Farewell to Maldives

A few more pictures from our trip to Maldives:

A local's dinner table.

The other Male airport.  Reportedly the
largest fleet of sea planes in the world.

Male, the capital of Maldives from the sea plane.  One of the most densely
populated cities in the world with over 200,000 people on that little island.

An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef that partially or completely encircles a
 lagoon.  While I think each of those in the picture may qualify, Maldives
 have designated the much larger circle you can see being formed by the
 collection of coral rings disappearing into the distance as an atoll.

The location of our island amongst the Ari Atoll
which stretches roughly 30km wide by 89km long.

Mirihi from the air.

I'm curious to know what "international" flights land at this dock.

Pretty decent scene to arrive to.

Our beach villa ...

... with as private of a beach as you can get
 on an island with 800m of coastline.

Our "room boy" (their term) did incredible sheet
art each night including surprising welcome.

We believe this is the flower for which the island is named.  There's a bit of
mystery around these as we often returned to our villa to find them
scattered on and around footpaths.  We could not find the tree they
bloomed on and possibly fell from, and there's no way they have room to
grow them on the island to spread around each day.  They have to come in
on the supply boats, but the staff we grilled wouldn't divulge the source.

Mirihi has some resident wildlife.  This is Kevin, he's very similar
to the Up bird.  Fun bird to have around, squawks  at cranky old people.

Bunch of little black tip reef sharks constantly circle
the island.  This guy seems to have had a run in.

Those are the resident devil rays, or mini mantas.  Had a few
mornings they'd be out in front of us at breakfast breaching
and doing flips in the air.  Had no idea they could do that.

At the bar where we studied for our diving exam.
Easy to be a good student in this "classroom".

Falling coconuts are responsible for more deaths
worldwide than shark attacks each year.

LT seems unfazed by the coconut threat, preparing for movie
night at the bar with a Bailey's laced vanilla milkshake.

Sun setting on an incredible trip.