Position           04:06.498 N 073:25.870 E

Date                 1220 (UTC+5) Monday 21 March 2016 through to Thursday 24 March

Distance run    9.6nm over the ground

One night in Hulhulemale was quite enough and we escaped to head for an anchorage at the north of the South Male Atoll just 10nm away.  Unfortunately, we had to leave Flomaida behind to grapple with customs with the help of the Real Sea Hawk Agent Sembe, another very good hand like his colleague Assad in Uligan.  We will wait at Velassaru Faru for them to arrive.

After entering the pass by the island resort of Velassaru keep the inner reef to starboard and proceed beyond the green buoy which local boats use as a marker then find a gap to cross over to inside the inner reef and anchor between two resorts on Velassaru and Bolifushi.  This is a great place to wait and wonderfully quiet after the bustle of Hulhulemale and Male itself.  There is traffic between the resorts and there was the occasional jet ski and resort boat but they were not obtrusive.

We found really good snorkelling to the south and east of our anchorage spot along the drop off of the reef between our position and the main area of the atoll.  There was a great deal of fish life and we spotted small sharks on each of our outings but did not have a camera to record the sighting.  The water was the clearest that we have seen so far in the Maldives.  We again found Crown of Thorn starfish but not in the same density as in the North Male Atoll.

Flomaida were put on to an excellent machine shop courtesy of the Real Sea Hawks agent Sembe who should be contacted if you require assistance in Male.  He also organised fuel with barge delivery, laundry for those boats requiring it and will deal with clearance for yachts arriving direct into Male from outside the country.

Male from Caduceus as we sailed passed.  Government buildings and the new Friday Mosque

The busy Male waterfront hiding the even busier gridlocked streets.  Land is at a premium.

No problem checking the anchor, safely dug in at 11 metres on sand.

Taken from the surface so wonderful visibility

Another example of very clear water and no wind– squid sheltering by the anchor chain

Flomaida were able to join us after two days with their work successfully completed

Another flat calm.

The smoke is from “Rubbish Island, 10 miles away, where they burn Male’s rubbish