Thulusdoo  15^th March 2011

We now have heard that our ship is due to arrive in Male somewhere around 30^th/31^st March so we have more waiting time.   Our plan is to spend more days here in Thulusdoo and then return to the airport anchorage next week in time to get our cruising permits sorted out.    These have incorrect dates on and having had a visit from Customs here in Thulusdoo two days ago we do not want to risk having anything wrong.

Thulusdoo is proving to be an interesting island.    Firstly there is the Coca Cola factory where sadly we did not get past the security guard.   It was easy to see the bottling lines and their large CO2 plant where the sea water is desalinated to add to whatever the secret recipe of Coca Cola is.    Coca Cola, Sprite and other bottled drinks is shipped in vast quantities many times a day from the dock here to Male from where it is distributed to the many islands of the group.    They obviously do not produce enough as the shops here have canned Coca Cola produced in UAE.

As usual on each visit ashore we are met by someone who owns a shop and they insist you come to look in the hope you have plenty of dollars to spend or give.    Like most tourist shops the goods are cheap and tacky, not our style, and we do not have neither the space nor money.   We in fact have plenty of items we would love to get rid of on board having stocked up with ‘giveaways’ for the poor people of Eritrea.     There are no poor people here in the Maldives especially this island.

After our visit to a grocery store yesterday morning we were invited to the shopkeeper’s home where we met his extended family.   Not quite sure who was who but there appeared to be dozens of people, particularly women and children.    Not sure if they have a roster for cooking but the person cooking for the family was extremely busy grating coconut, preparing vegetables and pounding the mixture for chilli chips, their version of tortilla chips.    They tasted delicious but were extremely hot.    The family was very hospitable and the younger members were able to chat with very good English.    School children are now taught all subjects, other than Muslim subjects, in English,  it is difficult getting the ear attuned to the dialect but once you have mastered it you can understand everything.   Many of the teachers come from India so they speak English like Indians.

This village has a number of shops selling groceries but they do not all have the same products.   Needless to say as everything is imported the prices are higher than we are used to.    

On our afternoon stroll around the southern side of the island we came across a huge colony of endangered Maldivian mega fruit bats.    These bats are huge, they are the biggest we have ever seen and hopefully when we next go ashore in the afternoon I will have my camera to take pictures.    Going ashore in the afternoons tends to be rather bouncy as the wind and accompanying chop come up around lunchtime each day.    At least there is a jetty that we can tie to even if it takes a bit of effort to get on to it.    In the afternoon surf it is too difficult to take the dinghy to the beach.

Two days ago we had an exciting morning, up early at sunrise we cleaned one side of Songster’s hull.    Doing it during the day with the heat of the sun is difficult as it dries too quickly and like windows cleaned in bright sunlight, the paintwork goes smeary.      Whilst doing this we could see we were surrounded by squid so we hastily got out the fishing rod and our new squid lure.    What fun it was as we caught these squid and they then showered us with ink.     Amazingly they always aimed it at us and as a result the boat was simply covered, we even found ink on the bed linen later in the day that had dried and was impossible to remove.     These creatures contained enormous amounts of ink which they projected at great speed and thrust.     We decided the clearing up process was not worth the time catching them so the fishing rod and lure is firmly away and out of site.    The squid caught went into a seafood carbonara along with fresh tuna we had bought at the fish market in Male.

This morning Brian was up early to clean the opposite side of the yacht where yesterday we noticed long black streaks of squid ink that had been missed the previous day.

Now we have time to relax we cannot believe how tired we are, so after lunch each day we have a rest, I manage to nod off whilst Brian reads and rests.   In around 10 days it will be all hands to the deck as we prepare Songster for shipping packing away sails, clearing the decks and making sure everything is stowed safely for the journey to the Med.

Our stores are going down slowly but we are still managing to eat very good meals from our vast supplies.

At least we are in warm weather, the sea is warm and at the moment no rain.   Winds are blowing from the NW.   With the transition period approaching, the period between the NE monsoon and the SW monsoon, the weather is likely to become unsettled.     The NE monsoon does not seem to have happened this year so not sure what is likely to happen with weather over the coming weeks as the seasons change.      We hear it Is cold in Turkey so it is better to be here at the moment.  

