[Amyth Prabhakar]

Prelude:

We do travel a lot and like every year, we had short listed a couple of destinations to visit around the globe at the beginning of 2020. We make our own trips and had reached a point where we had finalized the destination and were on the verge of completing the booking procedures end to end. But the outbreak of the pandemic, sealed and sabotaged all our travel plans for the year 2020 and shattered all our dreams.



Of late, we heard about a country that had opened the international borders for tourists, of course with a lot of rules and regulations. Travel was not on our minds until we saw the newspapers and social media being filled with pictures of celebrities flocking to this island destination which eventually triggered us to explore more and brought Maldives on our radars. With lot of unused leaves & all of them ready to expire, and being in lock down for more than 11 months, there was no reason to say NO to this opportunity although International travel looked quite dicey and yes Maldives was one of those destinations that was on top of our bucket list for a long time.



The Planning and Preparation: Flight booking:

Since we started planning only in first week of December, we had very less time to decide and act upon it. We don’t rely upon any travel agency like (Make my Trip, Travel Triangle etc.) to do the booking for us as they cannot customize it to our requirements and still be budget friendly. So, without wasting any time, I started looking out for flights on various websites to get the best deal. I normally use Sky Scanner to check for flights and stumbled upon a site called https://www.easemytrip.com/ where I found affordable flights to Maldives from Bangalore.

From the search, I got to know that Indigo and Go Air were the only two airlines companies that were operating direct flights to Maldives from Bangalore. The return ticket prices were quite high during the Christmas and New Year. So I had to play around with the dates and try different permutations and combinations. Luckily, one such combination of date before the peak time, showed the lowest possible price for to and fro direct flight tickets. Without any hesitation I booked the first available early morning flight with Indigo Airlines as we had the flexibility to travel on any date after the 15th of December 2020.

The very next day I realized that I had made a mistake by not entering my wife’s middle name as I was in a rush. I immediately called up the airlines and checked if it is OK to not have a middle name in the booking. Since I called them within the first 24hrs after the booking was made, they obliged to make the necessary corrections free of charge and also advised me to get it changed as per passport as this was an international travel.

They asked me to furnish the passport copy and made the requested changes. I was also told that there would be no further corrections allowed and by chance, if there were any in future, I would be charged some fees for that. They sent me a couple of links that had detailed travel guidelines that we had to adhere to during the pandemic. They also asked me to go through all the details put up on the Indigo website for international arrivals and departures and check the respective country and state wise rules and regulations that we are travelling to.

Resort Booking:

Now that the flight tickets was booked, the next step was to hunt down a good resort. As I am a premium member on both Booking.com and Agoda.com, I began my search and lot of them sprung up. Not knowing which one to select, I googled a bit and found the most preferred one was the Paradise Island resort, especially for Indians.

I went back to booking.com and selected the same. But to our dismay, the rooms that we wanted weren’t available and we thought every other honeymooner must have already booked it before us.

I continued my search on google and came across the Maldvies magazine. Link below:
https://maldives-magazine.com/top-10...s-maldives.htm.

I started exploring the top 10 listed there and found Kandima Maldives in Dhaalu Atoll to be very impressive. I checked the same on both Booking.com and Agoda and they were available with category of the rooms we desired.

I also opened up their website https://kandima.com/index.php/en/ and found it to be too Kool. I contacted them over email and requested them to send direct booking prices as I saw some big discount being flashed on their website for direct booking along with full board plan.

The prices they quoted were sky high despite direct inquiry and so I decided to fall back upon Booking.com and Agoda.com. They also told me that the resort was about 200 km away from the Velana International Airport (MLE) and I would need to book either a domestic or sea plane transfers separately.

I checked the prices and reviews of Kandima Maldives on all other popular websites like trip advisor and found the reviews to be excellent. However the best price was offered only on Agoda.com and it was the least. So without further ado, I made a booking on Agoda.com for 4 nights 5 days stay at Kandima Maldives.

