  |
Embudu (Jan 2008)
With a delay of half an hour, our flight with started for the Maldives. 8 hours and 40 minutes later (that makes exactly 5.032 miles as the crow flies) we safely arrived at Male resp. the airport-island Hulule. Just before we landed, the captain mentioned some raindrops falling down. This was the nicest understatement I have heard since long, but first things first.
The boat trip from Hulule to Embudu which we enjoyed very much after the long flight took another 50 min. We arrived under a grey, cloudy sky and quite a few raindrops on Embudu. The check-in for our bungalow went smooth - we mailed in Dec already we wished to get bungalow no. 74, and we got it (or was it coincedence?).
| After a very nice lunch in the restaurant we slept away the first afternoon. As it heavily rained we did not miss too much. In the evening, the management gave us a big surprise which was placed in the bungalow's fridge
|
  |
  |
  |
Our bungalow was to our very pleasure: enough distance to the next bungalow, more than enough room, utmost cleanliness (thanks to the friendly room-boy!). Air condition and fan are understood, a hair dryer completed the facilities. More would have been less. We enjoyed 2 weeks of ease and did not miss the contact to media like news or cell phone.
  |
  |
  |
Throughout the first days, we often had rain with little sunny periods. The opinion of the locals and the tour management was that this kind of weather is very untypical for the season and refers to the global climatic change. At least, the temperatures were about 30° so that half a rainy day could be considerered as a whole vacation day.
  |
  |
7 days later, we already enjoyed the first totally sunny day! Additionally, the somewhat strong wind on "our" (south-east) side of Embudu ceased. Now it ran better – the remaining days were fantastic: 30° - 35° in the shade and nothing but sun. As we snorkelled each day for hours, the water could have been a little warmer (for Birgit).
  |
  |
To snorkel was always nice - whether sunny or rainy weather. Nearby the house reef, we saw a quite imposing "fauna":
| – 2 times dolfins (once during our boat trip on the arrival) |   |
| – a few times ocean turtles (accompanied by other fishes who went for food leavings) | |
|
– once a blanket fish (with a span of app. 2 yards not even rather big, but impressing anyway as he swam just beneath us and returned to assure himself that we were uneatable) – some times morays - in the sea, but also hidden in caves; the biggest of them may have been longer than a yard fifty – and, of course, uncountable triggerfishes, humuhumunukunukuapuaa, boxfishes, perches, whitetip reef sharks, parrot fishes and and and... |
It was a special pleasure to swim in midstream the big swarms of fishes whatsoever. They all were trusting somehow as long as we did not move too fast.
To snorkel within the lagoon was interesting as well. You could see the nursery of many fish species. You met the same kinds of species as at the house reef - only en miniature!
The south eastern side of Embudu (see draft at the end of this travelogue) is crumbling - literally, the sea eats up the island. This beach section is protected with sandbags already. Nevertheless, something has to happen soon otherwise Embudu will further shrink. Currently (Jan 2008) the beach section from bungalos no. 68 – 76 is closed and may not be accessed.
  |
  |
  |
Each evening we met at the bar to watch the sundown. With more or less sucess - impressing fotos like these below could not be taken every day:
  |
  |
An honest word concerning the restaurant and the food & beverage: all meals were good, tasty and varied throughout. In 14 days the kitchen offered 10 different diner themes, amongst them:
  |
Chinese Asian Western Steak Eastern/Western BBQ Italian Mongolian Carvery night |
  |
The quality and performance of the restaurant was not top-level but due to good preparation and taste worth the 3*** stars standard as described in the catalogue (maybe even 3 and a half).
  |
Although we did not run into the danger of getting a island psychosis, we decided to have a boat trip to watch the "smallest capital in the world". |   |
  |
||
  |
This journey was not worth the money. The hectic rush was terrible. Male is not only the smallest capital, but very likely the one with the most mopeds. |   |
At the end of our vacation, we were more relaxed than usual. We both believe the reason was the mixed weather in our first week which gave us the appropriate time to get acclimated. Moreover, Embudu's library was equipped well, so we always had enough to read and relax. App. 250 tourists who may live her at a time get dissappeared on the beach and elsewhere, so we never had a problem to get a nice, easeful place at the beach.
Here you will see some more fotos of our trip to Embudu.
May be we will return in 5 or 10 years. Will Embudu then be a luxury ressort, or will it still be as snuggish as nowadays?
A draft which shows the current (Jan 2008) streams and beach shape:
