Beach essentials – La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL SPF 50+ Extreme Fluid to shield away all the harmful UV rays and La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water to cool skin down. Remember to load up on sunscreen on a vacation – more is more and there’s nothing wrong about that.

I am also loving Shiseido Perfect UV Protector SPF 50+ PA+++ Very Water Resistant – extremely lightweight and easy to blend, leaves no white cast – perfect for both face and body.

I purchase this Shiseido Sun Protection Lip Treatment SPF 36 PA+++ specifically for this trip because most of my lip balms don’t contain SPF and I am happy I did. This clear lip balm helped moisturize my lips and provide adequate protection against the sun.

I have since added this lip balm into my daily lip care routine – before applying any lip colour during the day.

In this post, I wish to share with you the water activities we did at W Maldives.

Sad to say, neither of us are very well versed with the ocean thus choices can be rather limited. Generally, I think I am afraid of the open ocean – I feel insecure especially deep down under where the water is cold and dark. I feel scared like I don’t know what lays ahead of me (or behind me).

But no matter what, I got to put aside all my fear and experience the Maldivian waters – the Indian Ocean.

SNORKELING

For me, snorkeling proofs to be a great warm up – it sorts of prepped me on what to expect. Best of all, I didn’t have to go too deep nor too far from shore to catch a glimpse of all the beautiful marine life down there. Water is clear and it’s the first time in my life seeing so many fishes.

Snorkeling kits provided by the resort are very new but we had to return our set a day before departure. If you are leaving late in the afternoon/evening or if you are keen to snorkel early in the morning before you leave the resort – be sure you check with Whatever/Whenever® – I am sure it can be arranged.

Mak enjoyed snorkeling the most – he was out snorkeling for an entire morning/afternoon the day before we left. And he managed to capture some really beautiful pictures with our new underwater camera.

SEABOB

To live like James Bond, try the SeaBob – the over and under water rocket, straight from “Die Another Day”.

W Maldives

SeaBob is a personal watercraft that goes underwater and on the surface. It’s extremely easy to operate but for first timers, there will be a quick lesson by the professional.

Basically, all you have to do is press the button and glide through water (above or under). You can adjust the speed according to your preference and dive as you wish – MUST try.

BENEATH THE WAVES

Despite the fear of open water, I told you I am going to try diving again after my very first three years ago. And I did it – this time a little better. It was Mak’s first diving experience, we are both still very new thus we didn’t go too deep and far.

There was a 30 minutes safety briefing – a very detailed one and Betti, our diving instructor took care of us. She’s incredibly patient, caring and understanding – thank you so much for the wonderful experience.

We had difficulties balancing in water, breathing and coping with the pressure but Betti took real good care of us. She brought us around and snapped pictures for us. There’s a “W” sculpture about 9.5m deep but we didn’t make it – we only made it to about 3m deep.

The equipment provided were all very new.

Betti is from Germany and she is very encouraging too – she said, “you didn’t learn driving in 2 lessons, you should never give up and keep going!”

Our goal was to reach “W” down under – to be absolutely honest, I was a little disappointed we didn’t but hey, another reason to visit W Maldives again huh?

However, it was a fantastic dive and I am so happy I shared this moment with Mak.

FLUO NIGHT SNORKELING

This is probably the most daring sport I have ever booked – snorkeling is not a problem but at night, in the dark? I always say, give it a try – at least once. And observing the marine life and corals in fluorescent light, at night – is a totally different story. It is amazing.

Our instructor for Fluo Night Snorkeling is Muddy from Italy.

We left shore at about 6:15pm when the sun is setting. The fluorescent light makes everything glows and reflect – and our special tinted goggles made everything comes to life.

Being in the open water is already very scary for me but when the sun sets, it got even scarier – the sky is pitch black and the ocean too. You can’t see anything down under except with the torch. The whole journey ended in about an hour – relieved.

How do you like swimming in the open water? Do you get scared too? TGIF, have a wonderful weekend everyone, till the next post.

Thank you for looking.