Days 1-3 – I left home at around 13:00 on 5/27 and arrived at my destination at around 10:00 on 5/29. It took me over 25 hours to get to my destination but it was worth it! My first session at cokes was about 2-4′ with fairly decent sets. I stayed off to the right and had a lot of fun! Afterwards I went back to my room and chilled, then went for food at around 15:00. I had a Thulusdhoo bowl and chicken sandwich. I was too hungry and forgot to take a picture of the chicken sandwich 🙂
Day 4- Today I had breakfast at 7:30, waited a couple of hours for the tide to rise, then surfed Cokes by myself for what felt like 40-60 minutes. It started to get a little busy but it was still manageable. Later on I decided to try Byyoni which was decent. I had a potato curry with rice
Day 5- Today was more of the same and I almost felt like I made a mistake by booking so many days. This place reminds me of chicama in the sense that if you aren’t surfing there’s not much to do except eat and relax. For my meal I went back to Indulge hoping to have some pizza but instead had a bowl
Day 6- I forgot to blog this day so I can’t really say what I did or where I went. What I can say for sure is that I was having problems sleeping up until this day or two days later. In any event I took a picture of the dining area inside Villa Kudi which is where I stayed and also I took a picture of one of the streets which is just like any other street there
Day 7- Florian, one of the guys staying at Villa Kudi asked me to surf chickens which we did at 7am, came back and had breakfast and relaxed, then later I went to check the Coca Cola factory and had lunch with Carmen who was also staying at the villa. We went to Ruh Ghuli Cafe. I had a pizza and bami goreng and Carmen had Dahl and kaththu roshi with egg
Day 8- I was reflecting on my trip thus far and what I realized was about a day or two ago was when I really felt relaxed. It’s crazy how much time it takes to unwind and I’m glad to have the day to do as I want. I went to surf Cokes at around 9:30 or 10, and was going to lunch at 12pm but since it was Friday the local people were praying and most lunch places weren’t open till 14:00. Because of this I went to surf with Florian and we later had lunch at Indulge. Today I had a pumpkin melt and pina colada bowl. Later that evening we had made plans to possibly snorkel or surf Sultans which we will see about tomorrow
Day 9- I actually woke up to the sound of my alarm which was interesting since most days I’ve been getting up at around 4:30am when the chanting mantras begin. Of course I did wake up around that time and laid there thinking if I should go and do an early surf but I was tired and decided against it. I had breakfast early at 7:30, waited for Florian, and found out that he was sick and his girlfriend was feeling better. I went to surf Cokes at 10:30 and it was pretty crowded. I stayed for what felt like 2 hours then relaxed a bit and went to Byyoni for lunch. I had an egg kaththu roshi, a cheese pizza, and a small coke.
Day 10- I woke up early today thinking that I could surf Cokes by myself for at least a little while. Well as fate had it I was able to surf for maybe 20-30 minutes before people on the island and on boats started to show up. Not only that but the rip was so fierce that I was way further down the beach than usual which was very tiring. I hadn’t fully registered this fact until someone else mentioned it and I decided to call it quits and surf later. I came back to the villa, had some breakfast, and was looking at licensure requirements for my LCSW and possibly for the APHSW-C Certification which I may do concurrently with my LCSW. I’m not so sure about this but I will give it some thought. A little later at 12 I went to see Simon for a boat trip and found out that Igor and his friend along with two others were going on the boat trip. We went to sultans then jailbreaks but the guys wanted to surf sultans so that’s what we did. After surfing I went and rinsed off and had lunch at Ruh Ghuli. I had boiled vegetables, rice, and Dahl which was ok. For dessert I had what they called a pancake and some black coffee which was ok. I relaxed after that and realized a short bit later that I was still hungry so I went to indulge for a Hawaiian pizza which was probably the best pizza I’ve had so far. It was far too dark to take pictures of the pizza and I was hungry so I forgot.
