Royal Island

Not a bad view to wake up to every morning is it?

Royal Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean is a verdant tropical dot on the map of the world that has been our home for the last two weeks. We were mightily pleased to finally get there after a nightmare journey owing to appalling weather. After landing at Male airport, the capital of the Maldives, we were unable to catch our sea plane connection as the whole area was being racked by ferocious storms. After a nine hour wait we were finally bundled onto a domestic flight that was destined to drop us of at another island near-ish to our final destination. Our joy at being able to proceed was somewhat tempered by having to fly through a raging thunderstorm which tossed the twin propellered aircraft around like a leaf in the wind, at one point we dropped a good fifty feet which sent the passenger seated next to me into a blind panic that saw him pray loudly for the rest of the flight, I must admit I didn't blame him in the least! Finally on terra firma once more we then had to endure a speed boat ride to the island, due to the heavy seas think James Bond movie chase scene rather than azure tropical sailing, it was 1am in the morning, chucking it down with rain, pitch black and our captain decided to open up the throttle just to show us what his baby could do. I really began to doubt we would make it! Anyway as you can see from the above picture we did, and once the weather settled down began to appreciate our beautiful surroundings.

For a gardener the island was paradise, lush vegetation of the sort you only find in expensive bouquets back home, banana trees and coconut palms abounded, the latter frequently being climbed by the gardening staff by shimmying up the trunks with a rope tied to both ankles in order to remove the coconuts so they didn't fall on guests heads! During our stay I was lucky enough to spend some time with Hema, the head gardener, proving that although we didn't speak the same language Latin plant names are indeed universal. He proudly showed off his propagation area where he keeps a thriving chilli garden of the hottest varieties just for the staff, as well as cuttings of many of the islands plants some of which he has even managed to bonsai. His speciality however was orchids, they were all over the island, each and every one tended lovingly by him, exotic and beautiful I just wish I could reproduce their fragrance for you here.

We exchanged e-mail addresses so we can keep in touch and he sent me home with my very own orchid cutting. I'm sure the poor thing is feeling rather disgruntled at being ripped from its tropical home to now reside on a kitchen windowsill in Bilton! However I'm going to Harlow Carr on Friday to get equipped with all I need to help it thrive. Just a word here about bringing home plants from abroad, if you do so you must declare them at customs in order to stop bringing harmful pests and diseases into Britain, I was given the OK at Manchester because it was only a cutting and was not planted in soil. Hema had made a very neat coconut container to keep it safe and all I have had to do is keep it watered.

My poor little orchid cutting!

So all in all we have had a fabulous trip and I'll not bore you with the usual holiday shots, lets face it who wants to see Dave in a mankini!

Back to Norton Conyers next week.

"When two friends understand each other totally, the words are soft and strong like an orchids perfume"
Martin Luther king Jr

Storm clouds over the Maldives