I was not charged anything and it only asked me to enter the credit card details. It was free to cancel until 2 days before the actual date. Since the Water villas were very expensive, I choose the regular beach front Sky studio for the first and the last day as we hardly get to spend time there. The reason why I booked 5 days is because the first and the last day will be lost in travelling and we effectively get only about 3 days and 3 nights to spend as the resort was located far away in the ocean.

Domestic Transfers:

Now that I had finalized and booked the resort, the next step was to book the domestic transfers from Male International Airport to the resort. The resort when I contacted them had told me to book a domestic flight to Dhaalu Atoll Airport and upon arrival, take a 30 min speed boat ride to their resort from the airport.

I checked the flights to Dhaalu from Velana International airport, Male. Unfortunately, I could not find any for the dates we had booked. I contacted the airlines (Manta Air) and Maldivian airlines over email and they said the frequency of the flights had been reduced due to pandemic and asked me to contact the resort and get the booking done through them as they have a special tie up with Kandima.

I did as I was instructed and the resort asked me to fill the domestic transport forms and send it over to them along with confirmed return tickets to India. I asked them to send the schedules of domestic flights. They took about a day to respond and finally got back to me and told the same thing which I had myself learnt. They told that there were no domestic flights available and suggested me to go for a sea plane transfer instead.

The sea planes are private and are very expensive and of course the fastest mode of transport especially if the resort is far away in the ocean. They cost about 600$ per person for return transfers to airport which includes the speed boat as well. Initially I was a bit reluctant, but later gave in as we had no option. I confirmed the same and the resort went ahead and booked it for me for the onward journey. They also replied saying the schedules are not known in advance for the sea plane and the correct timings and the payment link for the same would be sent just a day before our arrival at Maldives as they are mostly operated on demand basis.

Protocols to Follow:

Now that everything had been taken care of end to end, it was time to follow all the rules. The resort sent a mail with a checklist of things to take care of and asked me to send some of the documents in advance to confirm the booking. The email they sent clearly mentioned that failing to do so will lead to cancellation of booking and denial of entry.

The following are the Protocols we had to follow to enter Maldives:

There is no 14-day Quarantine in Maldives. However, tourists are not allowed to enter city or do island hopping. Tourists are allowed to stay only in resorts.

• We had to mandatorily undergo Covid-19 Test not more than 96 hrs before the date/time of travel from the first port of entry. 96 hrs is calculated from the time the sample is taken, so we had to ensure that we don’t cross 96 hrs. Exception is given only during intermediate transits within airports and the same report will hold good for another 24 hrs, beyond which we need to undergo the test again and bear the extra cost and delays.
  
• We had to Carry RT-PCR Negative Test Report in English. [Does not have to be sent in advance to resort. However it needs to be carried either in print or electronic format from a reputed and recognised lab. Could be either a government owned or private establishment. It should have the seal, signature of the authorized personal, exact time of the sample taken and the test results along with address of the testing centre. ]
  
• We had to ensure the RT-PCR Report had correct details as per passport along with passport number.
  
• We had to mandatorily upload RT-PCR Negative Test Report to Maldives Immigration, IMUGA website, within 24 hrs before the flight from the first port of entry.
  
• We had to obtain the QR code after successful submission. QR code that is retuned after submission is valid for 24 hrs only. Visa will be issued only if a valid QR code is shown. QR code will be scanned and Visa will be issued free of cost for 90 days. We had to follow the same during departure from Maldives as well. We were carrying the original hard copies of the RT-PCR report which was checked at the immigration counter.
  
• Mandatorily Upload photo and declare health condition on the Maldives IMUGA immigration site with details of return flight details and confirmed Resort booking. Entry to Male city is restricted and banned. So a resort booking confirmation is a must. So we had to mandatorily fill the details of our stay in Maldives.
  
• Mandatorily carry Travel Insurance that covers COVID Hospitalization abroad and with other comprehensive coverage and protection against any unforeseen event. [Has to be sent to resort over email, 3-4 days before arrival. Failing to do so will lead to cancellation of booking] [I purchased it online from ICICI lombard only for the duration of our travel.]

