the fisherman and the business man

Welcome to the first edition of Mermaid Mondays! In a bid to keep my stories updated regularly, I endeavor to update at least once a week on or before each Monday (AEST) for all of those playing at home.

As usual, the days have been such a flurry with adventure and experiences that it is difficult to differentiate between each day, most of the time I don't even know what day it is and it doesn't help that my dive computer displays the day ahead. Reading the computer manual is high on my list of things to do - but with what feels like a forever growing pile of paperwork and materials to learn and read, it s difficult to prioritize one over the other, or when I feel I have time to begin, something else will come through with higher importance..

My calendar tells me that I departed Thailand shores last Tuesday. It is incredible to believe that I have been in the Maldives for almost one week! Last Tuesday was an emotional day. I packed up and left what had been a very comfortable home for little over 5 weeks. It was strange to say goodbye to friends in dribs and drabs as I had seen them around one or two days prior, and as my taxi was waiting for me at 7am, there most definitely was no one around to wave me off!

Dom and I travelled to the airport very sleepy eyed and had some breakfast together before I left. He was traveling back to Australia and his flight was 3 hours after mine. Before leaving to the departure gate we said "see you in a few hours" as we were both having a 6-8 hour lay-over in Kuala Lumpur. We were both dreading the long time at the airport until we realised that we would be together... well.. at least that is what we thought.. When I arrived in KL, I was surprised that the airport to which I arrived was actually rather okay. It was clean and modern and was nothing like the airport which I arrived in.. I walked through the airport, had a "hot and roll" and a bottle of water and thought I should check what Gate Dom was arriving at so that I could surprise him when he stepped out. To my surprise, there was no arrivals for the airline which he was flying. I walked to the information counter and asked why there were no arrivals for this airline. She told me that they arrived at a different airport. I said that was fine, which shuttle do I get on to get there - as it was a large international airport and I assumed that I could just jump on the shuttle to another terminal. She said "No, it is another airport, you will have to leave through the airport immigration and customs and travel 20 minutes by taxi".

Immediately my heart sank and my eyes welled up. I could not believe that there were two International airports in KL and we were so unlucky to be both stranded at separate ones for 6-8 hours. I was lost and confused. Not only was I so upset that  would not see him, say a proper goodbye, and be alone in the airport for 6 hours stewing on this... but he was still on the plane and would have no idea until he arrived... I crawled up on a bench and cried very heavily for at least 45 minutes. It was uncontrollable and I was so upset. I got in touch with his sister and told him what had happened. Mum had also checked in on me and I told her what happened and she immediately requested that I contact her on Skype in an attempt to calm me down.

I called mum and we spoke for just short of an hour. We hadn't had much time to speak or e-mail at all in the past two weeks, so it was very soothing to be able to speak with her and hear her words of reason. Perhaps it would have been all too hard and emotional had we prepared for a 'proper farewell' as we had in Australia.. who know's but eventually by the end of the conversation I was much more settled. All my equipment was starting to go flat and I had the wrong adapter type to charge anything at the airport. Dom contacted me once he arrived and realised the worst. We spoke on the phone for a short while and continued to message until my flight was leaving.

On the flight, I was so pleased that I was able to continue watching a movie that I was half was through on the first flight; I watched a couple of episodes of friends and ate as much as I could of the meal which was given to me. I was tired and I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived in Male, so I got a broken 1-2 hour sleep in to prepare me for what laid ahead.

When I arrived, thankfully it was an efficient process through customs, and as I walked through my luggage was passing on the carousel, things were starting to look up! I was so concerned that I would not have anyone waiting for me at the airport after my previous experience - but when I walked through and saw two smiling Maldivian's holding a sign for the Four Seasons resort, I couldn't be more relieved.

We jumped on a speedboat which was taking us to Kuda Huraa resort. As I was a later arrival that evening, I stayed at the closer resort for the night and would be catching a sea plane to Lanadaa Giraavaru the following morning. I had a bedroom with two bunk beds for the night. I can't remember sleeping on such a comfortable mattress since home and I slept quite well. The following morning I was feeling quite lost as I usually do coming in to something so new. I went to the canteen for breakfast which had a great array of foods and drinks. I was walking around lost unsure of where to collect a plate when one of the staff walked over to me with a plate and showed me where to start.. It was a couple of hours until the seaplane so I forced myself to refrain from hiding in my room and have a walk and take some photos of the resort. The place was spectacular. It was just like any photos you had seen of the turquoise waters, white sand and immaculately manicured vegetation. I was blown away by the beauty and had to pinch myself to see if it was real. I found the Marine Discovery Centre where there were several pools with turtles. I saw there was a staff member there so I went to have a chat. His name was Sam and a really friendly and kind dude. He told me about the turtles, their injuries or sicknesses and about the program they run there for hatching and rehabilitation. It was so interesting and I immediately felt more than just okay. I don't know what it is with turtles but they absolutely mesmerize me and I love them immensely.

Soon following, i jumped on a small boat which carried me to a platform in the Indian ocean where a sea plane awaited. We had a 25 minute ride to the Landaa where I had the views which you could hardly even imagine. This alone made everything worth it. We landed on another platform where a small boat arrived and drove us to the island. Waiting to greet us was a generous amount of staff with beaming smiles and friendly welcoming words. My luggage was placed on a golf buggy and I was taken to my room. My bags were dropped off and I could see that I already had a roommate who was not yet home. I enjoyed some lunch at the canteen which was the most spectacular spread of foods and drinks. There were 6-9 hot dishes, a generous salad bar, a dessert and fruit bar, bread table, soft drinks, hot drinks and much more.

