#aquarestaurant

We started the day at the pool as it was another scorcher. We went for our usual lunch. J really loved the lentil salad and S enjoyed the freshly grilled tuna. Again, it required some cajoling to get a rare tuna steak. Our favourite chef, Krishna, has left for holiday, so we are quite sad. We head to lunch. The highlights were the incredible, spicy lentil salad and the fruit. S had a few rambutans (a hairy relative of the lychee) and J had the white guava.

S spent much of the day listening to cricket to hear the thrilling England victory against Sri Lanka. As Sri Lanka was collapsing, Suraj came up to ask us if he wanted to have a drink, but hid his face behind the drinks tray to hide his mock shame. S and Suraj had great banter during the course of the day.

We realised the swim trunks S bought at the gift shop were slightly too tight. We went back to get the larger size, which fit well and realised while the print on the trunks (white with Komandoo turtles) was the same, the design of the shorts was entirely different. Very weird. S thinks this new pair ought to work but keeps muttering about how unconventional the pockets were. S had to take a couple of calls with the UK while J took an afternoon nap by the pool, enjoying the breeze.

Tonight was dinner at Aqua, the à la carte restaurant. As Krishna wasn’t here to cook the meal, it was a very different experience. We were the only people in the restaurant and our dedicated server, Rasheed, came out to serve us. J got the scallops, halibut and mango sorbet. S got the same dishes as last time, but switched to the mango sorbet for dessert. The starters were fine, but the mains were not that great. J’s halibut was too salty and S’ tuna was overcooked. However the chef came out, apologised and cooked S a new, rare tuna steak. Apparently rare is not a common cooking preference for fish or meat in the Maldives.

S decided to start throwing bread and raw tuna into the water to see if he could attract more fish. It had the desired effect. The fish started going crazy. one point, we even saw a new type of shark, which we think is a nurse shark. This shark type is apparently quite lazy and is nocturnal. We think it enjoyed the raw tuna.

We finished with a final nightcap in the bar. Suraj came by to accept defeat and S and Suraj had one last good banter. We called it an early night as we have to wake up early for our COVID test tomorrow morning.