Day 1 & 2 (all a bit of a blur really)

Result!

In fact this holiday has started with a number of results (R)

So……………..Results:-

R1. Just as we were about to struggle to the bus stop with our rather weighty hold-alls on our backs and smaller rucksacks in our hands, Sophie unexpectedly arrived home with Ollie and proceeded to give us a lift to the station. Phew, that was a close call!

R2. Although we just missed the Victoria train a Charing Cross one soon arrived and carried us free (thank-you Freedom Pass) and speedily to central London. A short walk to Embankment underground station thence another free ride to South Kensington to change trains to continue on our way to Heathrow Terminal 3.

R3. England beat Ireland in their 6 Nations match and I watched it over the Heathrow free wi-fi.

R4. Our online book-in worked well and on eventually boarding our plane some hours later we found ourselves 4 rows from the back sitting in the middle aisle seats which at this point, due to the narrowing of the aeroplane, reduce from a row of 4 seats to a row of 3 seats. Excellent news in 2 ways: much more leg room for me and an empty seat beside Maggie. Stretch out!

R5. In fact, this flight has a number of empty seats so more space all around, quicker service, less queuing for the toilets and more room in the overhead lockers.

As a result (get it?), I highly recommend Sri Lankan Airlines so let’s hope it’s the same on our return flight. I can’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be!

The in flight entertainment was good, particularly ‘Spectre’ and ‘The Martian’ as were the meals and complimentary drinks.

Unfortunately too little sleep was had and, despite the fact that we had been sitting for all this time in an artificially darkened cabin whilst travelling towards daybreak, after 8 hours, the lights went on, the blinds went up and breakfast was served. Saag Paneer and Naan bread for me – yummy.
Needless to say, this section by far being the longest leg of the whole journey, although being reasonably comfortable it just could not end soon enough for me (Long haul = squashed boredom). Fortunately or unfortunately, whichever way you looked at it we were rather rushed for our onward flight and only waited 1 minute before being called to board what was due to be a short 1 hour flight to cover the final 450 miles of our journey. This we did with ease and another meal to boot.
We landed 10 minutes late at Maldives International Airport which interestingly ran the length of one complete island with the rest of the available space here being used for airport terminals, service areas, cargo etc.
After a rather long wait, during which we met with a number of our fellow travellers with whom we would be spending our holiday period, we were ushered to a busy ferry to carry us across a stretch of bustling water to our overnight hotel in Male. This hotel was spacious, clean and had AC (boy was it hot) so couldn’t be called anything but good.
It was here we met with the final few group members, now 12 in total, and Bongo, our tour leader for the week. After ‘freshening up’ we were taken on a guided tour of this, the largest city in the Maldives.
And now I know why it’s called Male (pronounced ma-lay) – Mopeds And Lorries Everywhere (M.A.L.E.): behind you, crossing in front of you, reversing, parking, unloading, on the wrong side of the road, overtaking, lights on, lights off, passengers, no passengers, old, new, aaaaaaaaagh! and interestingly, with a nod to British past influence, they drive on the left.
It’s too busy and there’s no let up, I didn’t come here for this!
Anyway, I digress, Male has a population of 150,000 crammed tightly into its 2sq miles and boasts amongst its many tightly packed together buildings, a university, a hospital and a number of Government and Religious buildings.
The Maldives itself is made up of 1,200 islands of which around 200 are inhabited. It continues to lose islands to erosion whilst others appear both naturally through deposition and artificially through land reclamation. Although being influenced by many cultures it is a Muslim country and a Democracy and has undergone a recent turbulent history including attempted assassinations and coups. It is now stable and relies heavily upon tourism for its economy. Yes, the Chinese are here ‘helping’ yet another developing country and plan to build a bridge from the airport island to Male (I don’t know why, the ferries keep people employed and work very efficiently), fortunately for its inhabitants the country continues to look to Sri Lanka, it’s nearest neighbour for some additional and more local support.
The guided tour of the city was interesting as we visited the Government building, the Friday Mosque, the official residence of the President, a park where giant fruit bats hung upside down from tall trees above what seemed very obviously out of place artificial plants that, if you don’t mind, ‘lit up’ at night! Finally the fish and fruit markets where there were some particularly unrecognisable things on show. Still, it was at least all fresh and we can certainly testify to this as we sampled some local delicacies later during our evening meal, a mix it all up affair with strange vegetables, rice, coconut, fish, fish flakes, yam, pickles, chutneys etc. Delicious!

