• Buffet time! With no other place to eat except the buffet, meal times became relaxing as we no longer needed to deal with selecting a restaurant from a “gauntlet” of anxious (desperate) restaurateurs vying for our business as we had the last month. Not only that, but we didn’t have to pick-up a single menu. All we had to do was walk up to a tray of food, and if it looked good, put a little on our plates. The buffet was unbelievable and the table of European desserts absolutely amazing. Fresh lychee parfait, tiramisu, crème brulee, chocolate strawberry cake, passion fruit, papayas, watermelon…Even the veggies were amazing: steamed brussel sprouts, fresh salads, caramelized carrots, grilled pumpkin. It had been so long since we’d eaten a veg not coated in masala or curry sauce. Our favorite night of all was BBQ night during which we loaded our plates with BBQ chicken, pork, grilled corn, and, of course, good ol’ American-style tangy BBQ sauce. All week long we filled up on beef and pork (the “forbidden foods”), fresh bread, fruit, veggies, and, of course, dessert. We got excited when we saw “Asian Night” up on the menu board one day, only to find that Asian meant Indian food. Even though we had been hoping for chow mien and miso soup, Indian night didn’t disappoint us as we were able to try some new dishes like banana flower, bitter gourd, and (our favorite) egg hoppers (actually, that one is a Sri Lankan dish). All in all, is was simply nice to take a break from our Indian diet and to be able to eat western food period—not futile Indian attempts at Chainese, Maxican, or Countintal , the food we were being served was the real deal. And even though we love a good chana masala and porota for breakfast, we have to give the edge to French toast, hashbrowns, beef sausage, non-greasy eggs, and bacon—pretty much a grandslam breakfast at Dennys. It was just what we needed for our vacation from our vacation.

dining room

• Our disastrous night-fishing trip. One of the three “excursions” we took was a three-hour night-fishing trip. At sunset, we set out for a nearby reef, armed with line wound around a block of wood, a weight, and a hook with a chunk of fish on it. Most of the people caught at least one fish, while the captain must’ve caught a half dozen fish by himself. Some people hooked and pulled up coral formations, as well. We finished the night fishless. Joylani hooked a big fish, so big in fact that one of the boat crew had to take over her “pole” to reel the line in. Unfortunately the fish was so big that it snapped the hook right off the line. Joylani went on to lose her hook three more times during our nocturnal fishing adventure. Unfortunately they weren’t as obvious as the first time, and sometimes she went for a while without realizing that her line no longer had a hook on the end. I (Joylani) believe this is to account for the lack of fish I caught. Matt on the other hand…I’ll let him explain why he didn’t catch any fish. I (Matt) actually hooked Joylani’s line once and I got the captain’s once too. Once, I pulled up a big ball of fishing line (note: if you try to “cast” further, don’t ball up your line, weight, and hook and then throw it- it won’t untangle underwater). Despite our failures, they graciously gave us one of captain’s catches for dinner.

• Dress Code. The Maldives are a predominantly European destination and Embudu was geared towards Germans. The dress code for men was generally Speedos. There were a large number of black bikinis, rather than colorful ones you see in places like Hawaii. Women generally dressed up for dinner, while the men wore the same t-shirts every night. With sand covering most of the island, including the hotel lobby, going barefoot was the general norm.
• The water. 80F temps year round. Perfect visibility. What more to say?

• Snorkeling. Three years ago, the Maldivian reefs showed me that snorkeling could be awesome, not just some touristy gimmick to do when on Oahu. Although I’ve (Matt) snorkeled quite a bit since then, this is by far the best snorkeling since my last visit. Reef fish, stingrays, sharks, turtles, coral, and so on inhabited the reef just off-shore from our island. We could snorkel at our leisure, not needing to schedule a boat to take us out to the reef. Swimming out over the channel connecting the shallows to the outer edge of the reef gave a flying sensation as the sea floor below us dropped off several meters. Each time we went out snorkeling we would notice something new from the funny little polyps growing on the coral to dainty jellies floating near the surface. We made up our own names for the fish we saw—Laker fish (for the yellow, black, and purple stripes), unicorn fish (actually the real name), the ones-with-the-blue-eyeshadow…God was sure having fun when he made all those funny little fish and sea creatures. Seeing the sealife out of the water was exciting too. I guess I never really thought about fish and stuff doing fun things, but when we were out there on the water, we saw all different types of fish jumping out of the water or dancing across the water on their tails. On our island-hopping excursion, we ran into a pod a dolphins and dozens of them were just jumping in the air doing flips or rolls. It was cool to see wild animals doing these things.

talk about a “sky-on-fire” sunset

• The Characters. Some our highlights were the other guests on Embudu. From the old German guy on our excursions to the Spanish lady with the nephew, to the animated Austrian guy, our fellow guests were interesting and hugely entertaining. After typing the stories, we realize they’re not going to be as entertaining to you as it was for us to observe the other guests, but here are a few short descriptions of our aforementioned favorites. Night fishing was where we met the man in the black socks. He was a friendly old fellow who always seemed to be striking up conversations with the other guests. Later encounters with this friendly German fellow included our island hopping trip, sightings at dinner, and once Matt spotted him walking backwards 20 yards from his room to the water in full snorkel gear and a turquoise speedo. He had traded in his black shoes and socks for fins. The first couple nights we shared a table with other guests; our favorite was the Austrian guy who was happy to practice his English with us. We conversed on the fish, food, and, of course, Arnold. Between meals we’d spot him around the island doing various things from snorkeling to walking on his slack line. (If you’ve ever read Go Dog Go, it was kind of like the poodle and the spotted dog.) Our other tablemate was a Spanish woman who filled us in on the plight of her nephew who was unhappily stuck in a contract working at one of the other Maldivian resorts (what a tough situation right- stuck on a Maldivian atoll). She had come to comfort him and even though she couldn’t stay at the island where he was working, she planned to speak with him on the phone each day to help coach him through his crisis. At the end of her stay, she informed us that her nephew had decided to terminate his contract and would only be working for 2 more months, per the early termination terms. Happily though, the nephew had managed to pick up a Filipina fiancé during his short tenure in the Maldives and the auntie now had a new project to focus on: finding the fiancé work in Spain. Oh the life of a Spanish auntie: snorkel by day, solve the family problems by night. All our musings about our fellow guests made us wonder one thing…what must they think of us?

we might’ve looked kinda funny to other tourists…