Maldives Vacation

Hello everyone!

When Ryan and I moved to Hong Kong, we made a list of all the places we wanted to visit while we were here. We've done a pretty good job of getting to most of those places, but a few always remained on the list that we kept putting off. My top choice was a stay in an over-the-water hut in the Maldives.

Maldives is about a 6 hour flight south-west of Hong Kong, located in the Indian Ocean just off the southern tip of India. Maldives is made of up over 1,000 islands on coral reefs that takes up 35,000 sq miles. The average sea level is 1.5 meters which makes it the lowest lying country on the planet.

We flew down to Male, the capital of the Maldives, and took a 25 minute boat ride to our resort. Each island houses it's own private resort which are only accessible by boat or sea plane, depending on the length of the journey. Our island held the Baros Resort, which was an adults only resort (sorry Xavier) which was 1,200 ft long and could be walked around in 10 minutes.

We stayed in a water villa and spent the majority of our trip snorkeling the coral reef off the island and spotting sharks and sting-rays off our balcony. The coral reef housed 14 sea turtles, 3 of which we met personally, sharks, sting-rays and thousands of fish. We also spent an early morning deep sea fishing which resulted in Ryan catching a wahoo and both of us catching needle fish with a traditional hand-line.We had an amazing 5 days of sun, snorkeling and relaxation as a couple.

Our boat to take us to the resort

Our villa for the week

The water villas at the resort

Sunrise fishing trip

Ryan's wahoo fish

My needlefish 

The great crew that took us out! 

Enjoying the wahoo fish for lunch

Ryan chasing sharks off our balcony

Ryan's turtle selfie

Sharks were all over but weren't interested in us at all

Turtle and jelly fish fight

Our last day in a beach villa before leaving

Enjoying its outdoor bathroom!

Celebrating an amazing vacation before flying home

Weekend in China

Hello there! 

Continuing to get caught up on the blog here as the summer is winding down. Fall is approaching back in the states but we are still in the high 80's-90's here, which actually feels quite nice compared to the summer. 

Over the summer Ryan had a bit of change at work and was required to be up in China Monday-Friday again, rather than the Tuesday-Thursday he started after Xavier was born. With this, our weekends together became even more special and we tried to make the most out of all the family time we had. We went to our community swimming pool, visited nearby beaches and decided to take a short trip to a nearby island we had wanted to visit. Plus, Xavier and I had just gotten our 10 year China visas and wanted to make use of them!

Sanya, China is located on the island of Hainan, which is a little over an hour flight from Hong Kong. Sanya is known as the 'Hawaii of China' and we got that the minute we landed. There was a giant pineapple on top of the airport and all of the walls and furniture were bamboo and wicker. The island is covered in high-end resorts along each of the bays and is continuing to grow into a major tourist destination. 

We stayed at the Conrad Hotel and had a villa with a private pool in the back. It was perfect for us so that X could nap in the villa while Ryan and I hung outside and then relax throughout the day with him floating in his little blow-up airplane. We had an amazing weekend spending time as a family (and no internet since all social media is blocked there) since the past few months had been more time apart. 

Walking into the villa

The bathroom had heated floors which Xavier loved sitting on and watching cartoons while I got ready

He was in the pool for hours floating around!

Traditional Hainanese chicken & rice- Xavier loved sharing this with Dad

The beachfront at the hotel of Haitang Bay- the waves were a bit much for us to take Xavier into

We had a big paella dinner which Xavier also loved sharing with us- while not munching on his banana teether

Trying to steal the big bed

Dressed for the Hawaiian theme

We had a great little getaway as a family and a nice break from the summer in Hong Kong. We've been to many parts of China and this was truly a little gem.