Maldives

[mbianka]

I'm heading to the Maldives in a few months for a 12 day charter. Leaving out of Male of course. The plan is to wake up, watch sunrise, swim, snorkel, watch sunset, sleep. Repeat. With an occassional meals, naps and boat drinks during each of the days. My question for those out there who have been in these waters:

1) Any locations by name or Lat & Lon that you found as favorite stops?

2) Any local dishes or foods we should try?

3) We thought we might want to stop at an island or two with a resort on it just for a walk and look and perhaps a lunch or two. Any recommendations or suggestions?

4) Any other advice or suggestions welcome.

[boatman61]

Watch out for fishing boats.....

[Laidback]

Hello Mike,
Could I suggest that you sail north from the Male Atol to a northern destination - Uligamu at 7d 04.78' N x 72d 55.5' E some 180nm as an albatross fly's. You can land there and take on fuel and other basic supplies.
A northern passage is more interesting than the southern to Addu (Gan) as there are many more atols that one can land on. It will take only 2/3 days to get to Uligamu, which allows one to take time to return south through many interesting little islands and reefs.
You will need a very good chart, a boat with a good depth sounder, a VHF to communicate with resorts etc, a base GPS on board, a hand held GPS, Polaroid sunglasses to navigate through the reefs, wide brim soft hats, sun protection cream minimum SPF 30. Don't eat reef fish that have teeth that are used to feed on other fish. Remember to dress appropriately when going ashore - Muslim country.
The weather in early January can be expected to produce light Westerly breezes around 10 knots, at times from the East.
Enjoy

[mbianka]

Thanks Laidback! Just the kind of info I was looking for along with the cuisine recommendations for the area.

[atoll]

try the local dried tuna,sliced very thin ,great beer snacks also want to stock up on booze at the airport anchorage ,duty free,as no alcohol on most islands,except resorts.

[mbianka]

Dried Tuna sounds good. Especially with a nice cold beer. Thanks for the tip about the duty free liquior at the airport anchorage. Though I believe the boat will be already stocked when we get on board. Though we will check if our requested Bailey's or Amurula is on board for the obligatory after dinner star gazing. That happened on one charter and we make sure it never happens again!

[mbianka]

Thanks again for all who provided some info on the Maldives. I've just started to post a day by day account of our charter there (including Lat and Lon of where we anchored) if anyone is interested starting here:

THE BIANKA LOG BLOG: CAPT. MIKE IN THE MALDIVES: DAY 1

There are links at the bottom of each post to go forward or backward in days.

[MarkJ]

Remember there may be security issues there in Male:

Maldives hotel apologises over marriage blessing abuse | World news | The Guardian

The locals may not all be as chearful to see you as the brouchers extoll..

[PamlicoTraveler]

That video is amazing.

They think he's renewing their vows and he is really saying "Before you penetrate chickens a$% check for rashes on chicken's ^&*. It's cruel, but it seems like they have a sense of humour.

[mbianka]

Mark J:

LOL. Well, I certainly did not go there to get married. Though I guess a lot of the resorts do cater to those who commit the deed elsewhere and spend their honeymoon on one of the islands. Actually, my girlfriend and I were really not sure we would actually be able to share the same room on our stopover in Doha Qater. Luckily, there seemed to be a don't ask don't tell policy in effect at the time.