The following are the rules we had to follow during our exit from Maldives:

• We had to mandatorily upload photo and declare health condition on the Maldives IMUGA immigration site with details of return flight, the duration of our stay and the resort we stayed in and obtain the QR code. No QR code, no entry. We saw a couple of people declaring it there in the airport which is a pain if not done in advance.
  
• The resort we stayed in also checked our temperatures before exiting and gave a health declaration form stating that we are alright.

The link to IMUGA website:https://imuga.immigration.gov.mv/

This had to be filled during our arrival and departure as well.



QR code was sent as an image (jpeg) to my registered email and we had to show this at the airport and get it scanned by the airport authorities at Maldives. Just attaching it as it has already expired.



The following are the rules we had to follow for flying with Indigo airlines:

• Mandatorily fill the Indigo health declaration form within 24 hrs before the flight time. (Boarding pass will be issued only if this is filled for both onward and return journey.)
  
• For International travel, there was no need for us to do a web check-in and obtain and print a baggage tag. It was done at the airport itself.
  
• Have the Arogya Setu App installed on our phones with status showing up as GREEN.
  
• Mandatorily fill the Self declaration/ Self Reporting form on the Air Suvidha web site and carry the generated form in electronic format with the valid SR number.
  [Required only for international passengers arriving to India]. We filled this only during our return journey.

I have attached the Form and masked all personal details. It is of 2 pages and the second page consists of all Health related questionnaire. So I have excluded it here.



Karnataka State Rules:

• Thermal screening and temperature check.
• Pulse Oximeter Check.
• RT-PCR Test is not required for Karnataka State. However if symptoms are found and detected, passengers will be sent to take up further tests and the passengers will have to bear all the expenses and will be subjected to institutional quarantine.
• If everything is alright all international passengers will have to undergo 14 days Home Quarantine.
  

No other tests are applicable to passengers from Maldives to Bangalore.
For other states, I request you to please go through the state wise guidelines.

RT-PCR Test:

We got the test done in one of the private facilities, well in advance (72 hrs before) to avoid last minute hassles. Despite giving them all the correct instructions, the names were incorrectly spelt and printed on both of our reports and we had to run around to get things corrected. If this is the plight of private labs, I cannot imagine the government owned ones.
Private labs take 24 hrs to deliver the report and charge somewhere around Rs. 1200-1400 in Bangalore. If one opts for home collection then it costs around Rs 1600-1800. Finally they printed details as per the passport and gave it to us. The correct details were then printed on both the Lab report and the ICMR and uploaded to the Indian government COVID website. We also got a message from the Government stating everything was alright.

Miscellaneous stuff:

• We carried some cash in USD (about 400$) as it is widely accepted in Maldives. However, we didn't use it much and was reserved only for emergency purposes.
• We had both, Master and VISA, International enabled credit cards which was used as our default mode of payment.
• We carried a pair of flip flops and beach wear and some extra clothes.
• We also carried good quality sunscreen lotions, goggles and caps.
• Being a passionate photographer, I always carry my own ultra light carbon fiber Manfrotto travel tripod.
• We also had our own swimming gear of course the travel adapters & universal sockets extension board.

The Adventure Begins:

We were all set and equipped and armed with all the necessary documents and were ready to fly. We booked the airport cab in the night as we had to leave real early in the morning. The airport taxi was right on time and we reached the airport by 6 AM. It was very foggy and chilly. The flight was at 9 AM. We entered the airport premises and checked in our baggage and headed for the immigration and security check. The airport wore a very deserted look. We took a short nap and got up around 7 AM and had some overpriced breakfast. Soon after that, the Indigo staff started distributing the face shields, masks and the body suit. Body suit was only for middle seat passengers. We also met a few Kannada Cine stars who were flying to Maldives on the same flight as us and the place soon filled with other travelers. The boarding began and to my surprise the flight was full. I was under the impression that my wife and I were the only two idiots to have taken such a decision to travel during the pandemic. After seeing the crowd, a kind of relaxed and soothing feeling engulfed me and all my agitation settled down. The flight was around 90 minutes to Maldives from Bangalore and it landed as per the scheduled time.

