This is the life you guys.
I don’t want this to ever end.
So in the last episode Karl and I made it to The Maldives and experienced one of the
most beautiful private suites everrrrr.
It was luxurious, fabulous, scenic –you know, all the things you imagine The Maldives
to be.
BUT!
Did you know…
You can actually experience The Maldives without staying at an expensive luxury resort?
That’s exactly what we did at our next stop.
Well good morning.
It is day, gosh, I lose count, day 3 I think of our trip to The Maldives, and we are staying
in a guesthouse so this is going to be a really different experience.
Um a lot of people don’t realize that you can do Maldives on a budget.
You don’t have to stay at a big fancy resort when you come to The Maldives.
About 7 years ago they started allowing locals to start their own guesthouses on the island,
and it’s a much more affordable option if you are on a budget.
So yeah, long gone are the days when only the wealthy could enjoy The Maldives.
Thanks to new guesthouses like this one that we found on Airbnb, budget-conscious travelers
can now access tons of various local Maldivian islands.
An added benefit to this is being able to go beyond the resort experience and see what
local life is like here.
So that’s Mazin.
He is the owner of this guesthouse and he has a fun, fun, fun day planned for us so
we’re really really excited to get this started.
Yeah, Yeah let’s do it.
Yasss!
So we are at, I guess, the docks, I don’t know what you would call it.
But we are about to get on a boat to go and start all of our water activities.
I’m on a boat!
What did you say?
Nope, nothing, I didn’t say nothing.
I believe we have arrived at our next destination.
This is beautiful.
The water is crystal clear and the sand is white.
Oh look at this, look they set this up for us this is so cute.
So basically the owner of the guest house set this whole thing up, so we could just
have a place to sit and relax and enjoy the view of the beautiful water.
Okay you guys it is time to go do some snorkeling.
It’s supposed to be really beautiful over here.
Dozens and dozens, not even dozens, thousands of fish, colorful fish, coral reefs, blue
water, it’s going to be amazing.
Yeah…so about the coral reefs.
There’s just one problem with that.
They’re dead.
Due to factors like pollution, overfishing, El Nino, and the rising ocean temperatures
from climate change, what was once an ocean filled with vibrant, colorful coral reefs,
is now a dull shadow of its former self, not just in The Maldives, but it’s happening
all over the planet.
Dead coral reefs also means trouble for other marine life.
When coral reefs die, it affects the fish who use the reefs as their habitat, and of
course, that also affects millions of human beings all around the world.
Needless to say, it was very sad to witness.
I can only imagine it will take a combination of the Maldives, its people, its government,
and help from the global community to come together and rehabilitate the ocean.
I can’t believe we have to say goodbye to this little patch of paradise.
It’s so beautiful.
I would say what makes this place so unique is it’s very natural, it’s very untouched.
It’s not developed you know.
You’re not going to see tourists here, you’re not going to see tables and chairs, it’s
just literally like a natural paradise that literally has not been touched yet.
It’s nice, I hope it stays like this.
You know I hope tour companies don’t discover this little place and start developing on
it because it’s so rare to find places like this.
So we basically just spent the whole day here and it was amazing.
But alas, our time on this local island was up.
It was filled with eye-opening experiences that ranged from being eye-witnesses to the
negative effects of global warming to the more positive aspects of being able to kick
it with the awesome locals – something many tourists don’t think to do when visiting
The Maldives.
But we did, and it was spending our time with the people that made this portion of our trip
truly special.
On the next episode of our Newlywed Diaries, we bid farewell to local life and head off
to experience resort life, this time on a far away island that can only be reached by
plane.
So be sure to hit the thumbs up button on this video and subscribe to keep up with the
rest of our newlywed adventures.