Looking back...December 19, 2010

Another lazy-ish day. We spent a while taking photos of me and the HAC TICS (our newsletter at work) and my t-shirt with Jake on it. The HAC TICS travels around the world with people. You take it with you on vacation, take some photos with it, then the newsletter people calcuate how many miles it traveled with you, and add it to the total. I think it's traveled a bazillion miles already! My little trip will add a few points. ;)

The photos of me in the blue shirt are for a very special cause. Jake is the nephew of one of our friends. He was killed in a freak accident in 2009, and 5 people received different organs from him. His mom is a speaker and advocate for organ donation now. In memory of Jake, the family started a "Take Jake" program. You take a photo of Jake with you, take photos with him, then post them to facebook. We took Jake with us to Mexico, and I made Jake's mom and aunt a full scrapbook. It was really cool. They really, really enjoyed it. Now we've taken Jake to Maldives and Hong Kong.




We also spent a lot of time taking "I so desperately want to remember every freaking detail of this place" photos.





Additionally, we decided to brave snorkeling and underwater photography again, one last time. We rented the camera for half a day...and headed over to the house reef. This time Eric took charge of the camera since I had the melt down diving the other day and threw the camera at him underwater. :) We got some nice shots and Eric took some great video (which will ONE day be on our youtube site!).

At 6:45pm we headed over to Vilu to get photos with the crew there. We were served by them everyday at breakfast, at the happy hours, and at dinner the previous night. We really wanted to remember them!! It was like magic watching them all come out at the same time to line up for the photo! They must have done it before--a thousand times!








After Vilu photos, we headed over to Mandhoo for our last "dinner" time meal. We had a big lunch, so decided to just order dessert. This did not sit well with our servers. :) They decided that we would indeed do dinner there--a main course!! They brought out a beautiful prawn and greens salad....YUM! The Chef made it for us special!! (Thanks, Mandhoo staff!!) The Chef came out and spoke with us a bit, too. It was great. After that we ate our desserts and the restaurant gave us mango sorbet (our very favorite!). We exchanged facebook and email acounts, and took some photos! It was awesome. These people are so nice, helpful, giving, and really warm. We are going to miss them greatly! We're facebooked with a few of them, so that should help!

Oh, I forgot to mention, we were visted by sharks and EELS at dinner!! Sharks are pretty common, but we saw three in the same area, and got to see one of them hunt! The eel was interesting, too. They are fairly common, but not necessarily in that area all the time. It was magical!








After dinner and desserts, we walked over the lit bridge to see if we could spot manta rays! HOLY COW DID WE SEE MANTAS!! MAGICAL! MAGICAL! MAGICAL! Eric video recorded and photographed them. He fell to his stomach so he could get as close to the creature as possible. We both ran up and down the bridge for half an hour, waiting to see the next one come up. There were three swimming around. This night, unlike the first time we saw them, they came up and OUT of the water to feed. To eat they do flips and open their mouths...well, this night they did that out of the water! IT WAS MAGICAL! (Yes, I keep using that word!! But that's how it felt!)










We finally decided that we'd had enough luck with the mantas and went back to the villa to hot tub. The hottub in our villa had colored lights!! Different colors, with different programs! I turned the hottub on and it was solid green. Turned it off and back on and it was red. Then purple and light blue...WOW! After turning it on and back off, again, it cycled through the colors slowly. Turned it off and back on again and the colors cycled faster...and the next time even faster. The final stage had the colors blinking! Really cool. Eric eventually joined me, and we shared a glass of champagne, under the stars, looking out at the Indian Ocean, listening to the waves break, while sitting in a blue lit hottub. It was very special. Our last night......

Looking back...December 18, 2010

On the 18th, we laid in bed for a long time, not wanting to get up! In fact, we didn't do much all morning, but lay around and facebook. We did manage to put our swim and snorkel wear on, and get in a good half hour of snorkeling on the house reef. We had reservations at 1:30pm to eat Eric's fish, so at 1:30pm, we went to Rangali Bar and had lunch. It was really good! Eric's fish was more fishy tasting than the one I caught, but with the lemon butter sauce, it was quite tasty.

