So, as I mentioned in a previous post, on Monday Gemma and I celebrated Eid at the airport bar and pool, where we ate steak, drank G&Ts and met a medley of expat characters all with the same idea for celebrating Eid as far out of Male’ as you can get for free (not v far at all). These included a bunch of English WAGs of the Maldivian Air Taxi pilots (think tanned, blond and bikini-ed, the footballers’ wives equivalent of the Maldives?) and a cool Danish guy called Soren who runs an import business in Male’ and therefore is The Man In The Know for getting alcohol and pork to needy expats, who regaled us with the history of Denmark (a lot more interesting than you’d think…) and took me for a spin on the back of his motorbike, yay! He then invited Gemma and I back to his amazing apartment with views across half of Male’, got us rolling drunk and made us listen to Danish music. I’m pretty sure the evening included large quantities of tequila and some vigorous dancing around the apartment to aforementioned music (which turned out to be surprisingly good), including some amazing dance poses from Gem (The Gecko, the Leg Guitar…) 
I, of course, was sophistication itself…
I’ve not been so out of breath in a long time.
Not surprisingly then, Tuesday started with a killer hangover… Bit of a schoolboy error since Tuesday also heralded the start of our trip to Summer Island involving a lengthy boat ride to the north end of North Male’ Atoll across choppy open sea. Nice. In fact the worst was over by the time we dragged ourselves out of bed and onto the speedboat late afternoon, and any remaining cobwebs were fast blown away as we bounced and jarred across the waves against a stormy backdrop and a full 180 degree rainbow. Literally breathtaking.
Summer Island Village was a great place to chill for a couple of days – very cheap and cheerful – think the Butlins of the Maldives. Our all-in package included simple-but-nice accommodation with a sea view, great food from the buffet and dubious drinks from the bar, including the cocktail of the day which was rough as (think undiluted orange squash and gin). Less landscaped than other resorts we’ve been to, the wildlife was amazing – big fruit bats, green parrots, lizards, a moray eel or two skulking along the shoreline, a couple of local herons fishing from the beach, a small reef shark on the hunt amongst the shoals of tiny fish lining the shore causing flurries of silver fish to jump from the water when he got lucky and best of all, a couple of massive manta rays over a metre in diameter drifting majestically around the jetty after sunset. The wildlife-spotting extended to our fellow guests… We felt we ought to be sporting full body tattoos, tight black jeans and mullets to fit with the 80’s atmosphere of the resort and mainly German guests, but drowned our sorrows at being up-to-date 21st century girls from good old Blighty with a fair few Long Island Iced Teas (not free, but definitely drinkable), as befitted being on a tropical island. Before you get too green-eyed, let me add that it was grey, overcast and rainy every single day – the only day the sun came out was the morning we left – although not being hot and sticky for once was kinda refreshing.
Where was Andy in all this, I hear you ask? Well at the last minute he’d absconded to Sri Lanka for the week with a rather lovely Maldivian girl that we work with – good skills – where he wowed her family, visited the zoo and got detained by the Sri Lankan army in the middle of the countryside suspicious of possible links with the Tamil Tigers… He’s back safe and sound now and what with Gemma’s trip to Thinadhoo last week and Andy’s absence this week, it’s great to have the whole crew back together again! Go team NHS!