R6 The meal and accompanying drink were free!

Maggie and I walked back to the hotel whilst the rest of the group took taxis, the roads were still mad with traffic and will most probably remain that way forever!
Thence to sleep and dream of what tomorrow would bring.

Day 3 (Felidhe Atoll)

So, an early start today meant we left the hotel at around 8.15am, the sun was already up and beaming down upon us as we walked the short distance to the harbour and then travelled from the quay via zodiac into the busy outer harbour to board one of the two boats (the Sea Coral & the larger Gahaa) we would be using throughout our stay. Our Dhoni, Gahaa was a 7 berth whilst the other smaller boat served 5 passengers. We were given cabin 3 which had a single above a double bunk bed and enough nooks and crannies to store our kit and. on the face of it, seemed somewhat compact but nevertheless comfortable enough i.e. the swinging of a cat here would be nigh on impossible! I will let you know more tomorrow after some sleeping, after all, that would be its only use during this trip!
When we were finally settled aboard and after a quick and rather laid back safety briefing, we motored a little way further into the outer harbour and calmer seas and were served breakfast, a grand affair with a good variety of both hot and cold food and drink.
Following this meal, which was not rushed, we made our way southwards for approximately 3 hours passing various boats and ships whilst seaplanes flew overhead and closeby shallow aquamarine coloured reefs and numerous islets which make up the atolls for which this area is so famous. Eventually we dropped anchor for our lunch stop, another full on yet relaxed meal.

When lunch was over with we travelled across a wide channel where the rough sea rocked the boat violently but at the same time rather rhythmically from side to side above an ocean, the depth of which or so we were led to believe, was around 6500ft. Anchor was again dropped but this time, rather surprisingly beside a shallow sandy area aside a reef. The zodiac took us 100m from the Dhoni for our first snorkelling session on Kudiboli reef in Felidhe Atoll which certainly did not disappoint and would serve as an appetiser for what was to come.

The selection of fish on view was nothing short of stupendous. Some lemon yellow, others electric blue, a paint palette, all sizes, shapes and colours going about their busy chores like an underwater city centre on a Saturday afternoon.

The coral was amazing and seemed so undisturbed and varied, some like human brains, some reminiscent of organ pipes, others like giant fans and yet others with blue branches and tips.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves whatever their ability.

Back on board and a 1 minute rainstorm passed overhead, whilst we drank tea and chatted about our first snorkelling adventure. Later, Maggie and I went up to the top deck as the sun set and a miriad of stars began to appear in the unspoilt darkness of night.

Dinner, I have to say and, which as you will come to realise I will say again and again throughout this trip, was exceptional with vegetable and fish curries being my most favourite.
Later we had the crew introduce themselves to us The Captain, Cook (no this is not the sailor who discovered Australia – it’s 2 separate people), the Waiter and the Room Boy, whilst we then returned the favour.
It’s now 10.25 so goodnight.

Day 4 (Felidhe Atoll)

I tossed and turned a bit throughout the night trying to get used to sleeping in a small cabin in the middle of the ocean BUT………..

Morning!

Forget the shower! It’s up, swimming trunks on and over the side the two of us, followed by a rinse under freshwater on the edge of the boat. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Breakfast next, crepes etc. today and then snorkelling on an adjacent reef (Kuda Anbara Sandbank) to the one we visited yesterday. Maggie and I were dropped off at the far end of the line of coral following what was a thrilling couple of full throttle minutes in the zodiac to a point where we could then simply enter the water and drift back on the current to the vicinity of the boats, others chose the shorter option.

