We had a bit of a scare as we tried to fly to the Maldives. When we got to the airport, we found out that there is a difference between the COVID Antigen test and the COVID PCR test and we had gotten the wrong one. So first we went to a place in the airport that offered both and got the right one but it would take 24 hours to get the results back. Since Lyon was such a small airport, there was no Lufthansa Customer Service so we decided to take our flight to Frankfurt. They let us take the Lyon to Frankfurt leg as long as our bags were checked to Frankfurt only so we boarded the plane, disappointed we would not be going to Maldives today and wondering how long it would take us to get another flight.
As soon as we got to Frankfurt, we got in line for customer service. The agent there read the guidance differently from the agent in Lyon. She said as long as we were fully vaccinated, we were good to go. Thank goodness we took our planned flight to Frankfurt so we were there to get our flight to
After picking up our bags and them, John and I went to the Business Class lounge and Janet hung out at the gate. About an hour later, we boarded the plane. This time the business class was a configuration with less privacy but we still could lie flat. dinner followed by about 7 hours of real sleep then breakfast. When we landed, we found our tour point of contact and they took us to the boat transfer to SAii (pronounced sigh) Lagoon. As our boat arrived, there were several staff standing on the dock waving to us.
The room was very nice. It had a king size bed for John and I and a single bed for Janet. The bathroom was large and had a nice shower. The landscaping was very lovely ranging from local a very nice vegetable garden to local flowers and decorative edging plants.
That day and the next one was spent sleeping in the sun, snorkeling and drinking mai tais. Janet and I tattoos. Dinner the first night was on the beach at a restaurant described as fusion; an unusual combination.
in the Maldives, we joined our G Adventures tour on a ship named Seafarer. The Chief Experience Officer (CEO, similar to a cruise director) is a man named Suja. We have a captain named George and an assistant captain named Nooman (pronounced newman). There is also a cook, waiter, and cabin boy (their description, not mine).
There are three levels for the passenger portion of the boat. The top deck has about 15 loungers and some sail shades. The middle decks have the anchors in the bow, then a seating area chairs that are difficult to get into and out of. Then glass windows enclose a living room area, a kitchen, and the stairs to the guest room. Finally on the outdoor stern is the dining table and the stairs leading down to the water platform. On the bottom deck is six guest rooms, each one sleeps three people. Only four of them are occupied on this trip. During the time we were motoring or just hanging, most of us spent the time on the top deck in the shade.
The table is set for seven but Suja rarely joins us. There are two main dishes, one of which is pasta or rice, two hot veg, one for two cold salads, and fruit for dessert.
On day 2 of the cruise, our first stop was a bay to see dolphins. After about 30 minutes we spotted them and motored to them. They soon dove down to get away from us. That cycle repeated twice more and so we motored away and left them alone.
Then we stopped at supposed to be Turtles reef. We did a morning and an afternoon snorkel but saw no turtles. We did, however, see a white ray on the sand and a black tipped shark. Also, Suja and George could easily free dive down 30 feet or more and George would lie on his back and blow air rings in the water like people with cigarettes will blow smoke rings in the air.
After dinner the crew used a net to catch hundreds of 2 long bait fish then they deep fried then whole. They were good except they were too spicy for our tastes.
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