Friday Photo Favorite: Sunset

This is where I'd like to be right now!

 

Followed by dinner here:

The Resort Doctor

In a previous post, I shared the challenging experience of being ill and going to a Company Doctor in Germany.  A couple of months later, while on vacation, I had a decidedly different experience going to a resort doctor on Rangali Island in the Indian Ocean.

It's about the halfway point on our holiday in the Maldives, and we had already been scuba diving six times and snorkeling just as often.  We had two dives scheduled the next morning (that were great).  After lunch we sunbathed and went into the gorgeous pool.  Later in the afternoon I went snorkeling for an hour to do some tests with Frau A's 10Bar underwater housing & her Panasonic LX3.  By this time, my ears had had enough water -- and became infected.  You've probably had swimmer's ear:  sore to the touch, swelling makes everything sound like it passes through a foot of cotton...

I was hoping to dive some more, but also wanted to have my ears back to normal before flying 4 hours to Qatar and then another 5+ back to Munich.  Luckily, the Conrad has a small clinic on site.  It makes good business sense for them.  They have 350+ employees that live and work on the island, and it's expensive and time consuming to take a water plane back to Male.  Guests can use it too.  So I stopped by.  Here's what it looks like:

In a paradise like this, you're already feeling better just walking up.  Soft, white sand paths lead almost all the way up to the front door!  The glass etched sign also communicates modernity, so you have confidence too.  Frau A noticed that the M.D.'s flip-flops outside the door were labeled "doctor" (pic below).  Cute.  And who wouldn't trust a barefoot doctor?  You, the doc, and his assistant are all barefoot inside to keep the sand out.

I had to wait about 6 minutes before the doctor saw me.  The doctor was polite, looked at my ears, made the obvious diagnosis, and immediately prescribed antibiotic ear drops, which he handed right to me.  No trip to a pharmacy.  Unfortunately, I was not allowed to swim, but Frau A did some more snorkeling and underwater photography.

Two days later, the ears weren't much better, so I visited the doc again.  This time there was a 14 minute wait (one person ahead of me).  He checked things out again, was unhappy with the progress, and handed over full antibiotic pills.  All of this at no charge!  He said it didn't make sense to mess around, especially since I was flying in 48 hours and the initial treatment didn't work as expected.  Sure enough, it worked.  He was fast, polite, and practical.

We loved the time on Rangali island, and give kudos also to great service by Conrad's on-site doctor!  Now it's back to work, and I'm gorging on vitamin C to avoid the company doctor this winter...

A Guide to Vacation Blogging

The Correct Way:

Outdoor bathtub, champagne, candles, wi-fi. Thank you Conrad hotel!

Not the Correct Way:

but I was highly amused by the snarky, slightly passive-aggressive tone of this error message as we tried to log on and kill time during our 5 hours in the Doha airport:

Internet Explorer 6 is not supported.

Squarespace is an advanced web application that can not be deployed to web browsers that were released almost 7 years ago (IE6 was released in 2001).

Please install any modern web browser in order to use our editor. This includes Internet Explorer 7+, Safari 3+, Firefox 2+, or Opera 9+.

 

Trying to log on (and stay warm) in the Doha Airport

Dragon Sunsets

It was our last day on Rangali Island in the Malives.

For our last sunset here, we were treated to THREE different dragons in the clouds as the sun went down.

Thanks to a storm blowing in across the lagoon, the depth of the clouds was unusual, and the sky as if it were on fire. A good way to end a wonderful vacation!

Chinese Dragon

Disney Dragon

Mean Dragon, about to eat a puppy

And a couple photos of that evening's sunset

"The Onion" style vacation report

Tourist faces criminal charges, awaiting extradition if found

A woman identified only as "Frau A" returned to Munich from a two-week holiday in the Maldives, but now has more problems than just sorting out hundreds of vacation photos.  Rather than simply enjoying a quite time in this island paradise, locals are claiming that she was a serial stalker that did nothing but harass inhabitants day and night.

According to Maldivian authorities, a large number of grievances were logged on Rangali Island and its surrounding reefs.  Reports indicate that Frau A routinely followed and photographed victims for hours at a time, even into in their private homes.  Nobody was spared - the list of complainants includes nearly every size, age, and race found among the natives.

