Most of the people on our Maldives cruise chose the option of an additional week at the Full Moon Beach Resort. It was a place where palm trees grow to order and a fallen flower is swept away before it can wither. Bungalows are air-conditioned and spacious with a king-size bed. For an extra £100 a week, you can rent one on stilts over the water. Sharks arrive to feed around 9pm, other fish are fed at 6pm, a giant stingray was hand-fed while lying in the water. At night we saw the fish at feeding time. Suddenly there was a whirlpool in the water and the fish disappeared. The sharks had arrived.
We were intrigued by the ghost crabs, which inhabited the nearby beach. Looking like a miniature stagecoach with legs instead of wheels, they persistently dug burrows in the sand. Upon emerging, they would remain motionless at the top of their burrow while assessing whether it was safe to venture out. As long as you remained motionless, they would be happy, but the slightest movement would send them back inside in an instant. A colony of fruit bats was nesting in a nearby tree until management decided to cull them and chase them off to another island. While this limited the number of drops to the ground, it did provide an interesting experience.
Swimming was safe in the sea within the reef. Snorkeling was a popular pastime as a remarkable number of fish could be seen, often in schools, motionless but swimming against the current. Relatively small sharks were present but posed no danger. There were so many fish that presumably his appetite was already satisfied. The main danger came from the heat of the sun, but umbrellas or trees provided protection, and in the afternoon a strong breeze cooled.
Dinner can be taken at various restaurants and grills. A la carte prices ranged from £12 to £30. Wines were about 50% more than on the ship and if you wanted champagne a bottle of Don Perignon could be delivered to your room for £160.