Last Updated on by Jeremy
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Not being able to travel is rough. We get it. There is nothing fun about being stuck at home with no plans for the future.
To help things out, we're starting a virtual trip series where we share 15 of our favorite photos from a previous trip and share some of the backstories behind the images.
For our first entry, we're traveling to the not-so-distant past of early 2020 when we were in the stunning Maldives!
Virtual Tour of the Maldives - 15 of Our Favorite Maldives Photos
Seaplane Over the Maldives
When you think of the Maldives, what are your first thoughts? Overwater bungalows, white-sand beaches, and crystal clear water probably come to mind. After these, our next thought is often that the country is a collection of atolls, forming about 1,200 individual islands spanning hundreds of miles in the Indian Ocean. As such, when flying over (like we did in a seaplane flight to Rangali), we got some pretty stunning views like this one.
Maldive Overwater Bungalows
Our first overwater bungalow sighting was at the Hilton SAII Lagoon, our first stop in the Maldives. These were gorgeous little chalets on an impressively long boardwalk to nowhere. Each bungalow was beautifully designed, had their own staircase going straight into the ocean, and, for those who weren't fortunate enough to be staying in one to enjoy the amenities, also caught some of the best golden hour light of our trip for external viewing.
Nurse Shark Snorkeling
One of the things that was somewhat tricky about visiting Fulidhoo was that we were at the mercy of the weather for some of our day trips. If it was too windy, the smaller boats wouldn't go out to popular sites (we appreciated that) and things got pushed back. With five days there our snorkel trip was pushed back three days and went out while I was scuba diving. Since Angie doesn't dive, she opted to go snorkel at a shark point with others from our hotel ( Seena Inn), and had a pretty incredible time getting up-close to nurse sharks!
A Whale Shark Excursion
During our around the world trip, I was fortunate enough to go on a whale shark excursion outside of Cancun, Mexico, where I got to swim with these monstrous fish. Angie opted to skip it due to the rough waters and not wanting to get seasick, and she regretted it immensely. I promised we'd do a whale shark excursion the next chance we got, and it wasn't until six years later that we were at the Conrad Rangali that we timed our visit right to be able to go out on a whale shark trip and see these beautiful creatures once more.
Spotting a Manta Ray Near Rangali
Like our whale shark experience, we knew that spotting a manta ray would be very much by chance. There is a known cleaning station near Rangali, and I tried to see about diving there during my visit (cost be damned). But when I spoke to the dive shop, they said they hadn't seen any mantas in the last few days and thought it'd be risky for me to spend money on a low chance. I agreed and gave up hope. But it was actually on our whale shark point when we were zooming out to a different island that we came to a stop. Our location? Manta point. They had spotted one, and we got to spend about five minutes in the water snorkeling above this beauty.
It turns out that we were in for even more luck. We spotted another one ten minutes later, and then saw one quite close near the bridge at the Conrad Rangali at midnight on our last night as well!
The One Perfect Sunset
We end our virtual tour around the Maldives with this sunset, taken on our first night on Rangali. I knew this sunset would be a good one when the cloud pattern was moving through during the day and was over the moon excited to see this gorgeous display unfold before us. One reason is that we were completely alone on this beach, enjoying the view all to ourselves. But the second was that I never really have great sunset luck when I travel. I can think of days upon days of defeat hoping for that perfect sunset, and here Rangali was the place that finally delivered.
Do you have a favorite photo from this tour of the Maldives? Comment below to share! Also be sure to check back soon for another virtual tour from around the world!
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