The most chilling examples from her victims are described below:

"I was just hanging out under my favorite coral, when Frau A comes out of nowhere and sticks a camera in my face."

"I just try to blend in and mind my own business, but she has an eagle-eye and always finds me."

"I'm not colorful or flashy like others in the neighborhood, but Frau A poked her camera in my home anyway.  The surgeonfish and parrotfish must be tormented."

The experience left some residents so traumatized that they would only peek their heads through doors to speak with the news.  "Even my security system didn't help.  I'm afraid to let the kids outside."

"At least some clowns out here have a place to hide.  I'm stuck looking for holes in the coral."

"It's terrifying.  How would you feel to round a corner and be faced with this???"

Indeed, Frau A appears to be a highly sophisticated fauna-paparazza.  She employs the latest technology in her quest to capture images of locals.  Here she is seen with a kit of compressed air, 2-stage regulators, and buoyancy compensator to reach normally uninhabitable regions.

Even the toughest residents were unnerved by her incessant photography.  "It's cliched, but I tried crawling under a rock.  No luck - there she was again."

For some, the stakes were even higher.  "I felt pretty secure, until I heard that she planned a lobster barbeque on the beach.  It's not fair!"

The loudest complaints came from the stingray community, where accusations included unwanted groping.  "She put her foot over my favorite resting place, so I had to swim up and rest on it.  I felt violated."

Not all share the same viewpoint, however.  "I followed her around a bit - she's not so bad.  Just didn't give me any handouts, is all."

The Rangali Island Neighborhood Watch program has asked for your help - let the authorities know if you were stalked and photographed by this woman.  Be careful, she is considered camera-ready and dangerous.

Update:  Law enforcement has learned that Frau A worked with an accomplice called Herr J.  They want to find him and bring him in for questioning.  "Protective shell or not, I knew he was out there... helping her... looming..."

Eccentric Gazillionaire Dreams

What crazy things would you do if you were an eccentric gazillionaire?

A lot of people would have sharks with lasers à la Dr. Evil, or just sharks under the living room floor like Vector from "Despicable Me". After a couple of weeks at the beach, I know what I would do:

I want a reef-sized "aquarium" with lots of Triggerfish.  Some sharks would be cool, too, but I really want Triggerfish. They're not only beautiful, but highly intelligent and seeming to have distinct personalities.

I'd have lots of the cute little blue scaredy-cat Red-Toothed Triggerfish that hide in mini caves....

Red-Toothed Triggerfish

...more Red-Toothed Triggerfish (one of the four has already slid into a hole to hide)...

....adorable little Picasso Triggerfish....

Picasso Triggerfish

...brightly painted Clown Triggerfish.....

Clown Triggerfish...interestingly colored Orange-lined Triggerfish....

Orange-lined Triggerfish

....and of course, the big smart Titans that root around everywhere and just look squeezable.  Wouldn't he be an entertaining pet? 

I took this video while snorkeling through the reef just off our room's beach. He also has an Orange-lined friend there to catch his scraps.

Also there will be rays that I can raise from babies to know me and feed in the morning.  And Herr J wants a pet octopi or two.

Ray hiding in the sandHowever, this requires lots of space and diverse terrain.  Triggerfish need space because they don't play well together (putting it nicely).  The Red-Toothed ones need deeper water and walls with lots holes to hide in, while the Picasso are happy with a small coral formation shallow water. And the rays need a nice shallow sandy area to hang out.

More importantly, as I learned from watching one last week, Triggerfish eat hermit crabs, and hermit crabs are kinda cute. And of course I want to keep both of them.  This is where both the "eccentric" and the "gazillionaire" part are important, because the only solution I see is to get custom manufactured military grade ceramic shells for the hermit crabs to protect them from the Triggerfish. In a wide range of sizes to allow for growth, of course. 

(All of the above pictures are ones I took diving or snorkeling in the Maldives)

I think for now I'll keep diving and will see about Umbra's cool stackable fish condos, but I'm curious to know all of your eccentric gazillionaire dreams.

Greetings from the Maldives

Enjoying some sun, scuba, and relaxation in the Maldives.....

Beautiful sunsets...

pretty fishes with my LX3 and 10Bar Housing....

and more to come....