Some of the pics which I shot at the KIA, Bangalore in the morning:















The Protection Kit that was given by Indigo Airlines:



That's my wife:



Here we land:



Velana International Airport, Male, Maldives



Airport Shuttle:



View from the Airport Terminal:



Outside the Airport:







Sea Plane Port:

We were greeted by the Manta Air, Airport staff and Kandima Resort representatives. They took us to the Sea Plane counter and we had to check in our baggage again. We were then escorted in a special shuttle to the sea plane jetty which was about 1-2 kilometer away from the main international airport. The Sea plane was at 2 PM and we were given the lounge access along with some refreshments. As we waited there in the lounge I took a lot of pictures of these planes landing and taking off from water.

Sea Plane check-in:



We are being escorted to the Sea Plane port:



Manta Air, Sea-Plane port and Jetty:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Watching the sea planes was a treat to the eyes

Here are the pics that I clicked while we waited there in lounge. Initially I clicked a few pics on the phone but later had to capture them on my DSLR.
The port also happed to be the the common landing area for all Sea planes operating companies including the TMA [ Trans Maldivian Airways].

















































Sanitization + Loading passenger Baggage



Refueling in progress and it's almost ready for boarding and take-off

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Boarding time:





The flight was ready and we were asked to board. As we walked down the ramp, my wife was over enthusiastic and posed and clicked a few selfies before getting in. The Sea planes had the capacity to accommodate a maximum of 10 passengers along with a 2 pilots and a crew member. It was quite cramped and congested inside. We could not fully stretch our legs. It was also not as luxurious as the regular full fledged planes. All our hand bags were shoved inside the tail and our check-in baggage was placed just behind the last passenger seat row. There were no overhead baggage compartments. The AC vents were present on the sides, just above the window.

Flying Experience:

As we settled down inside the Twin Otter, the engines were fired on and it began to move on the water runway. The feeling was almost identical to that of a speed boat until it took off. The NVH levels were very poor and it was extremely noisy and the blaring engine noise filtered into the cabin. My wife was quite excited and busy seeing the outside landscape. I peeped at the window and could see the aerial views of resorts that were closer to the airport. My wife began to explain something and I just nodded to whatever she said as I could not hear anything that she spoke.

I also had a word with the pilots and asked if it was OK to take pictures of the cockpit. They were extremely friendly and also asked me to keep my camera ready and take pictures of beautiful views as they fly low over the Indian ocean.

As the plane glided over the turquoise waters, we got a glimpse of some of the magnificent views of various Atolls and resorts. It was an enthralling experience and a treat to the eyes. It was as if we were on a drone clicking picture after picture. It was hard to capture all of them on the phone as I was right beside the propellers. It was more clear to see through the eyes than to capture it on phone. So I silently sat and observed them. The ride to our resort was about 45 minutes but we had a stop over at RIU for a short duration as a few guests had to disembark at RIU. As the flight descended, we could hear the water splashing noise and the aircraft began to rock on the ocean waves as it came to a standstill. We spent some time at RIU and began our journey to our resort which was about 10-15 min from there. We landed sooner than we expected and had to jump over to the speed boat at the Jetty.









Approaching the RIU:

The weather too turned a bit nasty here.







Docked at RIU:







Take Off from RIU at full blast as it started raining and there was a bit of cross winds along with turbulence



Speed Boat:

Kandima Resort private speed boat staff were awaiting us and welcomed us at the jetty. All our baggage's were transferred to the speed boat. The private speed boat ride to the resort was just about 10 minutes or less from the Jetty and was very fast and bumpy.











As we approached the resort, it was almost 4:00 PM and there were heavy rains. The Staff got big umbrellas and escorted us to the reception bay. We were welcomed with warm greetings and a drink. The staff briefed us about the island, the facilities, and the Do's and the Don'ts. We finished all the paper work and the other formalities at the reception. They also noted down our preference for vegetarian food. Upon paying the deposit of 200$, they handed over the kool wrist bands which were in fact the equivalent of a smart access cards. The rooms were ready and since it was located a bit far from the reception area, we hopped on to the battery operated buggy ( Shuttle service, also known as buggy ) and reached our Ocean facing Sky Studio and settled down.



