As I mentioned in my last post, I didn't go to bed until 3.00am, so I wasn't exactly up with the lark the next morning.
I tottered outside, and moments later Arshad appeared to ask me when I would like to have breakfast. I settled on 10.00am, which meant I had a bit of time to have my first cigarette of the day with a cup of coffee.
Breakfast was an experience. There was a bottle of water, juice, coffee, pancakes, jams, fresh fruit and a little pot of tuna and onion salad. There were also 2 sausages, which I declined politely because I don't eat meat, so they fried me an egg instead.
I also noticed that they had placed the mosquito coils (that you burn) under each table, which was a nice touch.
While I was working my way through my enormous breakfast, Adam the guy who organises the excursions, came over to ask me when I would like to have my guided snorkel and we agreed 11.00 would work best (time to let all that food go down).
If you've been following the story so far, you will have no doubt worked out, that I tend to travel alone and that I absolutely love snorkelling. Put those 2 things together and you have a possible health and safety catastrophe on your hands, if proper precautions are not taken.
So booking a guided snorkel with someone who knows the area, when you first arrive, is a no-brainer because:-
You will find out the best places to enter the water which will - a) stop you disappearing down a huge hole before you've got your fins on, b) help you to avoid getting a face full of effluent, c) prevent you from stepping on coral which would be painful for you and catastrophic for the coral ( it takes hundreds of years to grow), d) avoid being swept away on a rip tide before you've even seen a fish and e) reduce the likelihood of being run over by a boat or jet ski
You get to know about the tides and currents - no-one wants to pop their head up and find they are halfway to the nearest large landmass ( in this case India!) and trust me, it's no fun if you've done a nice long easy snorkel along the reef only to find yourself battling the current on the way back! Kicking your fins as hard as possible and getting absolutely no-where is a little disconcerting - especially if your legs and "hurty" knees are threatening to go on strike!
The locals know where all the good stuff is. Everyone else will be crowding around the pretty little fish that swim above and around the edge of the reef, flaunting their vibrant colours. But you will learn where the secret hidey holes are, that are home to the big boys like Moray Eel and Octopus and useful stuff like where the turtles like to feed. Bonus!
More often than not, they are amazing free divers (whizzing down to the sea bed without diving equipment). So if you are fat and floaty - like me, or smoke to much - like me. or terrified that your lungs will explode if you go too deep - like me, these guys will happily shoot down to the bottom, with your camera and capture amazing shots, that you can pass off as your own!Â
I've promised my sister that I will try not to drown (boy did she nag me before I left)
Adam wasn't available to take me out himself that morning, so had arranged for a relative to go with me instead. I love the fact that this island is so small, virtually everyone seems to be related in some way, either by blood or by marriage.
My guide was young, tall and lean, the sort of person that makes me feel particularly old, short and dumpy, (I can't do much about my age or height - but 2 weeks of no alcohol and all the healthy eating should make a dent in the dumpiness).
We were starting our little tour on the "Bikini beach" from my guest house - it's proper title is "Sunset Beach", but it's the only place on the island where it's acceptable to wear swimsuits, so it's a pretty accurate nickname.
Walking to the beach should only take a few minutes, but on this occasion, it took a little longer than normal, because I was wearing a tripping hazard.
I was fully aware that coming to stay on Bod, meant things would be a little different. I had made peace with the "No alcohol" bit, although nearly everyone I know was dubious how I would cope with no wine for 2 weeks.
I also knew that to be respectful to the locals, I should have my shoulders and thighs covered everywhere except in my guest house and on Sunset beach. What I hadn't allowed for was these coverings needed to be loose. So when I met Adam and my guide by Reception, wearing my preferred snorkelling outfit - a short sleeved dive top that has factor 50 sunscreen built in, with Black Lycra cycle shorts - they both looked at me quizzically. There was a long pause as Adam (Bless him) was clearly trying to work out how to tell me, what I was wearing was all wrong, without offending the new guest. "You will need to cover a bit" he said waving in the general direction of my legs. "I think the top is fine". he looked at my guide to get a second opinion, and he nodded.
So it was agreed. My dive top was ok (although I wasn't so sure it would be, if my nipples decided to stand to attention) but the cycle shorts were a definite no no.
I racked my brains to try to think what I could use as a cover up. The many knee length Kaftany things I have, which would have been perfect, had of course, been left at home.