The sea was crystal clear so the coral garden displayed its colours beautifully as did the fish theirs.

As I said, this was a long reef so our snorkelling took 50 mins today. Thank goodness for the rash vests which helped protect our skin from the sun’s rays which are extremely intense at this low number latitude so close to the equator.
We then continued on our way for 1.5 hrs to a different area passing a number of extremely low lying islets/sand bars which were only just peeking above the low water mark, their only transitory inhabitants being a number of birds (Noddies), the tidal range in this area remember is a measly 0.9m.

After mooring the boats together we had our lunch, maybe one of the best meals I have ever eaten, fried fish, yam wedges, salad, pasta, cashew nuts and beans in oil all followed by fresh pineapple – and I mean fresh!
The early afternoon was spent relaxing and watching ‘chromium plated’ fish leap from the water every now and again whilst we waited all the time in anticipation of our next snorkelling adventure.
This second reef (Anbara) was a very long one so we drifted until we reached a gap into which we swam eventually reaching the centre of the surrounding coral which then became a large expanse of sand previously exposed at low tide but unfortunately now submerged upon our arrival. Anyhow it provided the opportunity to paddle in the middle of the ocean – very strange.

The fish life and coral features were different from what we had previously seen and photographed and the ‘drop off’ to our left side was quite deep, we later learned that these sorts of  extremely deep water areas are regarded quite simply as ‘the blue.’ The water was clear and when the sun shone through, quite magical.

We finally swam back to our boat, showered, relaxed and ate our evening meal, another great feast. We were now more relaxed in each other’s company so we chatted whilst having coffee.

Early to bed then and, once again, a rather disjointed hot night’s sleep.

Day 5 (Mulaku Atoll)

Simply the most amazing day so far! Read on………..
After our early morning pre breakfast dip which surely will become a habit difficult to break, we quickly dried and ate another amazing meal, chocolate flavoured pancakes today.
Our first snorkel of the day came after a short hop across the bay where we moored near an island then entered the water from the zodiac and drifted easily and effortlessly alongside a reef (Fathasa Drift).

This snorkel was different again and we enjoyed the corals on show and their fish partners, some guarding their spots whilst others cleaned their larger buddies. We also saw a Remora, this is the fish that attaches itself by its head to various large fish like sharks, they’ve also been known to attach themselves to the odd snorkeller or diver too! (Keep away!)

This particular one was far too interested in Maggie and me so we got ready to ‘run’ (for run read swim) just in case.
The wind got up when we set off on a rather longer than usual trip across an extremely rough, rolling and swinging channel to get to the next atoll. This was an exciting crossing not simply because it became almost impossible to move around by foot on the boat but because we were visited albeit for a brief moment by Dolphins. Eventually, however, after about 2 hours of this roller coaster fair ride, the two boats separated as they made their ways through different gaps in another extremely long and shallow coral reef which seemed to go on forever.

These gaps were just deep enough and wide enough to allow ships safe passage. We rejoined our sister ship and then moored just off, what was this time, an inhabited island.

It was then that we spotted a pod of Spinner Dolphins swimming up and down the reef not too far from the boat and individuals every now and again leaping from the water, a really good thing to watch but quite difficult to get a good action photo of.

After a short time they came close in to the bow of the ships and although we caught them breaking the surface every now and again, they did not perform as we would have hoped, oh well next time maybe? We had lunch and when this had gone down were briefed on our next swim which was by the sound of it going to be one of the most exciting and testing yet. The current was running strongly as we entered the water and were shot along like missiles all the time keeping the reef to our left hand side – absolutely no finning required until we had to cut away and get back to the boat which we did by swimming over the deep water drop off. I’d never seen so many fish and so many different types. We even managed to spot a Moray Eel in its lair. This was so good that Bongo invited us to repeat the swim but this time on the other side of the reef. Superb fish and coral, it was as if you’d gone into the tropical fish shop and chosen everything available times 100. This time another Moray was swimming just below us, what an amazing creature. Wow!

