Celebrating July 4th in Maldives

The minister decided to send us to one of the Maldives' famous resorts, specifically Chaaya Island Dhonveli, to celebrate our Independence Day. I had seen pictures of the tropical islands, turquoise water and endless blue sky but they do not do justice to the real thing. The view from our over-the-water bungalow was fantastic. However, the current made actually swimming off of the deck rather treacherous. This was a problem until I figured out that I if held on to the ladder and flattened my body in the water I could admire the view unobstructed by the wooden railing on the deck. Other activities included snorkeling and swimming by the beach where the current was not so strong.

It was not possible to go scuba diving because of Maldivian regulations requiring that everyone must do a checkout dive and then wait for a day before going to an actual dive site. While I would like to go diving at some point while I am here. I was prefectly content to snorkel swim and relax for one day before getting to work in the newsroom.

Many of the Maldivians working at the resort, upon learning about our work here, were eager to share their opinions about the elections, including the fact that one of the opposition canidates is gaining suprising amounts of support.

Unfortunately we could only spend the day at the resort. this one definitely lived up to all of the hearsay in the US. Now it is back to the newsroom, and reality...