The rooms were extremely clean, fresh, spacious, well lit and comfortable. We were tired and hit the bed. We only got up at 6:00 PM and wandered a bit and headed straight to the dinner. We also had to reserve a table as there was a restriction on the number of people that could be in the restaurant due to pandemic. The vegetarian options were very less and almost everything that was available was either non-veg or sea-food.

The restaurant in-charge recognized our nationality and seeing our discomfort came and spoke to us and enquired about the place, we came from India. We told him upfront about our dietary requirements. As we spoke we got to know that he was also from Karnataka. He happened to be from Udupi, Mangalore and spoke to us in our local language, kannada and immediately began to sort things out.

He called the Head-chefs and asked them to accommodate our requirements. They were very apologetic and noted down our requirements and prepared and served us with whatever they could do immediately to keep us happy and filled. They also ensured that they would prepare some Vegetarian dishes the next day onwards.

There was nothing much we could do on the first day after dinner. We took a stroll on the beach and settled down in our cozy studio apartment and dozed off.

Here are the pictures of the Beach facing Sky Studio we stayed in:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

The Luxurious stay at Kandima Maldives

We were on this exotic island surrounded by enthralling blue ocean, shiny-sandy beaches and of course unmatched luxury.

Few interesting facts:

• The Kandima Resort is located in the Dhaalu Atoll and is about 200km away from the Maldives International airport.
• It can be accessed by both domestic or a seaplane followed by a short ride on the speed boat.
• The resort stretches over a landscape of about 3 kilometres and is the second biggest in the Maldives.
• The resort opens up to a calm turquoise blue lagoon on one side and a fierce ocean on the other side.
• The property is opulent and alluring and very creatively designed with a variety of accommodation types, multiple swimming pools, bars and restaurants and offers a lot of water sport activities, sports for both young and old, Yoga session, spa, painting and cookery classes and a lot more. There are full-fledged tennis and football courts as well.
• Kandi-land for Kids. ( Separate play area for kids )
• It is almost like a small city and can host a huge number of guests at one go.
• The extravagant cuisines, the facilities, the ambience, the location, the comfort and the hospitality are top-notch. Every guest is treated as a buddy and it is so Kool.
• The island has a splendid variety of flora and fauna with crustacean animals across the island.
• Resort also offers candid photo-shoots for couples and photography for a destination wedding. [Very expensive] about 1200$ for 20 Digital copies. Printed copies with frames are much more expensive.
• Electric/Battery operated shuttle service runs across the resort from morning 6:00 AM to Midnight.
• Wi-Fi connectivity is just average and sometimes pathetically slow.

Best Time to Visit:

I guess from November to April.

Weather Conditions:

Most of the time it was very hot and humid during the days and cool and warm in the night. There were some intermittent showers too.

Our Accommodation:

We stayed two days in the Sky Studio and 2 days in the Aqua Villa with a private Jacuzzi.

What Food did we Eat:

Buffet Breakfast and Dinner was complimentary for us and was included as part of our package. On special request, Veg food (Dal, Rice, Upma, Roti and veg side dishes were specially prepared) along with pastas, omelettes, fried vegetables, spinach, Tomato and Mushroom soup, boiled and scrambled eggs, Veg fried rice, potato wedges, baked beans, Rajma rice, fruits, cakes and pastries, desserts and the list just goes on and on.
The spread was huge and sumptuous. We hardly felt the need to have lunch although there were a' la' carte restaurants as a fallback option.
The non-veg spread was even bigger than the Vegetarian list.

What did we do during our stay at Kandima ??

We were completely isolated from everything and were on a digital detox.
We were just surrounded by white sand, crystal clear waters and the blue sky.
There was less crowd and more private time to unwind and soak ourselves in the splendid and natural beauty of planet earth.

• We spent most of the time taking pictures against the beautiful backdrops every day. I clicked a ton of them.
  
• We hired the bicycles [5$ per day per bicycle]to wander all around the resort.
  
