This morning the anchorage was still rolly and miserable, but we bit the bullet and finished getting the boat ready to go. There was no way in hell we would spend another day in such rough conditions. We headed to shore at 1100. We are sad to report that Kosmopolitan’s front tip got caught under the dock just as a wave was smashing into us and Continue reading
When we got up in the morning, the wind still hadn’t changed. We didn’t even contemplate re-anchoring in another spot for a couple of reasons. One, we wanted to check out and we needed to be here to do so, and two, if we were to move, we would probably have to pay that $500 fee. At least staying here we may be able to get out of it.
We bit the bullet and got to work on getting ready for sea, despite the rocking. We had originally planned to leave today, but it wasn’t going to happen. There was too much to do between getting the boat ready and errands. Plus, the wind was coming from wrong direction, so it would be a rough ride. The weather forecast still said nice weather with occasional localized storms, so hopefully by tomorrow this crazy “localized storm” will have cleared up and it’ll be a nicer ride.
By late morning, the winds calmed down to the low teens, but it was still rollier than we are comfortable in. Claire from Fafner came over and changed the navigation light for us. She is a brave (or maybe crazy) girl, climbing up there in less than ideal conditions. We thought changing the light bulb would be easy, but it turned out to be something of a puzzle box getting the cover off. After sitting up there in the rocking for a long time and after lot of tries with assorted tools, Claire finally located the hidden magic screw that held the cover in place. The light bulb was quickly changed and the cover replaced. Thank you Claire!
In the afternoon, Claire and Jeff went to shore. Since Alex and Karen were staying behind, they offered to give us a ride. Even with the calmer winds, the seas were rough. Our first stop was an Internet café we heard had a fast connection, called Shell. They served food, but it was Continue reading
Yesterday the fuel barge was supposed to come between 1000 and 1200. The plan was that once we were done fueling, we would go to Male and run all the usual “getting ready for sea” errands. At about 1245, we found out the barge was now going to come between 1600 to 1800 (4 6 pm). There was physically no way we could make it to Male and back in only 3 hours. Sigh. We decided to wander around Hulhumale to see if we could take care of our errands there. We wandered into a restaurant called Food Palace for lunch. The food was good. While there, the chef assured us there were not many facilities on Hulhumale yet, but they were coming. There are currently about 5,000 people on Hulhumale, but it is slated to house 60,000 within the next few years. As of now, we’d have to go to Male for stocking up.
Shortly before 1600, we were back in the dinghy on our way back to Kosmos. We saw the Continue reading
The plan for the day was to get an early lunch and do some sightseeing with Mike. Mike was flying out this evening, so once we saw him off, we were going to have a quiet night alone. Karen and Alex from Fafner headed into town with us and joined us for lunch. We ate at a restaurant called Jade Café, a couple blocks down the street from Sea House. We had been told the food is good and the internet is free. Once again there was a large international menu, and the food was definitely better than the other two places we have eaten. Very unique and yummy smoothie and fruit juice flavor combos.
After lunch, the guys stayed and played on the internet while the women went grocery shopping. The market was farther west than we had explored on Friday, but except for a couple fancy government buildings and a park area in front of one of the government buildings, everything looked much the same as we had seen the other day.
They passed a tourist shop where the owner beckoned them in. We had never gotten a Maldives courtesy flag, so Christi asked what on would cost. The two shopkeepers said USD$30.00. The truth was Continue reading
This morning, we noticed the Hulhumale ferry terminal was recently decorated with lots and lots of flags. When we got to Male, there were more flags out than yesterday. There were flags of assorted sizes everywhere as far as we could see! We were right on time to the dive shop. The day was overcast and gloomy, and it was raining. There was also quite a bit of wind. We sat in the shop until after 1000, when a truck finally pulled up and we all helped to load the gear on the truck. We walked down the road for a few blocks, where the truck was waiting to be unloaded onto a boat tied to the sea wall.
The first dive site turned out to be very close to the resort we had been rejected from yesterday. The ride out there was rocky and wet from the rain and rough seas. The site is called Magivi Rock. We all geared up and hopped in. After much arguing and insisting, the dive master relented and gave Christi 10 kilos of weight. Christi’s allergies had mildly bothered her all day yesterday, and still continued to bother her this morning. As expected, it was a very slow descent because of the difficulty clearing her ears.
The primary dive site is actually a rock 90 feet under the water, then from the rock you head up a gentle slope with coral up to the surface. The site is really nice. The visibility wasn’t South Pacific phenomenal, but it was pretty good. Definitely better than the Andamans. As soon as we started to descend, we could see there were thousands of little blue fish with sideways looking fins, oddly enough called redtooth triggerfish. Later the dive leader told us they were juveniles, probably only recently hatched.
Down at the bottom, we saw a very large Continue reading