Maldives Continued....

December 21-27th, 2010: Chaaya Reef Elliadhoo


More pictures from the Maldives...


The best part of this trip was by far the giant Manta rays.  They were the most beautiful creature to watch under the water... they looked like they were flying when they swam by.  We were able to snorkel with them for an hour in the middle of the ocean on some coral reef.  It was pure magic.  


At first when they swam at you with their mouths open while they fed, it was intimidating.  A whole person could easily fit into their mouths, but not to worry they eat plankton.  A couple of Mantas would feed right outside our hotel room every morning as well.  But the Manta we snorkeled with were some of the biggest the local staff had seen, to see them rave about the size made the trip special for everyone. 


We were actually on the look out for Whale Sharks but didn't find any.  We did find some other nice friends under the sea :)  

Our hotel

Almost there

The plane... so fun!

To get to our hotel, the fastest way was by plane, sea plane!  The views were out of this world.  The Maldives amazes me, it is made up of so many islands or atolls and the underwater world is just out your door.  Really makes the "one with nature" come true.

Manta rays, Whale sharks, octopus, reef sharks, turtles... some of the BIGGEST sting rays and all sorts of rays we have ever seen.  Actually everything we saw, was the biggest we had ever seen.  This was a place you really got to see underwater life untouched by humans...

Lion Fish

Eel

So many eels we had to stop taking pictures of them.  I think this picture turned out the best.

Trigger Fish

Manta Ray

My absolute favorite sea creature, until I meet the Whale shark!

Open Wide--Could swallow me whole with that mouth :0

The most beautiful creature under water-- flying by...

Manta Ray Feeding

Fishes

Reef Shark, they were everywhere, even when we snorkeled

We fed the sharks one night, thankfully it was the last night.  I wouldn't get back in the water after we drove out 5 minutes from the hotel and unloaded chum into the water... we saw 6-7 foot sharks in a feeding frenzy,  MANY. OF. THEM.  But when we dove/snorkeled, they were like this small reef shark.

More fishes

My friend, Mr. Octopus

He followed me for 2 minutes... catch the video at the end

Hello! Came up so close to me :)

30th birthday!!

Octopus video

Another eel

These guys hung out all around our hotel, they were huge!

They fed them every evening... thankfully

Dirk made a friend :)

These guys were HUGE, they were swimming around while we snorkeled.

They could have easily weighed as much as me, probably because the hotel fed them...

Just liked this picture, turned out good with the light.

I can't wait to take a class and touch up my underwater pictures.

Formula One Racing

September 23-25th, 2011

The Formula One night race was in town this weekend and we purchased 3 day passes to the race events.  Dirk and I have no clue on F1 racing... Nascar maybe but not much with F1.  It is a night race through the streets of downtown Singapore and around Marina Bay.  It was cool to see and hear the cars racing by... not really sure of the results but the atmosphere was very cool.

It was a great weekend and having a helper to watch the baby was fabulous!  We were able to catch Shakira perform but missed Rick Astley and Lincoln Park... Singapore really is a city that never sleeps and Marina Bay all light up was wonderful.

Jessica & I before heading to F1

1980s Ferrari

Waiting for Shakira to come on

Adult Time :)

Feeling like husband and wife again, definitely lose that after a baby for awhile...

Singapore downtown, race track to the left

Marina Bay, Merlion in the distance, and race track on top of bridge

Really hard to capture a car but it was fun trying... on the straight away!

Marina Bay Sands Resort & Casino lit up like checker flags underneath the boat

Lotus Flower is the science museum

Bintan, Indonesia

August 27th-30th, 2011

So it looks like the holidays are going to be a little different for the Dunlap family from now on.   We had to get off the island for the long weekend, which included National Day and Voting Day, thanks Singapore :)  Dylan still didn't have a dependent pass so we were a little worried he wouldn't be able to get back in the country... he made it out and in with only slight problems at immigration.  Really, he is so small and fits in his sling so comfortably that no one would have noticed until I handed them two passports.

So we took the ferry to Bintan, Indonesia which is only about 45 minutes away.  It is an island with only resorts, not much else to the place but relaxation and golf.  Dirk was hoping to hit the links while we hit the spa and swimming pool.  We ended up having some rainy weather but it was still nice to get away from Singapore... Dylan took everything in stride and slept most of the time.  He spent some quality time at night with Mimi while we had some adult time.

ferry ride to bintan

first stamp out of the country for dylan

the pool was amazing, too bad i couldn't swim yet

dylan hanging with mimi

view from the japanese restaurant 

dylan in the ocean for the first time

beach was pretty nice

4 weeks old and on his first vacay

family photo

It was a good thing that we got Dylan out of the country at 4 weeks.  We still don't have his dependent pass and would have had to leave the country anyway after 42 days... Dirk's company is a little slow on the up take.  I am sure Mimi would have taken him back to the U.S.A. in a heart beat.

Bali, Indonesia

January 13th- 16th, 2011

Bali, Indonesia

It seems like every time my parents make the trek over to Singapore I am sick, the first time I had emergency surgery and this time I was deathly ill with pregnancy sickness.  AND for some reason in Singapore they don't believe in medications to relieve this symptom, so I grinned and bared.  We planned a trip to Bali and I wasn't going to miss out.

We had a fabulous villa in Seminyak region of Bali. The days were spent seeing the sights and taking in the culture.  One day we toured the island via van stopping at the volcano, rice terraces, temples, and coffee plantations.  

The Jacobs Family in Bali, Indonesia

Famous rice terraces. 

Buddhist temple.

Ryan posing, they kind of look similar?

Mom & Dad

Rice fields, stopped here for lunch.

Villa, private pool :)

Dirk relaxing on the lab top, hopefully not working.

HI mom!

Volcano

Sampling coffee

Coffee, my brother trying to be artsy with my camera, me trying not to yak in the background.

Will have to thank Dylan later in life for making this trip so rememberable. 

Dad tasting the expensive coffee that is made by some animals poop.

Yep, I said ANIMAL POOP, and it is expensive!

Cheers!!

The animal that pooped the coffee beans... apparently they process in their intestines or something...

Famous beach for surfing!

Why I LOVE my family.

Water aerobic every morning and loving it.  While i was on land trying not to yak.

This was really a great trip even though I felt horrible.  We stayed up late every night, listening to great music by the pool and coining phrases like "Bintang Power".  Bintang is the beer of Indonesia.  Also belting out Katy Perry's song "Fireworks"... nothing like my brother, mother, and Dirk drunk at night singing this song in Bali.