We arrived in Uligan on March 20th after a slow 10 day passage from Sri Lanka. Clearance in was efficient with our agent Hammadh arriving soon after we anchored with government officials . The boat stamp was used repeatedly as the multitude of forms were filled out and signed. After about an hour we pulled down the Q flag.

Our days here have been busy with a ferry trip to Dhidhoo, the region capital, a Maldivian meal at one of the homes on Uligan, and a visit to the nearby resort on Manafaru island. The ferry ride to Dhidhoo took two hours each way and the ferry was packed with families going shopping to the capital. On the way back there bags of goods including one motorcycle.


I had read in a travel book called Misadventures in the Maldives that an enticing local food was garudia made of smoked fish cooked in a broth and eaten with limes, chilles, onions and rice. I mentioned it to Hammadh and he arranged a meal in a home on the island and in addition to garudia we also had a baked fish, and roshi (roti) eaten with tuna with coconut and lime (mashuni).

We took a speedboat to the Ja Manafaru resort for a sunset drink; however at sunset we were deep in a wine cellar two metres below the coral surface with a very knowledgeable sommelier. They had close to 3000 bottles of wine from around the world ranging in price from 40 dollars to 11,000 dollars. A very surprising structure on the remote edges of the Maldives.


We now start heading south in day hops to visit the various atolls. We are limited by our cruising permit to go ashore on certain islands but can anchor anywhere.