• We hired the snorkelling equipment [5$ per day] and spent some time staring at beautiful underwater world in the shallow waters of the lagoon and got to watch a variety of sea life and some baby sharks too.
  
• We spent a good amount of time relaxing in the swimming pools as well. It's got one of the biggest pool.
  
• We had registered and signed up for Scuba diving with Hammerhead sharks thinking it would be easy and a lot of fun along with the instructors. Since both of us were non-swimmers they said that we would panic in deep waters and they advised us to take a refund as it was very expensive. It was about close to 200$ per person plus taxes. This is because, once we get on to the boat and say "No" at the diving location, nothing would be refunded. These things we thought were better off for people who are more comfortable with water and not for newbies like us. However, we had the option to take the scuba beginner lessons "Discover Scuba" and get a certificate and do a short dive up to 5-meter depth for about 160$. But somehow my wife who had never been in the water was not comfortable during the demo as the water went into her nose and mouth and she literally freaked out. It happened to me as well and it was difficult to prevent the water from sneaking into the eye protection dive masks. The trick was to learn how to clear the water when it enters into the mask. I was OK to some extent. But eventually, we had to back out. Luckily they did not charge anything for us as it was only in the training swimming pool and we didn't even take the full training lessons.
  
• We stayed away from other water sport activities as they were very expensive for just 30 minutes of fun. Especially those water scooters cost a bomb for a 30 min ride. (150$ per person)
  

I will let the pictures to do the talking henceforth.

Kandima Maldives:



The Reception Area:



The Jungle within and the pathways:













The fierce Ocean:













The Breeze Bar:





















When on a holiday and the view opens up like this:









The infinity pool:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

The Photolog: Heaven on Earth

Everything looked so marvelous and picturesque !! Every view looked nothing less than a beautiful wallpaper!!



Maldives is endowed with incredible beauty and splendor of nature.



































The never ending ocean!















Scuba Diving practice sessions at Aquaholics









The biggest swimming pool !

[Amyth Prabhakar]

The Twilight shots:

































The ramps were beautifully lit with Blue LED's and looked like a runway. The bluish glow guidelines prevent people from accidentally falling into the water.















DJ Night:









Some wall paper shots on a bright sunny day:

The view from our Sky Studio:

[Amyth Prabhakar]

The Premium Water Villas with a private Jacuzzi that we stayed in:

The water villas overlooking the ocean were private, clean, comfortable, fresh, spacious and well furnished with wooden flooring along with an outer deck that extended on the ocean floor. At the edge of the deck was the ambient lit Jacuzzi which used to glow with various colors in the night. The bathroom was beautifully designed with a bath tub and was covered with semi and transparent glass elements which opened up the views to a whole new world. The views felt as if we were in the middle of the ocean. There were chairs and couches outside on the deck, for us to sit and either sun bathe and get tanned under the scorching sun or enjoy the sunrise/sunset melody amidst the luminous ocean glow. The water was crystal clear and we could sight a variety of brilliantly colored fishes, turtles, eel's and occasionally a few baby sharks that sparkled against the pristine and untouched ocean bed. The topography of the entire lagoon is just indescribable in words.

All rooms we stayed in were equipped with life jackets and we were advised to not get into water without life jackets despite the water levels being shallow around the water villas. We slowly got down the railings and into the water but the water levels were up to our chest. Although we could stand there it really wasn't comfortable as the currents were high and tossed us around. We had to grab the railings and had to get back and strap on our life jackets to play around in that water.

























The View from our Villa:













The water was so pristine that we can see the bottom clearly
along with some coral reef and a variety of fishes and baby sharks.







The Lighting at the night for Premium Aqua Villas

[Amyth Prabhakar]

My Photography Equipment:

• Canon 80D: I always carry an ultra wide landscape lens, portrait and a telephoto lens along with the default kit lens.
• Go Pro Hero 6 and a gimbal for making videos.
• Vivo V20
• Manfrotto travel tripod.

Here are some of the shots from my DSLR:

The mesmerizing views !!





