How did we get there?

The first cold day in Switzerland hit Nicki and myself really hard. We were not ready for winter yet and so we decided to go back to summer. Why not try again to go on a surf trip together? After our first (almost surf less) journey to Bali we were ready to make it right this time. A few days later we found ourselves in the Maldives : with no waves but many sharks… Damn it !

Maldives, here we come!

First thing we noticed when we landed with our water airplane was that time doesn’t matter here. This is no joke : the island Kuredu simply decided to switch time for one hour. Just because they can define whatever time they wish to have on their own island ! Good for us – more time for us in the Maldives!

As good Swiss people, we distributed our good old Swiss chocolate to all the locals. Our goal was to get the best service, which we got not disappointed. Maria, our host, came on the second day to our beautiful villa with our private little beach and told us, that we move in a few days to one of the stunning water villas. Hell yeah, our Swiss delicatessen were persuasive !

But before that we had to explore a lot. As the island was super small, we could have walked around it to see it all. We didn’t. Because of the 30° in the shadow and of course because of the dope little golf cars who brought you wherever you wished. Still we decided on our second day to walk by ourselves to the beach on the other side of the island to watch the sunrise. Until then nobody told us to be aware of snakes. So after I almost killed one – or got killed, because our ways crossed precariously close, I was awaken. And this at 6 am (or 7 am – who knows that on this island). On our way back we saw our first shark. Brave Nicki went straight into the water to say hello to our new little friend. At this point I have to admit, it was not so scary as it sounds as those little sharks were smaller than any other fishes. Anyways, you didn’t need to know that and as we say « size doesn’t matter » so we happily screamed for the first time of our lives : SHARK !!!

We nailed our days in the beach villa – means we drank at least two bottle of wine before lunch. Everyday. After a while we even took the time to do some sport activities. Even if surfing was not possible and because we both liked chilling much more, we thought it would be a good idea to do all activities the resort offers in one day. The plan was to get up early in the morning and do all of it before sun hits us hard. Of course, we ended up drunk at lunch and went to our tennis session at 3 in the afternoon. Great! Nicki did not hit one ball and just drunk her glass of wine in the shadows. After the fastest tennis match ever, Nicki decided that she won and we could finally leave. Golf was next: this time, I won to balance it out. I wish I could say the few balls we hit flew into nowhere. But actually they didn’t move at all and after a few balls, we got distracted by the next wine bottle. After 30 minutes of extremely sporty activities we headed back to our villa to go for a nap. I am sure we deserved it. The only other activity we proudly did later was a 5 minutes kajak tour. Because Nicki was screaming all the time “shark” and everybody in the water started hating us, we went quite and fast back to the beach and to the next drink.

Then we moved to our water villa. Oh my god, best-day-ever! Living over the ocean and not getting sea-sick was just mind blowing. On our first dinner on the exclusive restaurant for the water villa guests we had our one and only surf experience on the island. The cook was actually from Bali. So he was not just the most funny guy on that island but also a surfer. After a quick chat about waves back in Bali and surfing in general we went back to routine: drinking and eating. Yet I have to say: Special thanks for the great talks, Bali boy!

One week went by so fast. We are pretty sure everybody back home knew on that time, that we chilled hard in paradise. And then the countdown started. Nicki will hate me for mentionning this. We actually found out that she is afraid (yes!) of countdowns. As the story behind it is top secret I just can tell you: it is a really funny fear. Every time I start counting she freaks out and panics. So, as the last days (3, 2, 1!) passed by we had our big final: A romantic photo shooting at the beach. Just the two of us! I am pretty sure the photographer hated us. Maybe it was because we acted like two blond chicks, who were too long in the sun. Or just because Nicki always asking for the weirdest positions to do like climbing up palm trees, picturing her offering me a coconut, running in the sunset, designing a heart with our arms…

After all we can safely say that our trip was perfect. We meet a couple that stayed on the island for the 41th time. And I can definitely understand why. Weather is perfect, people are stunning and wine is sweet. Sunsets are super cheesy and you can’t help but to fall in love with this paradise. At this point, it did not even brother me when Nicki was calling me « her wife » – just to feel like all the over lover birds of the island.

We want to thank all the nice people who made our stay unforgettable. Specially Maria who was a fabulous host! Finally, our drinking habits became alarming but who cares : it’s paradise !

Pictures and video footage: Nicki Antognini & Kim Grenacher
Words: Kim Grenacher
Edit: Nicki Antognini
Location: Island of Kuredu, Maldives
Thanks to: Maria and the Kuredu team and staff for their welcome, we had an amazing time and we are grateful for your kindness.