We now have heard that our ship is due to arrive in Male somewhere around 30^th/31^st March so we have more waiting time.   Our plan is to spend more days here in Thulusdoo and then return to the airport anchorage next week in time to get our cruising permits sorted out.    These have incorrect dates on and having had a visit from Customs here in Thulusdoo two days ago we do not want to risk having anything wrong.

Thulusdoo is proving to be an interesting island.    Firstly there is the Coca Cola factory where sadly we did not get past the security guard.   It was easy to see the bottling lines and their large CO2 plant where the sea water is desalinated to add to whatever the secret recipe of Coca Cola is.    Coca Cola, Sprite and other bottled drinks is shipped in vast quantities many times a day from the dock here to Male from where it is distributed to the many islands of the group.    They obviously do not produce enough as the shops here have canned Coca Cola produced in UAE.

As usual on each visit ashore we are met by someone who owns a shop and they insist you come to look in the hope you have plenty of dollars to spend or give.    Like most tourist shops the goods are cheap and tacky, not our style, and we do not have neither the space nor money.   We in fact have plenty of items we would love to get rid of on board having stocked up with ‘giveaways’ for the poor people of Eritrea.     There are no poor people here in the Maldives especially this island.

After our visit to a grocery store yesterday morning we were invited to the shopkeeper’s home where we met his extended family.   Not quite sure who was who but there appeared to be dozens of people, particularly women and children.    Not sure if they have a roster for cooking but the person cooking for the family was extremely busy grating coconut, preparing vegetables and pounding the mixture for chilli chips, their version of tortilla chips.    They tasted delicious but were extremely hot.    The family was very hospitable and the younger members were able to chat with very good English.    School children are now taught all subjects, other than Muslim subjects, in English,  it is difficult getting the ear attuned to the dialect but once you have mastered it you can understand everything.   Many of the teachers come from India so they speak English like Indians.

This village has a number of shops selling groceries but they do not all have the same products.   Needless to say as everything is imported the prices are higher than we are used to.    

On our afternoon stroll around the southern side of the island we came across a huge colony of endangered Maldivian mega fruit bats.    These bats are huge, they are the biggest we have ever seen and hopefully when we next go ashore in the afternoon I will have my camera to take pictures.    Going ashore in the afternoons tends to be rather bouncy as the wind and accompanying chop come up around lunchtime each day.    At least there is a jetty that we can tie to even if it takes a bit of effort to get on to it.    In the afternoon surf it is too difficult to take the dinghy to the beach.

Two days ago we had an exciting morning, up early at sunrise we cleaned one side of Songster’s hull.    Doing it during the day with the heat of the sun is difficult as it dries too quickly and like windows cleaned in bright sunlight, the paintwork goes smeary.      Whilst doing this we could see we were surrounded by squid so we hastily got out the fishing rod and our new squid lure.    What fun it was as we caught these squid and they then showered us with ink.     Amazingly they always aimed it at us and as a result the boat was simply covered, we even found ink on the bed linen later in the day that had dried and was impossible to remove.     These creatures contained enormous amounts of ink which they projected at great speed and thrust.     We decided the clearing up process was not worth the time catching them so the fishing rod and lure is firmly away and out of site.    The squid caught went into a seafood carbonara along with fresh tuna we had bought at the fish market in Male.

This morning Brian was up early to clean the opposite side of the yacht where yesterday we noticed long black streaks of squid ink that had been missed the previous day.

Now we have time to relax we cannot believe how tired we are, so after lunch each day we have a rest, I manage to nod off whilst Brian reads and rests.   In around 10 days it will be all hands to the deck as we prepare Songster for shipping packing away sails, clearing the decks and making sure everything is stowed safely for the journey to the Med.

Our stores are going down slowly but we are still managing to eat very good meals from our vast supplies.

At least we are in warm weather, the sea is warm and at the moment no rain.   Winds are blowing from the NW.   With the transition period approaching, the period between the NE monsoon and the SW monsoon, the weather is likely to become unsettled.     The NE monsoon does not seem to have happened this year so not sure what is likely to happen with weather over the coming weeks as the seasons change.      We hear it Is cold in Turkey so it is better to be here at the moment.