Travel

Photo Diary: Celine Gehret

A few pictures from my amazing 6 weeks Maldives boat trip with Surfboat.ch I went on back in June… one of my best trips ever!

By Celine Gehret

‘Rainbow’
This was what I saw the first morning when I woke up, stumbling out on the deck, I wasn’t sure if I was still dreaming… But the photo is the proof…

‘Off the Lip’ by Mirko Schadegg / Picstars.net
There has always been fun surf ranging from 2 waist to tripple over head!

Bobby the Turtle
This is my friend ‘Bobby’. He’s a Hawksbill turtle and a protected species. I was swiming with him on a daily basis, he would always be around in the line up and was really inquisitive. Sometime he would pop up next to me in the line up and look at me with his little head a bit cricked checking me out! I called him ‘Bobby’ coz he was just bobbing along, sometimes when a wave was coming he would go over the falls with it and got washed in! He didn’t seem to mind though, but you had to keep your eyes open and sometimes dodge them when duckdiving haha!

‘Boat’ by Gian Giovanoli / kmu-fotografie.ch
This is the amazing boat I stayed on in the background. I loved looking at it from a distance, thinking that this is ‘home’ for 6 weeks, it would always put a huge smile on my face!

‘Backhand Topturn’ by Mirko Schadegg / Picstars.net
Fun lefthander

‘Surfcheck’ by Gian Giovanoli / kmu-fotografie.ch
I loved checking out the islands, they are so pretty, covered in lush vegetation and white sand beaches.

‘Baby Dolphin’ by Mirko Schadegg / Picstars.net
I was so lucky to see dolphins almost every day! They were swimming past the boat in big pods, or came to catch some waves in the line up with us! But the most amazing experience with the dolphin was that one morning I will never forget: I woke up first thing and went up to check the surf, it was pumping! Then a school of dolphins swam past the boat real close, still half asleep I ran to get my diving mask, snorkle and flippers and started swimming after them as fast as I could hoping to catch them up but thinking that they are probably gone by now anyway. I kept on going for a few minutes anyways hoping that I would see one or two of them. And suddenly they were in front of me! It was unbelievable, 12 gorgeous dolphins came back for me! I was literally in the middle and surrounded by them! They were looking at me and swimming really close and were making the most beautiful noises! They were doing this amazing syncronised formation swimming down so I dived under with them and they kept checking me out. I went back up and some of them were looking up at me they looked so gorgeous and cute with their friendly smile on their faces I felt so much love I almost popped!! Then I was swimming on the surface just next to them it felt so unreal and amazing to be so close to these beautiful creatures…

‘Underwater’ by Thomas Becks / Surfboat.ch
I love it under water.. sometimes I think I should be a fish haha!

‘Blue spotted boxfish’
I love swimming in the line up and play in the waves, I would go in with my diving mask, snorkle and flippers to work out and at the same time look at all these colourful fishes, it was amazing! It was like swimming in a big aquarium and just when you think you’ve seen it all theres a new fish that swims past you! Just like that little fellow here, he’s a ‘blue spotted boxfish, about 30cm long and very inquisitive. He came up to me real close and didn’t want to leave my side! His little flippers reminded me of a hummingbird’s wings, as he was flapping around in high speed in front of me and ‘hovering’ around!

‘Island Surf’ by Mirko Schadegg / Picstars.net
The waves break on the reef and wrap around the islands. You can practise turn after turn and tuck in some tube sections too!

‘Modelling’ by Thomas Becks / Surfboat.ch
Shooting O’Neill garments for the ‘Daydreaming with Celine’ O’Neill UK and O’Neill Girls Facebook album. I love this playsuit from the O’Neill ‘Originals’ line, super comfy and just right for a summer day!