Position           06:54.84 N 073:13.82 E

Date                 1305 (UTC+5) Saturday 5 March 2016

Distance run    22.4nm over the ground

At last the time came to leave the security of Uligan and start moving south and exploring the atolls and anchorages.  Sailing guides for e Maldives are not really available and we are dependent on a series of sailing blogs gleaned from the Internet.  Thanks to Captain John, the s/v Lolo and Totem amongst others whose information is invaluable.  We are also very reliant on Google Earth downloads which overlay onto the charts on OpenCPN to show what is actually on the ground and where it is, the charts are both inaccurate and land and reefs can be up to ¼ nm out.

Dhapparu was the first destination.  There were bommies to avoid as we passed over the bar but we saw no less than 5 metres under the keel.  We did not find the bommies for snorkelling in the recommended anchorage spot and whilst the location had the expected white sandy beaches and palm trees the insect life ashore was fearsome. Christoph and Dagmar went ashore and came back covered in a spectacular array of angry blister like bites from the sand flies that Elizabeth treated with Piriton.  Not to be recommended other than for an overnight stop.

The beach at Dhapparu – Sand fly central