At 5pm we headed to Vilu for happy hour. Those guys treat us so well! I had a cocktail of the day and Eric had his usual French red wine. Later that night we went back to Vilu for our first dinner there. This is quite funny....

When we arrived, I asked our server if Bruno (the Chef who we had talked to a few times) had a special for the night. He said he would go get Bruno. I thought that was kind of interesting. I just wanted to know if there was a special. What he probably heard (Eric informed me later) is that I wanted Bruno to make something special for us. Communication! Seriously! yikes...what was all of this going to mean? The Chef...making something special for us?? We went there knowing that dinner would be a little more expensive than usual (probably $90-100 without service fees)...but just wait!

Bruno comes over to us and asks us what we'd like. He starts talking about food like he's making love to it through his words. Of COURSE we wanted some of that food he was describing! So Bruno tells us that's he's going to make us a few courses and off he goes. I look at Eric. "What do you think that means, Eric?" Eric: "It's probably going to be like the degustation menu." Brandy: "Oh." The 5-course degustation menu was $185 (with wine) and $85 without wine!!!! Not five minutes later our server comes out and informs us that it will be priced as the degustation menu!

I looked at Eric and lauged...of course. I ask for the Chef's special in a foreign culture, and that's exactly what I get!

Besides the funny story part, the dinner was excellent, and Bruno delivered! I didn't have the wine, but Eric did, and said it was fabulous. Bruno even came out to our table again and spent some time with us, answering our questions about him. He is truly delightful. We hope to meet him again in the future. :) And yes..we will ask for a special menu again!!







When we got home, there was a stuffed manta on our freshly turned down bed. He joins a little Conrad family of stuffed toys...2 crabs and a whale.

Looking back...December 17, 2010

The 17th of December was a busy day, as many were on the island.

We really wanted to get underwater pictures, so we rented a camera for the day. We snorkeled at the house reef, went swimming in the adult only infinity pool AND went diving. Snorkeling was alright. The water was a little cloudy so the photos aren't fantastic, but seeing the fish and sea creatures was!!






We then "sauntered" over to the adult pool and played around in it for a bit, probably pissing off the lady that was there reading her book! NO KIDS ALLOWED! Yikes--oh well, we had fun being kids!






At 2:45pm we got on the dive boat and headed off on our final dive. Again, murky water (lots of waves)...kind of disappointing. I had a really rough time getting situated under water, so I quickly gave the camera to Eric. Since the water was murky, and there wasn't a ton of sun light, it kind of made it hard to figure out what everything was. I also dive by using my arms to propel me (which is a big no-no)...so my additional "flailing" probably didn't help much.








After diving, we went back to our villa, and got dressed for dinner. Then we walked the beach for a while, waiting on our reservation time. During this time, I collected about 50 seashells, which I had to hold in the bottom of my dress...and Eric sat on a chair and played with the camera. At 7pm we headed over to Mandhoo for dinner....

When we were seated, I asked for something to put my seashells in..a bag or a cup. The very sweet server brought back a handmade bag for me, out of foil, with a stapled on paper handle. It was sooooo awesome! I akmost got teary eyed! We had him pose with the bag, so I'm posting the photo. Things like that happen all the time around here--like magic. This place is magic!!!





Finally, after dinner, at 9pm, we went night fishing, again. On the first drop, I caught a fish big enough to snap my line! Dang! I ended the night with two snapped lines, three sucker fish, and one baracuda ugly fish. Pretty much a FAIL night. Eric, on the other hand, had a great night. He caught a silver rhodda fish, decently sized. He had a SUCCESSFUL night. :) It was a good trip for the couple on the boat with us. They both caught really big snappers...a few of them! The Chinese lady was super funny. She was so excited she was squealing, but then freaked out when they brought her fish near her. I don't blame her, though!!




We finally made it home....and went to bed. The 18th would not be so crazy! We need some sleep!