After a hot drink and cheese and biscuits, we changed, boarded the zodiacs and went to visit the island (population 1800). Our first time on dry land for nearly 4 days. It was interesting, no cars, no dogs but a lot of building work going on and when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Here we were invited into a fish factory where fish destined for the Sri Lankan market were dried and some of the very best fish sauce made from the juices that these fish had previously been cooked in. The fish didn’t taste half bad but was quite tough i.e. rock hard when you first started eating it. Finally, after taking a number of interesting photographs we ended up back where we had started.

Oh yes, nearly forgot to tell you. Some of the men were preparing to fish from the shore for smaller fish which they could attract by light. The light, well this was created by burning plastic sacks on top of which sat a white plastic broken chair, old engine oil being used as the fuel to start the fire. Black acrid smoke billowed from the orange flames licking the night sky. I was reminded of the quote “I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.”

Back to our boats for dinner but some bad news tonight, an underwater earthquake of magnitude 8.2 had occurred somewhere near Indonesia to our east which we were told could mean a Tsunami in our area. We had to wait for 3 hours before we were able to regard ourselves as safe. Needless to say our boats separated overnight for safety reasons as advised over the phone by the owner back in Male. We all went to bed a bit quieter tonight imagining what devastation an event like this could create. Still, we were, at least, in one of the safest places in case of a Tsunami – in the open seas aboard a ship.

Day 6 (Felidhe Atoll – Bodumohorra)
Yes , I can report that we’re still here, no Tsunami last night thank goodness although it did rain heavily at some time during the night. It was at this point that Bongo told us about the previous Tsunami that he was involved in. He, luckily had be informed by his girlfriend that a large wave was making its way towards Male and innocently, being a surfer, thought this would be great to experience never thinking that is would turn out to be disastrous for so many people. At the time he was in a seaplane on the water. He immediately advised the pilot to take off and as they flew over Male harbour they noticed the sea level falling rapidly as the water was dragged away from the coastline leaving ships and boats full of people resting on their keels. It was then the wave hit and fortunately the boats were automatically refloated and quickly sailed out to sea at full speed saving those aboard. As we all know, many people lost their lives in this natural disaster. Male was saved by its sea wall defences. What an experience to live through!
Anyhow enough doom and gloom………….
Another early swim before breakfast then, after having eaten, we set off on the first leg of our return journey. This meant crossing the rough channel once again so for one and a half hours we settled down in deck chairs on the front deck of the boat and enjoyed the ride. Flying fish were spotted zipping through the air for 50ft or so until splashing their way back into the ocean. You had to be lucky to catch this incredible curiosity of nature, I did so on 4 separate occasions. After the crossing, we stopped the boats and were briefed for our next snorkel session. This reef (Rakeed Hoo) was, again, amazing. We kept it to our right and slowly swam/drifted with the slight current.

Numerous varieties of both coral and fish abounded with again different species of fish to the ones we had previously seen being on show, the Clown Trigger Fish –

which we christened the Mary Quant fish because of its pattern and colouring, yet another Moray Eel, an unusual starfish – long legged and light green, a sea slug and patches of bright green coral being the highlights.

The drop off was unusually deep but we finally had to cross it to swim back to our boat which, unnervingly for some, motored slowly towards us. Eventually we grabbed the ladder, the wooden rungs are so much kinder on the feet than the Sea Coral’s metal ones, climbed up, showered with fresh water, had a cold drink and contemplated yet another wonderful experience in this undersea paradise.
We then motored for a short while and arrived at 2 uninhabited islands where the sea was coloured in different shades of blue, from azure to aquamarine to the locally named Maldives blue and where we moored for the night.

