FEB 8 HITCHING A RIDE WITH THE DIVE BOAT

OUT WITH THE DIVE BOAT
Don and I decide to take the dive boat out and snorkel while the divers do their dives. Turns out there is only one diver, a young female teacher from Russia who has limited English. The only tourists here are three couples from Latvia, the Russian diver and older friend, Tom and ourselves. Breakfast and dinners are all served in the outdoor dining area at our accomodation. We do two snorkel drifts while the dive master and diver follow. The first takes us an hour to circle a thila and we return just as the divers ascend. It is a neat drift as the edge drops off 35 meters to the bottom and visibility is good enough that we get a good view of the bottom floor. Lots of fish including a couple of new varieties but not as pristine coral. We then slowly make our way to an area close to where we snorkelled yesterday and drift the south side. It is a rich oasis of healthy corals and fish life and I delight in taking photos. By 1:30 we are back on Omadhoo and ready for lunch.

CORAL GARDENS

LAZY AFTERNOON
We eat at the only restaurant in town and have their only item they serve - fried noodles and tuna. It hits the spot after 3 hours on the ocean.The restaurant has a table under a thatch hut on a little Island in the centre of a pond. The afternoon is spent wandering the Island, lying in the sun, resting in the shade. It is great. No need for shoes as the beachfront and all streets are sand. Most of the beachfront is deserted, just a few women chatting under the shade of the trees and doing handiwork or guys working on the next boat. The Island is nicely laid out with all houses back from the beach and treed park like areas at both ends of the Island. One has that Robinson Crusoe feeling walking the beaches. Too bad there is just one more day here.

WALKING THE STREETS OF OMADHOO

OUR RESTAURANT HUT

WEAVING PALM FRONDS

BOAT BUILDING

PATH TO BEACH THROUGH TREES

WALKING THE BEACHES