I had 2 sarongs with me, but one was diaphanous and wouldn't cover anything and the other had a habit of flying open as I walked and was far too long to be worn as a skirt. All my tops were designed to be worn over cropped jeans and there was no way I could rely on being able to squeeze into jeans, when soaking wet after the snorkel. I'd be stranded on the beach forever!!!
Adam had the perfect solution - "You can wear your towel".
So instead of a casual stroll up the road with all my gear, looking like a professional snorkeller, I staggered along, carrying my fins, boots, mask & snorkel, a bag containing my essentials - hairbrush, mask de-fogger, spare glasses ( I wear contacts under my prescription mask so that I can actually see things), a bottle of water and of course..... my cigarettes and lighter - all the while trying to keep a big stripy beach towel ( kindly supplies by Bari and the team) around my waist.
It wasn't a pretty sight, but we made it eventually and if the locals thought I looked like a stupid old crazy woman, they were polite enough not to stare.
Most people here, use the lightweight fins with the shoe bit built in - however I can never ever get those bloody things on without - falling over, breaking a nail, getting my finger trapped or letting go too soon and watching it drift away. So I have the big old heavy fins with the strap around the back that can be loosened easily with a catch. This means I also have to wear dive boots under them which can be very tricky to get on, if your feet have swollen to twice their normal size in the heat. But at least I can do that bit on dry land, the trouble is - it all takes twice as long.
My guide was ready to go, a good 5 minutes before me, but he was very patient and for once in my life, I was quite relaxed about keeping someone waiting!
Finally I was ready and off we went - with me paying strict attention to the route he was taking -Â for about 2 seconds.
As my eyes adjusted, the scene took my breath away and that's not good when you can only breath through your mouth using a long pipe. I've snorkelled in some pretty amazing places, but I have never, ever seen anything like this before. ( The photos really don't do it justice).
Maldives - you deserve your spot in the top ten places in the world to snorkel.
There were fish literally everywhere - all shapes and sizes, in every colour you can imagine. I recognised some of them immediately (thank you Finding Nemo) but there were so many, I didn't know where to look first.
📷So I took photos - lots and lots of photos.  By the end of the day - I'd taken over 700 and selecting the ones to keep, took forever - so I was much more restrained in the days that followed.  I tend to use continuous shooting when photographing things that move - especially underwater. So the camera keeps taking pictures for as long as you hold down the button. This is generally a good strategy, because the chances are, you will get one or two good shots amongst a load of duff ones. My problem is that sometimes, I'm so transfixed by what I'm seeing, I forget to take my finger off and end up with 40 shots of exactly the same thing. (Later in the day this issue would grow to epic proportions).
📷As my guide (I wish I could remember his name) and I slowly worked our way along the edge of the reef, my head was bobbing about, like one of those nodding dogs you used to see in the back of cars. Up, down, left, right, round in a circle, repeat. I got momentarily distracted from the fish when he flipped up his fins and glided gracefully down to the seabed. Seriously - how can it be humanly possible to hold your breath for that long.
Every so often, I would pop my head up, so I could get my bearings for when I was out on my own and on this occasion, was quite surprised to see that we had left Sunset beach way behind us and were headed around a part of the island I had yet to explore. In other words I hadn't a clue where we were. Still, I wasn't worried, he clearly knew what he was doing. Maybe there was another route from the shore to the reef that he was going to show me and if not I was sure we would be turning round and heading back soon.
We kept on going forward and I think it was at the point when my neck started to ache from all the bobbing, my breathing was getting a little bit wheezy ( very mild asthma on and off since I was a child) and my "hurty knees" decided to make their presence felt - that I realised what was happening. We were going to snorkel right round the island.
Now I like a challenge as much as the next person, but you have to bear in mind that I haven't put on a set of fins for 6 months and that was only briefly, I smoke too much, I'm overweight and I'm definitely not as fit as I used to be. So although snorkelling is considered a gentle sport - perfectly suited to those characteristics, it becomes a whole different ball game when you have no clue how much further you have to go, you are now swimming against the current and it's getting a little choppy, so a head turn to the right, will guarantee you a mouthful of seawater..
At one point the water turned very murky, so I tried not to let myself think about what might be causing that and kept my head facing firmly forward.
When we reached the harbour, I was thrilled because this was a landmark I recognised and I attempted to work out in my head, where that was in relation to the beach. I failed miserably - oh why didn't I pay more attention to the map!
After that, I decided there was no point in looking up any more, so I kept my head down to enjoy the view and kicked as hard as my hurty knees would allow.