As you can no doubt imagine, the sand on the islands’ beaches was purest white and the main island’s vegetation was dominated by numerous palm trees which predominantly occupied the centre. We were told to avoid the windward side and also from entering the undergrowth as mosquitoes abounded here.
This afternoon’s session was officially regarded as DIY! So, Maggie and I donned our kit and took a giant step off the side of the boat. Although the island did not have a reef it did have some areas of coral, if all rather a bit similar. However, the fish life was plentiful around each coral garden on the seabed and we got some great photos swimming towards the beach.
The beach – well, well, well, the flotsam and other rubbish, of which there was a significant amount, consisted mainly of plastic and polystyrene and anything else that could float all discarded who knows when and from who knows where and now which had found itself onto this, what must have previously been, idyllic island because it now could certainly not be called that any longer, thanks to wasteful mankind!
As you must have guessed from my previous sentence, we did not stay here for any length of time, we walked along the beach and back in all of 10 minutes, the sun was very strong so we soon found ourselves once again in the water and swimming towards another coral area that we had spotted whist on the boat.

It was teeming with fish most of which were waiting to have their portraits taken, others were a bit shyer. We saw another moray but this time a Little Moray and unfortunately for the coral a Crown of Thorns Starfish (these need to be removed and destroyed as they can easily decimate a reef by eating the coral). In the Maldives or so Bongo later told us, they have a COTS weekend where every snorkeler and diver spends time removing these voracious and destructive creatures from the ocean.
We swam back to the boat to download and admire our photographs which seem to get better and better the more we practice.
Upon our return we noticed that the room boy had been busy in our absence; not only had our beds been changed but we also had new towels!
Coffee and cake provided a welcome snack at 4.30pm.

Shower and change and further relaxation.

Now for dinner………….which I will attempt to describe and believe me when I say, this is going to be difficult, it’s going to be very hard! Anyway, here goes………………

At around 5pm the 2 crews busied themselves ferrying, by zodiac, a variety of boxes, crates etc. to the beach area. They had to take quite a circuitous route in order to cross the shallows safely. A lot of activity took place with us looking on from too great a distance to see clearly what was happening. There were people digging whilst others ventured into the undergrowth and a significant amount of energy was expended for about 45 mins. As it started to get dark, the food was transported across the sea and fires began to be lit. Night fell, it was pitch black around the boat, you wouldn’t have known any dry land in the form of an island even existed had it not been for the fire glow. Next we were transported to our evening meal location by the same route as our crew had used earlier but this time with the help of some rather dim spotlight torches………..how on earth?
As we stepped off the zodiacs and paddled up the beach, well what met our eyes was truly amazing, remarkable, unbelievable!
The whole area was bordered by pit fires sunk deep into the golden sand, each fire having its own attractive sprig of local vegetation ‘planted’ beside it. To the left, was the barbecue fire where an enormous fish was being cooked whereas to my right were 2 flaming torches, their highly volatile liquid fuel every now and again being replenished from a plastic bottle if you don’t mind and in an all too matter of fact way by the captain! Before eating we gathered around an incredible sand sculpture of a whale shark. This was cut into the sand and its brown coloured outer skin actually being created by a thin layer of earth. The whole sculpture was then outlined with flammable liquid and set alight. The flame ran quickly around the shape and set off this sand artwork in a magical way, spontaneous applause rang out with no one else to hear but us! Our dining table was another amazing feat of sand modelling which had been prepared from the sand of the beach covered by a cloth and set just as you might expect as if you were visiting your local restaurant at home, however, the seating was extremely original. A rectangular trench had been dug outlining the ‘table’ so we stepped into this sat down on leaves which had been laid down so as to avoid getting sandy shorts and began to eat, the fish being served by a waiter with the rest of the food strictly self service.
As the evening progressed, the crabs paid visits for any available tit bits, the plastic bottle torches set on the table began to melt from the top down and the tide began to come in towards our seating area – it was time to leave. We jumped in the zodiacs, this time with a variety of plates, trays, mugs etc. and made our way by that same elongated route, through the darkness back to the boats.
A coffee and chat on the foredeck ended the day before retiring to our cabins for the night.

Day 7 (Felidhe Atoll)

An early plunge today followed by breakfast the highlight of which was tuna baked beans (not sure, perhaps an acquired taste)
We were off for a short crossing followed by a drift snorkel (Hulhidhoo), the start of which was full of fish – one single shoal made up of 2 varieties of fish.