Spectacular views of the sun going down the horizon and finally sinking into the ocean.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

[Amyth Prabhakar]

The Restaurant and the food

Though the island had a total of 5 restaurants, I guess only two of them were open and the remaining ones were not operational due to pandemic.

Flavor and Azure were the only two restaurants that were open.

These two restaurants are located quite far from the Aqua Villas and we had to board the hop-in and hop-off bus service during breakfast and dinner hours.
No one was allowed to enter the restaurant without a mask and a temperature check. Mask could be taken off only while having food at the designated table.







The List of all the other facilities and activities that were available:



The KOOL smart access bands





Sea-Plane Take-off and Landing:

There was a lot of Sea plane activity just outside of our Aqua villa and it also happened to be the landing and take-off zone.
The Sea planes used to land right in front of the resort and at a distance. The guests would then be picked up by a speed boat and escorted to the resort entrance jetty.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

The Journey back to India:

The entire vacation was Risky but Rewarding:

We thoroughly enjoyed every moment of our stay in the resort.
It was finally time to wrap up and bid good bye to the Resort. We have carried back a lot of memories of us in the snaps and its now on Facebook and Instagram. Not sure if I can post them here.

We had the option to choose either the Sea plane or the domestic air transfers. We chose the later to save costs. The resort booked it for us and sent the flight schedules a day before our departure. The flight was at 7:00 AM in the morning. So we packed all our stuff and settled all the bills the previous night itself as we would be completely free on the day of departure.

We also borrowed the desktop at the reception lobby and filled all the necessary forms required for our departure. [IMUGA, Air Suvidha and Indigo Heath Declaration]

Covid-19 RT-PCR Test facilities were available at the resort too. They checked if we required that. Since it was not a mandatory requirement for International passengers travelling to Karnataka, Bangalore, we ignored it. The costs for the RT-PCR test was about 200$ per person. We thought it was better to fly back to India and get the test done in the airport itself, if at all it was required and so we skipped it.

The staff informed us to be present in the reception bay at exactly 5:00 AM in the morning. They also gave a wake up call at 4:00 AM and the buggy arrived exactly at 4:30 AM in the morning to pick up our luggage.

We then walked up to the hop-on hop off point and the shuttle was waiting to pick us up at 4:45 AM in the morning. We were escorted back to the reception area where the packed breakfast was kept ready. [Fruits, cakes etc.]

We had our breakfast and took a few final shots at the resort before leaving and hopped onto the speed boat. It was about a 30 minute bumpy ride from the resort to the Dhaalu Domestic airport.

The Reception Area at around 5:00 AM in the morning.





The last shot, before we boarded the Speed boat !!



Dhaalu Domestic Airport

It was about a 45 minute journey from the Dhaalu to Male, Velana International airport.











Velana International Airport, Maldives (MLE)











Some soft toys my wife purchased at the airport !



The Flight back to India !!

The flight back to India was in the afternoon and so we had to spend nearly 4 hours in the airport before the boarding. We had some refreshments at the Burger king in the airport. There were some additional delays due to rains and finally we reached India, Bangalore safely in the evening without any sort of trouble anywhere


The aerial views beneath were just so amazing and mind blowing!!







We were subjected to thermal screening and pulse oximeter tests and were set free to go on a home quarantine for 14 days.

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Just for fun !!

Some of the pics shot at Maldives Airport:

The gives a clear idea about how busy was the airport and the number of people visiting Maldives from across the world !

[Amyth Prabhakar]

Just us !!!!!

Here is a very small subset of pics we clicked.

There is a truck load of pictures similar to the ones posted below, against various backdrops and at various times and on different days, which I have reserved them for Facebook and Instagram.

Of course we are sunburnt and tanned!



















Tripod Shots:

Tripod was very useful and we did not have to request passerby's to click us.













Hope you enjoyed the travelogue. Thanks for your time and Wish you all a very Happy New Year !! Stay Safe, Stay Blessed !!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[drrajasaravanan]

Hi,
Thank you for sharing. Maldives has been on my list for quite some time but never got around to it. Your photos are beautiful and gives a glimpse of what to expect. Kudos for travelling during this corona period and furnishing all details pertaining to it. Cheers.