After lunch I met with HR to go through some important documentation, I had a tour of the staff village which includes basketball court, soccer field, volleyball nets, a staff beach and many more places. I was then taken to the laundry/uniform shop where I was measured for my uniform. Many hours after arriving, I finally made it to my room where I could open the lovely card and gift from the staff as a welcome token and enjoy a shower and a fresh change of clothes. The Maldives is a strict Muslim country and therefore I must respect their laws. I am to cover my knees and my shoulders in community areas such as the canteen, and it best that I just do this regardless of where I am in the staffing area. It is home to some 400+ staff, many from The Maldives or India and the rest from all corners of the globe. It is such an enormously vast community of backgrounds and cultures, I would consider it hard to get bored here if you were just talking to people and learning about what they do and where they come from.

Since arriving I have had the pleasure of spending much time with my fellow 3 interns from Germany, Italy and the UK. There are 3 others on Kuda Huraa that I will meet when we begin our IDC. Until then, we help out as work experience in the Dive centre. Our days are generally broken into two parts - Morning 8am-12pm and Afternoon 2pm-6pm, though it is common we don't go to lunch until 12.30-1pm and leave the centre until 6.30-7pm. In the morning upon arrival, we sweep, mop, wipe clean and tidy. we change over the water in all the areas where we wash equipment, fill the air tanks, prepare the shop and set up equipment boxes for our guests for the day, and much more. We may then spend some time in the classroom learning some further dive theory, doing some training dives (skills or orientation on the house reef) or going out on the boat. I have been out on the boat twice on two dive sites and needless to say - the diving is first class.

On Friday we did a NITROX course and I got 100% on the exam! What the! If I can apply the same sort of result to the instructor course I will more than happy with my result!

There are many people in the Dive centre at the moment with us interns, the staff instructors and dive masters and three hilarious young Maldivian apprentices. They are always up to some sort of cheek and keep the day form being anything but boring! For example today, I facilitated the orientation dive on the reef and underwater we were constantly making each other laugh - really hard to explain in this forum, but when I am home I will have many tales to tell! As I was trying to leave the shower after the dive - one fella kept flicking body wash on me so I had to return to the shower 6 times before I could make a quick escape soap free!

Also this afternoon, I had many photos taken of me and two other interns by a photographer for the business class magazine for an international airline. Should it make it to publication, I will no doubt get a copy for bragging rights! Regardless, he is going to send us the photos anyway which will be really cool of us all in our gear doing our thing! Tonight I did my first EVER night dive - for those who saw on Facebook, the night dive I was meant to do two days ago... I missed the boat! I was a few seconds late and I waved it off from the jetty. I really unfortunate set of events but, they say everything happens for a reason and during the time that the boat was out, I made some pretty rad friends around the place who look like they will be some of my rocks around here. I was not at all scared whilst diving tonight and I found the experience to be much more relaxing. It was a full moon so there was not very many creatures about, but I loved the experiences none the less.

I have also enjoyed a couple of beers at one of the bars on a couple of occasions, the staff discount makes the beers much cheaper than those in Thailand so it appears that my room account at the end of my staff will be 90% beer and 10% other!

All in all, I am having a wonderful time so far in the Maldives. All the staff are so friendly and kind, they always greet you with a smile and a kind introduction of themselves and a small chat, even just when passing by in the staff village. It is a lovely community and I think I am fitting in quite well. The general feel is that people here are pretty rad.

I have a day off on Tuesday, and I am looking forward to settling into a new room which I moved into tonight after 4 days of putting up with a complete fruit cake (to be polite) in the first room that I stayed. The staff beach has hammock chairs, surfboards, kite surf boards, snorkel gear, volleyball nets and so much more which I hope to enjoy. Tuesday is also the day of the week we can collect toilet paper and alcohol - two clear necessities!

Tomorrow I may be taking a guest on a discover scuba diving dive on the house reef and was said that I can go alone. This is a pretty big step though I may ask for one of the apprentices to come with me as I am not completely familiar withe the reef and where to find the aquatic life.. but I will see how I go.

It is now just shy of 1am and I am exhausted after one of the most tiring days I have had since abroad. Time to enjoy my comfortable single IKEA bed and rest the night away. I hope to get more than one blog down per week with so much happening, it also acts like much of a diary for me to write down many things that happen in my weeks.

Until next time, please don't be "jealous" of my experience and what I am doing, or believe that I am here by luck or chance. It was a very peculiar set of circumstances in the past 3 years which has brought me to this place. I looked into my heart and asked myself what I enjoy doing, and how I can turn that into a lifestyle.

The sun, the salt water, the environment and turtles, and scuba diving are all things that I love. I explored the options which were available for me to make my dreams and my passions a reality, and now I am living it. It sounds far fetched or almost unreal what I am doing, and most days I still surprise myself that I am here, doing what I am doing. But I got myself to this place, and I have myself to thank for being here.

What do you love to do? What do you care about? If you removed money form the equation and happiness was your only form of wealth - how would you acquire it?

Follow your passion. live your dreams. Inspire others.

If you have not already - Please read the below parable. This story changed my life forever. And I cannot thank the person enough, who read this to me at a time in my life when I was very lost. This has stayed with me since the first time it as read to me, and has become the underlying way in which I choose to live my life.

Thank you Alyssa, the cheese, figs and champagne, overlooking the sea at Cabarita when you first told me this story is a forever memorable moment and I credit you for sharing it with me. I hope that this inspires you, as it did me. Be more with less....

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.  Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna.  The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos.  I have a full and busy life.” The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”

“But what then?” Asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part.  When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions – then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire.  Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Be more with less....

Love and inspiration,

Kassie