Wrapping Up Our Trip

Prior to our trip to the Maldives, I thought any other scuba diving trip would never measure up to what we experienced during the Raja Ampat trip in January 2025. I was wrong. The Maldives trip is now the "gold standard" of all the diving trips we have experienced. Over the years, we have had many wonderful adventures, but the overall experience we just had checked all the boxes and then some. We thank God for this wonderful experience! In hindsight, 12 days may have been too long. Ten days might be ideal for me. That said I could see us returning with our larger dive group in the future. Even twenty hours of flying and 12 time zones isn't enough to keep me from trying it again!

Here's a post script of images I didn't include in the prior blog post. They include one shy Blouch porcupine fish. When threatened, it inflates its body into a spiky ball by swallowing water, which forces its sharp visible spines outward to deter predators.

The black-blotched porcupinefish is a fascinating and charismatic reef dweller commonly found in the waters of the Maldives (Diodon liturosus),

Believe it or not this next one is one of my favorites, maybe because you need to be patient enough to catch these little bottom dwelling fish. Most of the time they retreat to their burrow in the sandy bottom but this one worked with me. I was hoping to capture an image or two of some Gobies, blennies, or sand perches. They are very allusive and shy. I found this one and waited on the bottom for the best angle and distance.

The Maldivian grubfish (Parapercis signata), also known as the blackflag sandperch, is a small, elongated marine fish species belonging to the sandperch family,

There are at least four genera and more than sixty species of sand perches (grubfish), four of which are found in the Maldives. Grubfishes are diurnal (active during the day) and dig into the sand for shelter and to sleep. They eat small animals and zooplankton.

Found on rubble bottoms near the reef. Grows to a maximum length of about 5 inches.

The first rays of its dorsal fin are ridge-shaped and distinctly black, earning it the name blackflag sandperch. With all the "big stuff" in the water, some of the nuance in the environment gets missed. Listed as a species of Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), though rarely encountered by divers due to its deep-dwelling habits.

Wednesday morning, September 2nd was our last dive of the trip outside the harbor in Malé. Following that dive we rinsed down all our equipment and returned everything to the "mother ship" for drying. By evening most of our gear was dry enough to pack up. Thursday morning we had our last breakfast onboard the Carpe Diem before saying goodbye to everyone. Mathias was leaving the same day and got a taxi ride to the airport. Karen and I didn't fly out until Friday morning, so we took a hotel room for the night. Bill hung out with us until his flight left later in the day.

That evening, Karen and I met up with John, Joy and Tori down the street from our hotel for one last "hurrah" before leaving the next day. We went out to dinner and exchanged contact information so we can stay in touch. They are fun, lovely people and we were blessed to get to know them.

On Friday morning we took our bags to the airport for an 11AM flight from Malé to London Heathrow. The long journey back to California was broken up into two legs, each about ten to eleven hours long. The good news: we had a hotel booked in London for the night before our next flight to San Francisco. The bad news: I had developed a possible serious right ear problem.

The family get together in El Dorado Hills. From left to right: Olivia w/Audrey the dog, Chris, Melina, Sarah, Kim, Karen, John, Grace, Morgan, Fabiola, Nick

Two days of travel on airplanes, a wedding to attend on Saturday, September 5th and a visit with family in El Dorado Hills over the long Labor Day weekend delayed my getting any medical attention for my ear issue. My original thought was, like in the past, this will naturally clear up on it's own once I was back on the ground. Unfortunately it got worse, so much so that I lost most of the hearing in my right ear and was suffering from terrible middle ear pain.

By Tuesday I couldn't stand it any longer so Karen took me to the Sutter Hospital Emergency Room where I finally got some medical attention to address the problem. Their concensus was a middle ear infection. They prescribed Amoxicillin, an antibiotic medication belonging to the aminopenicillin class of the penicillin family. Hopefully I'll get my hearing back after the 7 day supply runs out. I'm taking over the counter Ibuprofen for pain management.

After three days of treatment I still can't hear well out of the right ear because it feels stuffed with something, but the pain is much less. The doctor also prescribed Flonase decongestant spray to help mitigate the issue.

I'm finally now caught up with blog posting. On Saturday, September 12 we will depart Healdsburg, CA with our 17 foot long storage trailer containing the remaining personal property that has been residing in the state since we sold our house in 2021. We will take it back to Texas via Colorado to have closer proximity for any future housing plans. No permanent plans to live in Texas just yet, but since our domicile is there and we have a free place for the trailer in the RVICS Village in Smithville, it's time to move it out of California and close this chapter of our lives.