The sail down to Keyodhoo was short and sweet. We arrived around noon. We looked at a few anchoring options, including going into the little rectangular harbor that had been dug out in front of the sleepy, little town. Later on we were glad we passed on that option because one of the small boats that was tied to the concrete bulkhead had put out a stern line that ran over 300 feet and crossed the entrance to the harbor. It was only ½ to a foot underwater and we would have been strangled by it when we went in. As it was, we did hit it with our dinghy engine and it stopped us dead in the water. Fortunately, it was so shallow that it just got caught on the backside of the shaft housing and not the prop. Whew!

There is a small lagoon on the west side of the island that looked inviting but the entrance was just a small, shallow break in the coral. Also, there was a fish trap pontoon in the middle of it so we opted not to try that either.

Instead, we found an area in the channel that leads out from the atoll that is along the SW side of the island where the depth shallowed to 20 to 25 feet so we dropped the hook there. It is in sand and coral so the holding is good.

We waited until 1400 to go into town to allow for any market stores that may have to reopen after the afternoon call to prayers. The dinghy ride went well except for get snagged on the stern anchor line that I mentioned above.

The town is just a little thing and it was hot as the nice wind we had out at our anchorage was blocked by the trees and buildings. I will post pictures that I took so you can get an idea of how lonely the village looked. Most of the villagers kept inside except a few that slept or lounged in the shade.

A young man that worked at the local lodge came back who spoke English and took us to two little market stores. Both were little one room stores but the second had a better selection of vegetables, which we were after. We bought some sliced cheese, crackers, bread, green beans, green peppers, carrots and to that added some nice apples and a watermelon. All told, the cost was only $30 US which we thought was very good seeing that we are in the middle of the ocean and at a remote, sleepy little village.

Tomorrow we continue our slow journey to the south as we work our way to Gan which will be the town that we clear out of Maldives for the Chagos. We are planning to arrive there on or around May 5th. That will give us a week to rest, restock, fill our fuel tanks and clear out. We are still about 250 nm north of Gan as the crow flies. Thus, we still have a ways to go.

Our destination for tomorrow is the island of Maduvvari, on the Meemu atoll. Our passage will be about 25 nm. It has a large man-made lagoon by the island that was made after the 2007 tsunami destroyed the village. They excavated the lagoon and used the spoils to make a tsunami barrier around the island.

Our anchoring location is 3° 27.446'N: 73° 32.725'E.