Friendly Maldives
31 January 2011
Randy Repass
31 Jan 2011
Friendly Maldives
We spent three days anchored at Uligan Maldives.
Upon arrival we phoned (cell phones are ubiquitous here) the local agent as we needed to replenish the fuel we burned on our 1500 mile passage from Phuket, about 50 gallons. We were met by Asad and some friends when we arrived at the dinghy landing which is located inside a partially completed small boat refuge. (Many things are partly completed here.) They used the same shape concrete �"Jacks�" here for their jetty as are used for the Santa Cruz harbor jetty.
Asad took us to the �"compound�" he works from, two homes inside a wall and a contiguous small market �"Sailors Choice�", where he showed us a couple of looseleaf binders full of congratulatory letters from other cruisers who had stopped in years past. We recognized friends Chris and KT from Billabong and Katie and Kurt from Interlude both who visited two years ago. Seeing the letters made us feel more confident in Asad's services. We organized a fuel delivery for later in the day and a tour around the atoll with other cruisers for the next day. The island is about a quarter mile wide by one mile long and one of 19 on this Northern most atoll in the Maldives. The population is 400 . The houses are made from coral, some with plaster over making for smooth walls. Many of the buildings are quite charming. The streets are all compacted sand which serves well for the one 4 wheel vehicle on the island, an ambulance. There are a few motorcycles on the island too but they are not really needed as the island is so small. There is a secondary school, a mosque and a big new one under construction, at least three government buildings and a few small stores that did not have any fruit or veggies to speak of. There is a wind farm with about 20 turbines installed a couple of years ago. It is not operating now apparently because the locals were not trained appropriately on operating it.
We saw a few women, cute children and men but few compared to the number living there and compared to the masses of humanity in Phuket or Indonesia.
We spent two of our three days doing boat chores and repairing various gear. The third day we went on a boat ride to two other islands, one accessed by a rickety pier that was being lengthened had a charming village, population 350, backed with lush jungle. The other a larger village, population 3,000, with bigger, nicer very clean mosques a couple of restaurants and a few stores, most with few very limited supply of fresh produce or bread. We reprovisioned here as best we could with eggs, tomatoes, cabbage, a stalk of bananas, apples and a few other items.
On the way back we picked up Asad the agent's partner at a �"7�" Star island resort, the Beach House, which is part of the Hilton chain. There were 45 or so studio houses built over the water . Costs run from $1,000 to several thousand a day! Occupancy was about 30% but supposed to be 80% in a week.
The 8 mile boat ride back into choppy seas in a leaky overloaded but charming boat (equipped with no life jackets) with 15 other cruisers was too long. People joked and wondered why we were on a long rough boat ride after we had all spent many days on the water getting to the Maldives.
Of the 15 boats anchored at Uligan, 4 were from the US, one each from Austria, Holland, Australia, Cyprus, Sweden, the UK, Norway. All of the US boats were customers of West Marine. Jane and Marc from the Halberg Rassy 46 �"Imagine�" of Chicago said that their relationship with Pam Wall at her boat show seminars was the key factor in convincing Jane to leave the comfort of home and go cruising with her three children and husband! Pam is on their cruising update list. Stu and Sandy of the Hylas 54 �"Heartsong�" and Jody and Ron of the 50 ft catamaran �"Miss Jody�" are the other two US boats.
The Maldives are reputed to have great diving and snorkeling. We had a good snorkel on a reef between us and shore. There were some fish but not as many or with the variety that we have seen elsewhere although I did see the biggest parrot fish hiding under a coral bommie. The coral was bleached and the colors were muted yellows and greens. Locals said that the coral changed from brilliant colors to muted ones about 15 years ago. I'm sure there are better places here to snorkel and dive. Since we are on a delivery we didn't have time to find them.
Overall the Maldives are a friendly comfortable place to visit and if one had or took the time they would be a good place to spend several weeks or more cruising. One should bring what they need as boat parts will need to be imported and even provisions here is a challenge. We enjoyed the people and our time here.
We weighed anchor this morning bound for Egypt, where street riots are happening, 2743 nautical miles away.
Photo Uligan Home
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