This is a 6 page article I wrote after bodyboarding all the waves of North Male' Atoll in central Maldives' archipelago.
It was for "Discover Maldives" magazine, published by some high school friends, some of them Maldivian, providing technical and engineering solutions to environmentally susceptible developmental projects in our Indian Ocean island state.
My article was for the 2011 issue, which you can read online, from this link - https://issuu.com/atoll-images/docs/dm2011_lowres
I seem to last only 6 months in all my sport, exercise, and recreation endeavors.
My first fitness program was swimming and bodysurfing at the Swimming Track on the southern coast of Maldives' capital island Male'.
The next was jogging and sprinting around the ring road around Male'.
The next was going to the gym.
The next was Scuba Diving but I didn't pursue the matter any further than the Advanced Open Water Diving level by PADI. Yeah, the deepest I went with dive gear was around 40 meters during a dive to "Victory" cargo ship wreck near Hulhule, the island near Male' where Maldives' main international airport is located.
Finally then at last, I discovered the first love of my life - how magical it is not only to float during a drift dive almost feeling weightless off the coast of Full Moon Beach Resort island in North Male' Atoll of Maldives but also as if feeling gravity-less when barreling through the gigantic tubes of the relentless but perfect waves of Varunulaa Raalhugandu, the world-class surfing point on the east coast of Male', the capital island of Maldives.
When I could stand on the surf board, I realized I loved bodyboarding more and so switched my short board to a bodyboard.
I made two best friends then, both of them, like me, falling head over heels in love with "Padam", the second wave that formed and struck the tetrapod seawall of Male's eastern Artificial Beach.
The magical thing about Padam is that, once the heartless, merciless, and unforgiving teacher that is her has taught you the gist of surfing and bodyboarding, you are ready to challenge even the 3-storey high towering waves of Thanburudhoo in North Male' atoll, now an island allocated for the Maldives' army's use though you can still surf both the lefts and rights as long as you don't step onto the island's (somewhat rocky) shores.
There are still only two great loves in my life - one being the barreling through the tubes of the monstrous waves of Varunulaa Raalhugandu, while the other being something I would like to keep quiet about even though all my close friends know but I am now rather uncomfortable to talk about.
From 2003 to around 2008, anyone who wanted to find me had either to visit the Varunulaa Raalhugandu or drop in into the Tuscaloosa Restaurant at the waterfront there.
A few years ago, I was found to have diabetes and high cholesterol. After getting on somewhat permanent treatment, my "foreign" physician at Maldives' largest private hospital, the award-winning ADK, told me that it's now enough for me to walk around 30 to 45 minutes around Male' EVERY day.
I thought brisk walking was not something that serious but seriously, every month, I lost a kilo, and when I asked my doctor whether I am now suffering from bulimia or anorexia, he said I wasn't suffering from anything like that, and that people underestimate the efficiency of walking as a daily exercise. This was a new discovery for me, too.
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