual young white Russian man on holiday alone joined our excursion to the sandbar.

Also joining us in the boat were locals running the guesthouse, Safwan, Mohammad, and two young ladies, Nahoo and Shaha (completely covered). They gave us snorkeling gear, towels, and a nice beach umbrella because, as Safwan said "there is nothing there, no shade, we will need this". 

We? You are coming along? We didn't realize that. Not that's its a bad thing, we just didn't expect it. 

Thank goodness they did because it was the start of an amazing experience. 

We got to the sandbar and saw parked next to it were two large yachts. We found out that they are Safari yachts: people book rooms on the yacht and travel from island to island. We soon learned the passengers were Italian, and assumed they were very wealthy Italians, because, who else would go on a yacht safari in the Maldives? 

Our lovely crew set up the umbrella, asked when we wanted lunch, and said "let's snorkel and find nemo"...and that we did. The water was beautiful and perfect!

We relaxed, and saw Nahoo and Shaha jump into the water, fully clothed and covered. It was such a sight that the Italian speedo man stopped in his tracks and stared, ran for his camera, then preceded to stare and click. 

Later we see our group digging in the sand, all of them. I asked what they were doing and the Nahoo said, "making a table and chairs". 

Wow, what a great idea. The Italians looked on in disbelief…it seemed as though safari yachts drop you off on sandbars and have you fend for yourself. 

After some more swimming, reading, playing games, snoozing, and taking photos, Safawn says, "lunch is served" what a sight. And it was delicious.

 It was around this time that the Italians were leaving....we were going to have the whole sandbar to ourselves. The Italians stood and stared at us in shock and maybe a little envy at how awesome our setup was. The speedo man asked Brittney if she was Italian or speaks Italian. To be fair, since the answer to both of those is, no, we aren't really sure what she was being asked, but it was something loud with hand gestures and ended with 'Italiano?', she just said 'no'.

As they left Brittney waved and shouted 'Ciao!' And he man said, "you fortunado....lucky, you very lucky". So Brittney said they only other Italian thing she remembered, "Graci, ciao!"...in hindsight, this was probably rude. The man saying, "wow, you are so lucky with your lunch set up, a nice umbrella, and now the island to yourself", and what does Brittney say, "Thank you, bye". 

Before we left, we played some water games with the locals, found a giant starfish, fed some fish, and realized we bought faulty sunblock because everything was starting to hurt. 

Once back on Maafushi, we enjoyed another beachfront dinner, and snickers bar. We were a little anxious about the next day at Picnic Island. We realized we may have started the trip with the best excursion so all others might seem, not as awesome. Then we realized...can ANYTHING be less than awesome here...

Until next time....Picnic Island

B and P