Rangali
Roam2
Terry & Fiona
Thu 14 Apr 2011 06:22
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03:36.9 n
072:43.5 e
Another motoring session through the reefs inside South
Ari Atoll from Danghethi on the SE to the Conrad resort on Rangali Island in the
SW of the atoll, a tiring 12 nm.
We've been using Google Earth hooked up to a GPS feed to
navigate as it is more accurate than some of our charts. its limitations were
brought home to us when we passed an uncharted reef (on MAxsea) close to
starboard. looking at GE, I'd missed it as it was hidden behind some clouds.
only looking very closely would you recognise it as a reef from the photo.
The reef however IS shown on our paper chart and on the
OpenCPN software - which strangely uses the same chart data as MaxSea, so what
is going on there?
Anyway, to more interesting things. We picked up a
buoy next to the 'house' gulet that does day and sun-down trips. No-one bothered
us during our 2 night stay. we introduced ourselves at reception and they just
said 'welcome'! no papers or passports required. This is a large resort spread
over 2 islands and a complete mini atoll. there is boat transport set up to
transfer guests from one island to the other so they don't have to walk too
far. SeaPlanes are frequently landing and taking off. It’s a stunning
location with prices to match. 2 nights bed and breakfast would have cost over
USD 1000 for 2. allow another 300usd per day for drinks, lunch and dinner and
you might be near the mark. There was a cocktail reception (free-flowing wine)
the first night and we stupidly owned up that we were not proper guests so we
could not participate. There are quite a lot of people here so the staff can't
really recognise everyone so we could have got away with it but we're just too
honest! more disappointing was that we were also refused the 50% off Happy Hour
prices advertised in the menu. oh well. we used the pool rinsed off in the fresh
water showers and used towels. we snorkelled on the reef behind our mooring and
enjoyed our own food and drink on board. We met another boat that had visited
here and had spent several hundred dollars on food and wine here. they said it
was superb but a bit beyond our budget, I'm afraid.
We saw a black tipped reef shark here about
5' / 1.60m . I didn't jump in to measure it, nor to test the theory that they
don't attack humans.
it was very hard to tear ourselves away this morning,
but we have to continue on.
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