The drop off to our right was huge and after a while, we noticed some scuba divers deep on the coral wall. The coral was stunning especially when the sun filtered through and really brought out the colours.

We returned to the ship and were very quickly underway. Anothe rough crossing soon ended and found us tucked behind a long reef (Hukuru Veli) with 2 sand islands, one each side of the natural gap in the coral. We did our own thing after lunch, choosing to snorkel from the boat to the shore and spend some time on the island. The water was deep but the fish and coral were rather uninspiring.

An interesting thing though, a coral Christmas Tree had been built on this island with each visitor contributing another piece of coral from the shoreline to add to the tree (it was a bit like playing kerplunk) I wonder how large it will eventually become?

Back into the water and to the boat for another quick departure.
We crossed another channel during which our sister ship rescued and then released a turtle which had become entangled in a plastic bag. We eventually dropped anchor, along with a number of other vessels, just off a small but this time inhabited island. The zodiac took us to the shore and we walked down Main Street with each shop only opening as we arrived by their front doors. We had a quick look to see what was available, much the same in each shop really, and found ourselves back at the first shop where we bought 2 Banyan Tree wooden bowls and, as has become a habit of ours, a couple of things to hang from our own Christmas Tree (no, no, no, not a coral tree for us). The shopkeeper spoke perfect English so I took the opportunity to ask her where she had learned, she told me she was originally from Kerala in India and had married a Maldivian and had lived on this island for the last 16 years – wow. People here were very laid back and, as you can imagine from its remote location, the buildings were in a rather poor state of repair, however, upon closer inspection of one room in a house we were passing by we looked in and saw that its interior appeared extremely clean and it even housed a large flat screen TV with a perfect picture at the time showing cartoons for the children (obviously satellite availability on this island) nb I bet Amazon don’t deliver!
It began to rain lightly and after about an hour or so we climbed aboard our zodiac and returned to the Gahaa for a well deserved cold drink.
After another wonderful dinner we all got back into the zodiacs (we are getting quite good at this now) and travelled back to the island as tonight we were in for a treat, a bit of local entertainment and unknown at the time by us, we were to be a big part of it! We walked to what seemed like a bar with a small dance floor where 4 drummers were ready and waiting along with their backing singers (The Maldivettes). It wasn’t long before we were all dancing, much to the amusement of many of the locals who had come along to watch some of our ‘moves’ although I’m not sure if they were that impressed. As the evening progressed, unlike the tune which was blooming monotonous to say the least, 3 local dancers seemed to send themselves into quite a bit of a trance at one point all accompanied with strange facial expressions, when demonstrating for us their version of the aptly named African Dance, weird body shapes, aggressive postures, too close to individuals for them to feel comfortable, bare skin etc – all a little unnerving really when viewed along with the disco lights and shadows, not at all nice. After about an hour and a half the drumming and dancing and our gyrations stopped thank goodness and we walked back to the beach picking our way carefully through the crabs that were having their own disco without music and if a little sideways, on the shoreline. As we zodiaced back to our boat the sky was filled with stars, maybe the best we had ever seen.
We went to our cabins to sleep, tomorrow we had been told would be an early start, unusually for us setting sail before breakfast.

Day 8 (South Male Atoll)

The captain slipped his mooring at 6.30am in order to cross the channel before breakfast, the sun was shining in a bright blue sky as flying fish skimmed the surface of the sea both to our right and left whilst the odd speedboat passed us. The sea was rough with a heavy swell tossing and tipping the boat from side to side and up and down making walking quite awkward. When Ruth asked if we could see Male from here, I answered no, only the ghost of Male, I didn’t know what the Dickens was going on (lol).
After just over an hour we came across a shallow reef where the sea became calm and after spotting a pod of dolphins, we were called for breakfast, once again, a full on fancy affair. We then motored for another hour or so and arrived at a pinnacle (Kuda Giri), something like an underwater tower which put us at the very top and it was in the middle of the ocean!

We snorkelled in a choppy sea and the fish life was again very good, unfortunately there were many more COTS here. Maggie even spotted a white tipped reef shark!

