Off we go again.
16 April 2015 | Near Kudahuvadhoo
Bill/ Sunny and hot--again!
We were off and away by 0700 this morning to cover the 25+ miles to the next anchorage in the next atoll with Yolo taking the lead. We'd had great time in Jinngauthu over the last two days with plenty of fish and reefs to look at(the best is off the west reef). We took time out to go ashore and not only burn our trash(plastic) but to collect trash from all over the island. The main offenders were water bottles and we gathered them by the hundreds. Jason brought back boxes and big canvas bags full of them. The island had apparently been used by one of the local resorts for parties as there was a nice hut on the island with a picnic bench inside and plenty of room for lots of people. A place along the shore to gather people to get them back on board a boat and even a nice wooden shade umbrella just asking for some chairs to be put around. A beautiful beach runs most of the way around the island though you'd be hard pressed to find any shells. As I wrote earlier, the snorkeling was great with lots of plate coral and bommies and fish(a bit smaller than other places) with sharks and rays to be seen. Anchoring was all right with a sandy bottom where we were about 60 feet down(God bless our Rocna). With there being no wind or darn close to no wind, we sat nice and calmly side by side.
We both(Yolo and us) prepped our boats for sailing today as there was a bit of wind just as we were both getting ready for setting off. Of course, once we passed through the channel out of the atoll, the wind either dropped to next to nothing or it shift to come out of the southwest while the forecast was for Northwestern winds. Just can't catch a break out here when you try and sail. Both of us raised our mains for all the good it did.
We slowly moved along again under power(making more water) passing numerous new and established resorts. One new one we passed is going to be huge with a massive dock complex set up for bringing in food and supplies. All the "rooms" are built over water. Leave the land for the resort and put the "rooms" out over the water. Saves on land I guess. We've seen many like that out here. One we saw on Google Earth has the "resort" on one side of the atoll and the "rooms" on the other side of the atoll. You will need a boat to get back and forth from your room to the main resort buildings.
We received word a few days ago to turn off our AIS(Automatic Identification System) while in the Maldives. In Thailand(where we installed ours since it was mandatory)we ran it all the time as foreign boats were required to not only have it but to have it on all the time(not that anyone was really watching). Here, to run your AIS, you need to have a "License"!! So, once I got the word, I went below and hit the switch that allows us to only receive and not transmit. It's nice to have it as it allows other cruisers and freighters and container ships to know we are out here. With us planning on heading for the Seychells next month, we will just leave it off since while there have been no pirate reports in almost two years, it never hurts to be just a bit more invisible.
Tracy's a bit under the weather with a head cold that seems to want to stick around for a while so we will just stay on board and not snorkel now that the anchor is down. Rest is a good thing.