8 Days in Paradise - Uligan Maldives
Gaviota
Mon 10 Feb 2020 06:35
07:05.102N 72:55.082E
Our
8 days here seem to have passed really quickly and we feel fully
recovered from the first Leg of the journey and ready for whatever Leg 2
has to throw at us - we know it is going to be a tough one and if the
weather Gods are kind to us we hope we can get to Port Ghalib in Egypt
in one go but may end up stopping in Djibouti if conditions are not good
or we need fuel and a rest.
Days
have been spent swimming and snorkelling and carrying out essential
boat maintenance in readiness for the Red Sea. Last Friday we were
invited by our Agents Assad and Hammidh to join a group of local men for
spear fishing, we sped across to a deep channel between one of the
other inhabited Islands and an uninhabited one and the guys jumped in
armed with their spear guns, I followed but currents were strong between
the islands so I soon re-joined the boat but there were fish everywhere
and very soon large Jackfish, Grouper and Red Snapper were being thrown
into the boat. Next stop was the beautiful uninhabited Island close
by and while the spear fishermen continued their hunt we walked around
the Island and admired the sunset. We were invited to join the spear
fishermen back in Uligan to eat their catch which was to be prepared by
their wives.
Once
ashore we ended up having 2 meals as we were invited to join the
celebration of a man who had just graduated and been offered a
scholarship to study in either UK or Australia, his mother had put on a
feast for the Town with various tasty rice and pasta dishes with fresh
tuna and chicken curries was followed by a selection of homemade
deserts. Next stop was the spear fishermens where we ate the fish
selection they had caught which had been cooked using a Maldivian recipe
for fish Curry which has been voted by the BBC as number 5 in the
World's Top 10 Best Curries and it was delicious, this was served with
the beautiful home made Chapattis. I was told by Assad that the
Maldivian's love to eat and eat 5 meals a day - so I guess we were only
doing what the locals do!
I
also learned from Assad that the Maldives are opening their doors to
tourists who want to experience the 'real' way of life on these Islands
and people in villages like Uligan are running guest house accommodation
for visitors to experience the local culture and food. This is proving
popular with people from India and a budget airline is running cheap
flights from Cochin. Not everyone wants to be closetted away on a 7
star resort where you are unlikely to ever get the chance to visit and
meet these lovely people and experience their generosity and smiling
faces.
