Breakfast, on an otherwise better morning, is interrupted by rain, so we play guess the nationality. Knowing that the guests are predominantly German and playing to the stocky German stereotype [means] the results don't vary much. Except the dorky looking mutts who stagger into breakfast wearing baseball hats that are often ill-suited. We immediately categorise them as Brits Abroad.
We start off snorkelling around the main jetty and see Sharkey, squid and friends. Helen spots a shrimp-goby. The shrimp-goby is an ordinary goby -- a small fish with cartoon eyes on the top of his head -- who has a symbiotic relationship with a shrimp. The shrimp digs/clears out a hole in what appears to be a continuous process. The goby sits at the front of the hole doing one of three things: getting in the way of the shrimp, eating or hiding when it senses danger. I think the goby's onto a winner.
In a couple of feet of water around some sunken bollards Helen spots the tail end of a giant moray eel. We hunt around and I don't but Helen does see some teeth out the other side. A bit of a shock for knee deep water.
After lunch we decide to brave the outer side of the house reef. In principle you see less as the reef falls away out of sight quite sharply but you do get to see schools of fish that you don't in shallower water. We also spot the, unique to the Maldives, clown fish -- like a goldfish but with a white stripe around its head just behind the eyes -- that lives in between the fronds of an anemone.
The downside to swimming outside the reef are the bigger waves and that you really do notice that the currents are the exact opposite of what all the noticeboards say. It's quite a struggle to make it back to a gap in the coral. Helen retires and I battle on around the inside of the reef. Actually just drift most of the time. I pass under the special huts built over part of the reef with special windows [in the floor] overlooking the reef. Unfortunately, the buildings block the light and the coral has died added to which the quite poor visibility (10m) has reduced to maybe only 2m. Let's hope they didn't pay too much for the privilege.
By 4.30pm we're on the beach watching a supply dhoni being unloaded then filming crabs digging out their holes. Ratty [the rat from Appletree Cottage] made a quick appearance, even climbing onto the branches of a bush to show it was [really] him. We mosied over to the bar to catch the sunset and a beer. The sunset was a washout and the beer tasted watered down. Still, a bargain at MRf 36 (MRf 12 to US$1) a glass.
Mealtimes continue with their holiday camp feel, tonight is "Western Nite." Bizarrely, it feels the least Western of all the meals we've had, including last night's "Chinese Nite." The food has been warm and bland, nothing to challenge the taste buds. In particular, the jellies have been devoid of flavour. No mean trick given they've had three different colours on offer. One Western piece de resistance was orange chocolate cake and custard. That'll be seconds of that, then.
While I'm on the subject, no example has been set so far for both main course and pudding -- I've avoiding the soup as the suggestion has been to dunk rice in it. Where there is more than one staple the modus operandi has been to put a little of everything on your plate (or a lot of everything, should you please). I don't mind but some people might not take to roast potato and carrots and noodles (not spicy) on the same plate.
We had forty winks before tea but it clearly wasn't enough as we retired early again. Not before the usual Sharkey Watch on the jetty. This time we went looking for crabs along the beach as well but found bright blue spots of light instead. More plankton at work?
Embudhu Village N4.08428 E73.51318 Elev. 50m!
Copyright 2002 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.