I haven't provided much for write-ups lately as all the recent anchorages we've stopped at are, well, quite similar to past posts and I didn't wish to repeat the same-old. We've been mostly fortunate at choosing anchorages as we've come across some real pretty settings and the island towns have been nice, laid back, with basic groceries and nice, curious people. They often don't get sail boats anchoring off their turf and we seem to be the first of the 2015 wave. My only complaint would be finding suitable anchor setting locations i.e. < 20m and no coral.

We are presently at Hithadhoo in the southern Laamu Atoll and are secured to a mooring ball (40m) - for the first time in the Maldives! But this wasn't before painfully trying to get our anchor to set for 1.5hrs in a nearby lagoon. It's a pretty nice location: breezy, great snorkeling and diving choices with lots of varied marine life, a resort that doesn't have a landing fee, etc. We'll park here for a 5 days before heading south to Gaafu Atoll which is a 62Nm trip or 8-11hrs trip, pending wind conditions. And actually, we are planning our departure (Sunday) based on some up and coming NE winds.

The skies lately have been loaded with large heavy clouds where we've seen a few good squalls pass us by and only been the recipient of minor ones☺. Also managed to steer and negotiate ourselves out of the path of a massive earlier this week while enroute. Overall, the winds generally have been quite weak and have changed from NE to S and back again. Such is Neptune's world!

Invasion of the flying boat ants: Earlier, while anchored in the scenic harbor of Veymandhoo (5m) we were accosted by thousands of flying ants that later lost their wings while onboard. They were everywhere and we are still finding them as they seek hard to get to places! They don't bite and the panic attacks are now over thank goodness. 4 days later and we're still clearing them off our boat.