Rogue on Rasdhoo

Rasdhoo, Maldives….

Fishing Trip… On our last night we decided to go to the local sandbank and a reef fishing trip. We took the smallest boat in the harbor for the five of us and two local guides. The wind was up which made the waves a bit choppy, which didn’t seem to bother the guides in the least. The first stop was the sand bank, which is a island of sand that gets moved around by the tides and are more exposed at low tide. In the middle of the sandbank there’s a lagoon that traps thousands of tropical fish at low tide. We were able to snorkel in the lagoon with all of the fish, I saw my first lion fish which has many poisonous spines on it’s back. From the lagoon we made our way to our first fishing site about 20 minutes by speed-less boat. On the way we saw a jumping Manta Ray (also a first for me) in the waves, it looked like two dolphin fins coming out of the wave side by side. Let me tell you, fishing in the Maldives is a little different from fishing in Lake Champlain. You start with a coil of line with a large hook and a chuck of fish on the end. You toss the hook into the water and let the line out until it reaches the bottom, about 30 feet. It’s a little annoying because you never really know if the bait is still on the hook so every couple of minutes you have to bring the line back in and check. 30 feet can take a bit to drag back in. We stayed at this site for about a little less then an hour before MOM hooked our first catch. She hesitantly pulled her line in thinking it must be a large fish because of the weight. As the hook got closer she tried to pawn the line onto someone else for fear of the flapping fish but as the “fish” neared the surface we all realized it was a huge piece of coral😑. Our guides took this as a sign that it was time to move on. We made our way closer to Rasdhoo for a second chance at dinner and dropped our lines again. At this second location Liv caught a Red Snapper, Grant lost five hooks and double the bait but at the last minute caught a shark that luckily didn’t surface but left it’s mark by way of fishing line cuts on his hands, Ryan caught Liv’s line, the bottom of the reef a few times and an eel, our guide caught dinner. Luckily, because apparently after our slow start our guide called back to the hotel to see if there was any fish on the island for purchase and the answer was “No, don’t come back until you have enough for dinner.” Even though our success was limited our guides fishing skills made for the best dinner we’ve had thus far. 

Soccer Pitch… Beyond the fishing and snorkeling one of my highlights on Rasdhoo was the newly laid out full sized astroturf pitch behind our hotel. This was very convenient because it was so close to our hotel and at 4:30 everyday there were local kids my age playing competitive soccer. The pitch was well used by locals in the early morning and from 4:30 to midnight in the evening to avoid the heat by some high level players. We enjoyed watching and participating. Beyond soccer there were some impressive handball players on island. 

Birthday Celebrations… I was lucky enough to spend my early birthday in the Maldives with Brita and my new friends at the dive shop. More to come on our first scuba experience.