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Showing posts from December, 2022

Happy New Year!

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  Happy New Year everyone!  We are now flying back to Dubai from Boston. Great time with family and friends.  We will be celebrating the turn of the new year over New Foundland (approximately). We still may not have fully recovered from the initial jet-lag!  Many new stories to report in the months ahead and a return to sunshine, beer, and lobster in May! Christmas tree — Boothbay style! J, Joanne, Julie, and Greg at the 2nd floor of Boathouse Bistro in Boothbay Harbor, Maine Skyline of Boston

Home for the Holidays

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Back in New England for a couple of weeks, hanging out in a variety of locales. Basing ourselves out of Julie’s mom’s house in Franklin, MA.  The photos above and below are of the Boston Public Library.  Also including a pic of my stuffed Maine lobster tails.  Note, these are the real deal and not of the fake Canadian variety often trafficked in Dubai.  

Romantic Beach Dinner!

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Amazing last day of vacation. Hung out in our private infinity pool much of the day, along with some great snorkeling in front of our villa. Finally got my hands on an underwater camera (Go-Pro rental from the resort). Will need to upload to the laptop before I can post (tomorrow?). Also, late afternoon sea turtle excursion. We saw, and swam with, 8-10 of them!  Again, stay tuned for the pics. Finally, our dinner tonight, depicted in the photo above, was outstanding. Thought we were having dinner on the beach along with others, only to find out it was our own private dinner, including lighted heart shape in the sand and candles in driftwood!  The food was terrific and included wine pairings across 7 courses. Pretty crazy to experience this alone on a beach in the Indian Ocean!  After dinner, we went to Maldivian culture night with singing and dancing. Of course, Julie was the catalyst of the festivities that got the crowd up and dancing! Hard to see but those are our vill...

Dining with Fire

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  Dinner tonight at Teppanyaki, the island equivalent of a Japanese steakhouse.  Lots of fun pyrotechnics, including the obligatory onion volcano! (always a crowd pleaser). Today we went on an excursion searching for Manta Rays but didn’t have much luck. They are huge - roughly 20+ feet wide and weighing 3500 lbs!  After our failed search, we were taken to a great snorkeling area off one of the reefs. We saw an incredible number of colorful and diverse fish. No photos unfortunately as the underwater camera has died.  Some stock photos of manta rays . . . . More photos from dinner tonight:

The Lazy Day

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Perfect weather today, in the low 80’s with a breeze. Finally went down the stairs on our back deck and went snorkeling. Amazing what’s just below the surface. Unfortunately, my underwater camera is broken.  Renting one on Thursday but not capturing any of the images we’re seeing right now under the waves. Julie read and napped while I hiked the perimeter of the island. Small place - I did it in an hour, including one beer stop!  There are only 90 villas that make up the resort so there are never more than 180 guests at one time.  Lots of hanging out in our private pool today.  However, the whole place feels like our own private island  Food here has been amazing and, surprisingly, they have decent wine.  More active days to follow when we we go out looking for manta rays and sea turtles  Below are a few pics from today’s wanderings . . . . Our private infinity pool Home for the week. Our villa is roughly the 7th one from the end And here it is from th...

Dinner Underwater

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Day 2 here in the Maldives. Great low key day. Spa day, tropical rainstorm, finished with our dinner at 5.8 Underwater restaurant  (it’s 5.8M underwater). Julie captured the photo above of a trigger fish.  Yes, this is a real fish! Parrot Fish Reef shark next to our bungalow The underwater restaurant is at the end of the pier

Day One in the Maldives

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Finally made it to the Maldives!  Above is a photo of our private infinity pool at our over-the-water hut.  We’re running on no sleep, starting our day with a 1:30am Uber ride to the Dubai airport.  4 hours on an Emerites 777, then a 40 minute sea plane ride to our island.  Hard to believe, but this was the first sea plane ride for both of us. Landing on waves is a little different than a runway! Below is a photo of the shower in our bathroom. It opens out directly onto the deck and infinity pool. I’ve had smaller bedrooms in my life! Our room with the bed in the middle Home sweet home! This is our street, a central pier from which all of the villas connect