Курумба, коррида и черт побери Kurumba, bullfighting and damn

Kurumba is not just an island, it is a five-star hotel island, where 80 villas are disguised in a coconut grove. Here rest tourists from all over the world. It so happened that Kurumba was the first to become involved in the tourist business 25 years ago, so the island is considered the richest and most well-groomed of all. They do not spare money for tourists here. The neighboring islands, on which I have to periodically work, teaching Russian tourists to scuba dive, noticeably surrender in greenery and cleanliness. There are islands for lovers of solitude, for honeymooners who have only one thing in mind. They are very small in size, living on them is very expensive (all the staff works only for you), there is no entertainment - pure nature, but you can compose poems or have a baby in exotic conditions, who has no time at home. But most Russians love Kurumba for its excellent food, vibrant nightlife with lots of shows, entertainment, and affordable prices.
Therefore, there is always a full house. And not only Russians. The residence of the President of the Maldives occupies the island closest to Kurumba.




His residence is visible through binoculars, surrounded by pillboxes with loopholes, and pumped-up short men - fighters of the local COAST GUARD - patrol along the illuminated coast. The president receives all VIP guests not just anywhere, but on Kurumba. Recently, the President of Sri Lanka also rested here. The whole island was surrounded by patrol boats and rubber boats with machine gunners. Then came the princes from Saudi Arabia. However, no one guarded them. So the life of a small island in the Indian Ocean is in full swing. Divers diving here are very happy. Few people know that all underwater safaris that are held in the Maldives often take place there. The only negative is that after the warm current in 1999, most of the corals died, both in the Maldives and in the Seychelles.
The corals are just beginning to recover, but there are places near Kurumba within an hour's boat ride where the corals have thrived. Nearby are two unique places where you can see six-meter manta rays. Whale sharks are about to show up. Everywhere there are a lot of turtles, huge tuna. I recently met marlin in the water. Few scuba divers can boast of this.



Diving in the Maldives cannot be compared with diving, for example, in the Red Sea. It's completely different. Only here I met almost limitless visibility under water, in general there are a lot of special impressions. From Kurumba, divers are often taken to dive to neighboring atolls, where ordinary tourists for 100 c. u. e. ride on airplanes. Yes, you get a diving certificate and you will see the same thing, only you will dive more, and you will save three times. Having a PADI or CMAS dive certificate in the Maldives is all in one. For 3 months I learned how to extract and cut coconuts.

At first, this procedure took two hours, now it takes 10 minutes. He learned how to carve a palm tree and make decorations from it. Studied the technology of releasing shells from mollusks. Learned to distinguish a lobster from a lobster and a spiny lobster. I used to think it was the same animal. These skills are unlikely to be useful in Belarus, but after the Maldives I hope to live, for example, among cannibal Papuans. This prospect suits me better than enduring the horrors of Her Majesty Winter.

There are simply anecdotal cases with tourists on Kurumba. In November, the "new Russians" came with their families. They came to my diving center: “Where is the Russian-speaking instructor? ” Themselves 150 kg each, gold chains 2 kg each, fingers in diamonds. Well, my first reaction was to run around the corner in horror. The boys brought with them diving equipment from the best companies for 6 thousand each. Some dive computers per capita - three.
They catch me and say: "Where can I buy branded lead weights here? " The silent scene was long, I could hardly digest what they wanted from me. Then it turned out that they had not dived anywhere. Worked out 2 days before departure in the pool, stocked up on equipment - and now all their problems are mine. In general, "new" divers were loaded with 15 kg each. "Stoked" one at a time. One fine day they say: "Where can you shoot here? " I wonder what and with what?



It turned out that the birds. The boys brought pistols to Kurumba! How - no one knows. Yes, the trouble is that there are no birds on Kurumba - only flying foxes. In general, events developed further like this ...A couple of days later, someone robbed the number of one of the boys. They called the police. Measured something, interrogated. They all got up in the middle of the night. Well, the matter seems to be understandable - the guys robbed themselves out of boredom, and they will make claims either to the hotel or to the Moscow travel agency. Made a list of stolen...
An expensive laptop, the latest video and photo cameras, a digital camera. The whole hotel stood "on the ears" for a long time. There are thieves on Kurumba, and it must be one of the staff...


Departure in a week. Tourists go through an x-ray at the airport. Customs finds in a suitcase a young Moscow boy of about 20...a missing computer, a camera, a video camera and, to the great horror of the local police,...an undeclared pistol. The young moron famously robbed the "new" boys and even drew documents with seals that it was his computer.

Male airport was horrified - an unprecedented case. Russian bandits calmly drive around the islands with automatic weapons. Slavic terrorists among Muslims!

Four armed Interpol officers went to Moscow to accompany the thief. He stole it, he stole it. Then the tourists said that the "brothers" nearly got these Interpolovites when they got on the plane to beat the thief.
I have been wintering in the Maldives for six years and have changed a bunch of islands. Now I'm in Ellaida. This is my 12th island. Especially for tourists, travel agency workers and, first of all, for divers, I drew a website www. mydiving. org for my articles in several languages, photos and maps of sites and dive sites.
The island is great. When choosing a hotel, many people think that it is near the airport and supposedly noisy. Guys, you probably haven’t been to other islands where ordinary maize growers fly and start warming up their engines at 7 in the morning. The kirosin stench is impossible from under the propellers. And on Kurumba there is silence and grace. And in Male, in just 15 minutes, you can go shopping by boat.
By the way, the best shopping is not where they take you, but on the main street, where there are a lot of traffic lights. It's about twenty minutes to go inland.