At some point in our grand tour, my guide started heading towards the shore and beckoned me to follow him. He stopped by a huge underwater cage and gestured for me to look inside. There were loads of fish in there and they were massive.
As I watched them swimming around, all majestic and beautiful, it suddenly occurred to me, what I was looking at.  No no no - please take me away from here, I certainly don't want to be saying hello to a fish that was likely to end up on my plate that evening. We both popped our heads up - " It's like a zoo for fishes" my guide announced, "But they are going to eaten aren't they?" I felt the need to check - just in case I had misunderstood. "Oh yes and they are delicious". He is right of course - they do taste yummy, so at that precise moment I felt like the biggest hypocrite on earth.  I politely suggested we move on, to avoid causing offence - after all, until tourism came along, this was the Island's sole livelihood.
When we finally made it back to the beach, I was completely knackered and my calves were burnt to bits, but I had done it and was feeling immensely proud of myself. It had taken us 2 hours and one day I will try to find out how far it was, but for now, I could say, that I have well and truly snorkelled Bodfolhudhoo Island.
I managed to get back to HVR without tripping over my (now wet) towel skirt or dropping anything along the way ( almost as big an achievement as snorkelling the island).
You may remember (from my last post) that I get to choose my own meal times so I was horrified that I was running late for lunch. I absolutely loathe being late for anything, so was quite prepared to sit and eat lunch in my wet things so as not too keep the staff waiting. Of course, that wasn't necessary, Arshad was perfectly happy for me to delay lunch for a few minutes while I got changed.
I had made my lunch choice that morning, straight after that mammoth breakfast. At the time, I was so full up, I never thought I would want to eat again, so had chosen a sandwich. What I hadn't factored into the equation was my marathon island tour, so I was now ravenous.
Fortunately, the chef, Kingsley, has the ability to anticipate your every need, (even if you don't know what it is yourself)Â and sent out 2 rounds of sandwiches and a big plate of chips, along with the bottle of water and coffee that comes with every meal.
After lunch, I felt I needed a little rest, so sat on my lovely little veranda and continued writing this blog.
I also had a little internal tussle going on inside my head. Part of me wanted to just stay where I was, to relax and recover from the morning's exertions. The other part of me wanted to SNORKEL!!!!
Brain - relax section : "oooooooo - it's so gorgeous here"
Brain - snorkel section : "I know - but we're here to snorkel
Brain - relax section : "how lovely it would be to just sit here in the sunshine and relax"
Brain - snorkel section :I hear you, but we haven't come all this way to sit around, we're here to snorkel.
Brain - relax section :Â But a message has come up from legs - they've had enough.
Brain - snorkel section : Tell them to get a grip - and "hurty" knees can shut up as well. we're going snorkelling.
Brain - relax section : We've got loads more time - we can go tomorrow.
Brain - snorkel section :La la la - I'm not listening - I'm dreaming of snorkelling.
Brain - relax section : Well I'm not going - so there (stamps little brain cell feet)
Brain - snorkel section :On this holiday - I'm the boss and WE ARE GOING SNORKELLING!!
I gathered up all my kit, fashioned one my sarongs into a makeshift skirt and made my way to the beach.
It's probably worth mentioning that the Maldivian government changed the law in 2014, which allowed local inhabited islands to offer tourist accommodation for the first time. So none of the 5 little guest houses on Bod have been open for very long and HVR only opened 7 months ago.
I chatted about it later with Bari (who was back from Male) and he explained it's been quite a challenge to make the changes that would give the island some tourist appeal, without losing it's local charm. He didn't say as much, but reading between the lines, I deduced that not all the guest house owners were as enthusiastic about getting things done as Bari.   It's the same the world over, there are always people who are happy to benefit from things, but don't actually want to help.
The Guest/Bikini/Sunset beach, was one of the first projects they tackled. It's not huge, but given the tiny number of visitors the island can accommodate, it's plenty big enough. A lot of work went into getting it to the pristine condition it is in today and I'm not sure who keeps it looking so lovely, but someone clearly takes pride in keeping it looking beautiful.
Bari told me they have plans to expand it a little and add some facilities, like a cold water shower and a little beach bar - but his approach is "little by little" which makes perfect sense. It would be a tragedy if the island turned itself over to tourism entirely and lost it's authenticity in the process.
Bari has so much enthusiasm and determination to make Bod something even more special than it already is - and he really deserves to succeed.
There were only 5 other people on the beach, so I selected a sun bed (free - of course) under a lovely shady tree, got togged up, (long leggings this time and plenty of sun cream on the little gap between them and my boots - no more third degree burns for me) and entered the water.