Day 11- Going on that boat trip yesterday made me realize how tired I am. So today I think that I’m taking a lay day to relax. I had breakfast, worked on a couple of things, and then I’ll see if Florian wants to do a boat trip to sultans. When he and his girlfriend woke up we tried to get a boat to sultans but they weren’t taking anyone. What they were doing was a snorkeling trip but we decided to rest. They invited me to join them relaxing on the beach but I took a quick dip at bikini beach, dropped off my surfboard at the villa, and took pictures of the former bridge to cokes and took video of the walk into the jungle before getting to the break. After that I came back to the villa, chilled a bit, then went to Byyoni for lunch. I had a mixed plate which consisted of roshi, tuna mixed with onions, some kind of spiced chicken, and two fried eggs. After that I went back to the villa and relaxed for a bit and went out later for dinner at La Due Lune. I had a Maldivian vegetable fried rice and I was hoping to have fish but they didn’t have it on the menu. While on my way back to the villa I ran into Florian and Jamie Lee and we went for a walk and then went back to the villa and spoke for a while. During that time a new couple came back from dinner. Their names were Katha and Lahiruoh
Day 12- I woke up early this morning and surfed cokes by myself for about 30-40 minutes before a boat showed up and dropped two people off. It was a fun session with 1.5-2′ waves and I got in around 7ish. By the time I made it back to the villa, Farouk was getting ready to serve breakfast. One of these days I’ll have to take a picture of what that consists of but it usually is a cake with fruits, eggs, toast, coffee, juice, and water. Today I was joined by Katha and Lahiruoh which was nice and we chatted about their surf camp in Sri Lanka. They added themselves to my Instagram so I can find them later. After that I relaxed for a bit then took a walk around the island. This time I went towards the pier. I found what looked to be some type of processing plant but it had long been abandoned. I came back to the villa, relaxed some more, then we caught a boat to Sultans. It was a nice session but it was really crowded with 29 people on the water. We surfed for about 2 hours then came back and ate at Santa Rosa which had pretty good Indian food which I enjoyed. I had chicken biryani, vegetable fried rice, and something akin to naan but much softer and flavorful.
Day 13- Today I surfed cokes with Florian and we had it to ourselves for about 40 minutes before two other people showed up from the island and one person by boat. Overall it wasn’t that impressive with maybe the same size sets as yesterday with 1.5-2′. We surfed for maybe an hour and a half then came back for breakfast. Today I had a crepe with Nutella, papaya, eggs, coffee, and toast. After breakfast I relaxed till about 12 then we went to Ruh Guhli to meet a photographer that Florian wanted to meet with. He bought 15 photos for 300 MVR which was pretty good considering. Not all the pictures were tack sharp but the price was right. We then went to eat at Byyoni and I had Roshi & Kulhimas which looked similar to the mixed breakfast I had the other day. I also had some boiled vegetables which wasn’t as good as Ruh Gulhi’s. After that we went back to the villa real quick and then we all were going to snorkel but Jamie Lee wasn’t feeling all that well and she stayed in her room. Florian and I were dropped off on a beach island that is only visible during low tide and then we went to snorkel and we saw a turtle! We came back to the villa, relaxed a bit, then tried to go to dinner at Canopus but they weren’t open till 6:30. Instead we went to indulge and I had a margarita pizza and what they called gelato which was ok. I had chocolate, hazelnut (was not supposed to get this), and butterscotch.
Day 14- my last and final day! Part of me is glad to be going home and the other part of me is going to miss just lazin around, being able to surf to my hearts content, and just being. It will be nice to get home and see my parents and spend some time with them and get back in to a routine which will include a detox of sugar and back to eating two meals a day. Since I wasn’t feeling that well I took it easy today. I took my COVID test and got a negative result, had some breakfast, and just relaxed till about 12. I was just about to text Florian when he said that they were going to canopus to eat lunch. I went straightaway and what I didn’t realize is that they were going to the villa first and then going to eat. It gave me the opportunity to see cokes one last time which was nice. It was maybe .5-2.5′ with some decent sets rolling through. When Jamie Lee and Florian arrived I had Maldivian poke and later for dessert I had a brownie a la mode and an espresso. We went back to the villa, relaxed for a bit, then had an early dinner around 5:20ish. I had one last Koththu Roshi with egg, then we went back to the villa and I waited for the bus to arrive to take me to the port.
