Where in the world are the Patnodes??: What country next??

Looking for a quick escape with the kids upcoming holiday week, we looked at all the places we'd love to explore before we leave this side of the globe. Taylor is recently very interested in sea turtles (particularly BABY sea turtles - shocking, I know!)

We discovered this amazing country literally sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The Maldives. The Maldives is the smallest Asian country, in terms of population. It is also the smallest predominantly Muslim nation in the world. It is a country located to the southwest of Sri Lanka whose 1, 192 tiny islands straddle the equator. Only 250 of these islands are inhabited at all. The Maldives also holds the record for being the lowest country in the world, with a maximum natural ground level of only 2.3 m (7½ ft). Over the last century, sea levels have risen about 20 centimetres (8 in); further rises of the ocean could threaten the existence of Maldives! We thought we'd better go while they are still around :)

Each island is it's own resort... basically a raft in the middle of the ocean. Only the main island, Male, is large enough to land a plane on. So you fly into Male and then travel by sea plane or speed boat to your chosen "raft". Most of the islands are less than 1 mile long! The coral reef islands form an archipelago of 26 natural atolls ( groups of neighbouring coral islands). Each of these atolls is enclosed by a coral reef cut by several deep, natural channels and a lagoon. The reef structure, peculiar to the Maldives and consisting of a series of circular reefs in a lime, is known as ‘faru’. Seen from air, the atolls and the islands form breathtakingly beautiful patterns against the blue depths of the Indian Ocean.

Here's an aerial shot of Bandos, the island we chose for our trip...