That morning we had begun our tour out on the edge of the reef (the drop off), and had turned left but because we did a full circuit I suppose it makes more sense to say we went anti-clockwise. We hadn't really swum over the top of the reef very much and by the time we had returned, I was too tired to take in the sights on the section to the right of the beach. So that was my plan for this swim and as soon as I reached the drop off, I turned right. I find it fascinating that the environment can look so different within such a small area. One tiny section had a massive shoal of pretty fish that created amazing patterns in the water as they moved around as one - but that was the only place on the reef that they could be found and they didn't stray far from that spot.
After I'd been going for a while, I popped my head up to see where I was, realised I couldn't see the beach any more ( Don't panic sis' - people at the Dive boat jetty could still see me) and I was coming up on a massive rock jutting out of the water. So I figured this was a good place to turn around and head back, but this time - over the reef rather than along the drop off.
I have a little bit of problem judging distances and depths under water, so going over the reef is always fun. Obviously, it's not flat and most of it is very delicate (and sharp). So, there I am, swimming along following a particularly pretty fish, when I suddenly realise I'm in very shallow water and surrounded by coral outcrops that seem to be touching the surface. So as it looks like there is no way through, I turn around to go back the way I've just come and it's exactly the same behind me. How the hell did I get in there and more importantly - how do I get out? My solution was to stretch out flat, only twitch my fins very very slightly or not at all if there was a wave, suck in my stomach and hope for the best. Of course, as I cleared the coral without destroying hundreds of years of growth ( the coral not me) and with the bits of me that are lower in the water (Hurty knees, chin and tummy) still intact, it was clear that my eyes had been playing tricks on me again and there was plenty of room for my tummy (and the rest of me.) to get through.
As I was on my way back to the beach, I stopped to look at 2 rusted iron cages shaped like domes and was busy trying to work out what they were for and why they had been placed in that particular spot, when I became aware of something enormous heading my way. It cast quite a shadow and my heart started to beat a little faster, because very big stuff in the water is either excellent news - dolphins, whales etc. or really really bad news - sharks, barracudas etc.
Well I'm delighted to say that this fell into the "as good as it gets" category, because it was a beautiful giant turtle.
I was beside myself with joy, because I knew that I had all the time in the world to watch him feed and meander about. A couple of years ago I was on a 7 day small boat tour in the Galapagos, which was amazing. We snorkelled every day and saw a lot of turtles, but when you are in a group, you are expected to stick together or the guide yells at you. This happened to me a couple of times and on one particular occasion, I had spotted 6 of the beauties all feeding around a giant rock. I was mesmerised, so I hovered over them for a while before looking up to call the others over. Unfortunately they had all moved on and were now little specks in the distance. I managed
 to catch them up, but the guide was not a happy bunny.What was particularly thrilling about this encounter, was that I had him all to myself and could chose to stay with him for as long as I wanted to.
I took photos from all angles, long range and short range. I shot video with the GoPro and with my camera. I was pretty sure I had covered every eventuality, but just in case, I took a whole load more.  Then I relaxed and just watched. I didn't get in his way as he fed and if he knew I was there, he wasn't bothered. I really really wanted to reach out and touch him, but that is a definite no no and I'm a good girl who respects the environment, so I kept my hands to myself.
I'm not sure how long we spent together, but I'm sure it was well over an hour. I don't have a waterproof watch (well not yet anyway) so I tell the time by the "wrinkliness" of my fingers and they were getting positively prune like. The other consideration is that it gets dark, super fast here, so as the sun was starting to go down, I reluctantly thought I should be getting out of the water. It was so hard to leave, so I took a few more photos, said goodbye and had everything crossed that we would meet again. Later I realised that of the 700+ pictures I had taken that day - nearly 300 of them, were of my turtle. (I feel perfectly justified in claiming him as my own)
Back at HVR, I had a wonderful dinner - vegetable curry and I splashed out on a Fanta Orange from my fridge. As I was finishing my coffee, Bari came over to talk about my bill . I knew I was supposed to have paid for my room and breakfast on arrival, but as he had been away, that hadn't happened. As I was settling up, I asked him if it was possible to upgrade to an all inclusive deal. One of the reviews on trip advisor had recommended it, but it wasn't listed as an option on Booking.com. He said of course and offered me a great price for all my meals and 6 excursions.
So as I headed off to bed, I decided my first full day on the island had been pretty special.