After motoring for another hour, we came across yet another reef, this time protecting a narrow sand bar with larger islets at each end. Unfortunately or maybe not whichever way you look at it, each island was in the first throws of being developed. Maldivians regard this as progress we see it as change. Hey, one man’s unspoilt island is another man’s lucrative resort in the making. On one island there was a platform with some workers but it was not obvious what was happening here although we later found out that the workers on it were surveying the reef for suitable foundations.

On the other there was a JCB moving sand to reclaim land from the sea whilst a boat delivered it. All this surrounded by nothing but blue sea – bizarre, the Health & Safety Executive would have had a field day here.

Maggie and I decided to snorkel towards the nearest sand island which required us crossing deep water to the reef. This reef was not particularly varied in coral and was also rather patchy in places.

After lunch, we watched a flock of birds settling on the sand whilst 2 of the platform workers fished some way away from the metal structure although I don’t know if they were successful or not. Following on from this a boat arrived carrying around 20 men. Some went for a swim, some spent their time diving or jumping from the boat and others snorkelled. In the middle of it all, a group of a dozen men were led in prayer whilst kneeling on the sand – all a bit unusual. We went for our last snorkel and were led by Bongo & Moosa on this one.

At last, halfway along the reef (Dhonmoo Veli) we spotted a turtle, it was truly magical. It stayed on the bottom for a while before slowly descending to rest on a coral outcrop in deeper water. Bongo used my GoPro to get a number of close ups, it was just too deep for me.

Back to the Gahaa and on to our final leg of the voyage, our return to Male. We sat and chatted the time away until reaching the outer harbour where there were numerous boats and ships for us to photograph. As we entered the harbour proper a shoal of flying fish did their thing for us, flashes of silver ribbon gliding gracefully over a blue sea,

over and over again! A lovely spectacle. As seaplanes, commercial aeroplanes, ferries, jet skis, yachts, and even an enormous cruise ship passed us or were passed by us, we slowly arrived at our final night’s mooring and a fairly calm one at that.

After a coffee we decided to freshen up and pack. The shower was a welcome relief, it was particularly hot here as there was little if any breeze.

For our final evening meal we crossed to The Sea Coral where the table had been beautifully set and hand made origami type reed birds and fish hung from overhead. The meal was again special with homemade garlic bread accompanying various delicious dishes. Dessert was a sweet tasting custard which will remain memorable although I’m not sure for the right reasons. After eating we said our thankyous to Bongo and the 2 crews, climbed back aboard the Gahaa, paid our drinks bill $61.50 and went to bed ready for an earlier than usual start the following morning.
Our trip was nearly over.

 

Day 9

Today we are homeward bound!
The alarm went off as set at 5.10am we had a short lie in and then got up, showered and completed our packing. The building site that surrounds this area of Male was in full flow with the diggers doing what they do.

Numerous boats were already on the move as were the aeroplanes, both commercial and seaplanes.
We cooled down on the front deck until we were called for breakfast at around 6.00am
At 6.30am on the dot the captain cleared his anchorage and motored towards the airport terminal. Once again we dropped anchor but this time, not in the middle of the ocean but nearby to a quay. The zodiac was unleashed and our luggage was transported to dry land. Finally and after saying goodbye to the Captain and cook, we climbed, for the last time this trip, aboard the zodiac and motored to the steps where Bongo was already waiting to greet us (he’d spent the night at home in Male). We said goodbye to the last of the crew and made our way inside the terminal building which, surprisingly enough appeared very civilised. Our final goodbyes and thanks went to Bongo (aka Humza) and we were gone, deep into the bowels of Male International Airport.
Some retail therapy and numerous passport and boarding pass checks saw us onto our first flight back to Colombo where we waited a short while before boarding our flight to Heathrow.
It’s been great, it’s been different that’s for sure. Thanks to THE MALDIVES.

What next I hear you ask!

And in the words of Nik Kershaw –

“I won’t let the sun go down on me.”

GoPro Movie: