A passage of discovery to Uligan, Maldives 07 05.03N 72 55.12E
Yachtsongster
Brian Palmer
Tue 1 Feb 2011 02:24
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It is now Tuesday 1st February and we have been in
Uligan for 4 days and have to offically check out today, 72 hours after our
check in on Saturday 29th January. We finally arrived in the
Maldives on Friday 27th after a long hard passage. Those
who chose to go to Kulhudufushi, the convoy suggested entry, did not fair
well. They were given 72 hours and expected to leave the Maldives or
pay $650+ for a cruising permit in order to be able to sail 35 miles to Uligan
from where the planned departure would
be. There is little to cruise between
the two ports as this area is not well surveyed and the two cruising pilot books
contain little information on the area. It was fortunate
we listened to the findings of another yacht and then checked the information
out ourselves to confirm the information was correct.
For those following in our wake, beware, not all information on Noonsite is
correct, it is as good as the information it receives from the cruising
community. It is only here at Uligan where the officials
have managed to negotiate special procedures so today we check out, pay the
anchorage fee of $4.50 and a few further dollars to be able to stay another week
in order to complete the necessary boat repairs.
On passage we discovered many things about
ourselves - the most obvious being we have very short
memories. The dousing with gallons of salt water from the
passing ship's wake was something we had eexperienced before but on this
occasion the consequences were far worse. It was amazing that
with all the ships we encountered, sometimes as many as 15 a day it was only
this one ship passing at least 1 mile away that caused such a wake, others had
been closer. Our AIS transceiver has proved its worth as
ships now avoid us and take action to clear us. We are able to
track them as far away as 50 odd miles which is amazing and they tend
to change course around 10 miles from us
The water sadly gushed through our forward hatch
soaking through the mattresses and into the lockers below. Even now
we are still trying to dry out contents and mattresses but much will have to
wait until we are somewhere with good supplies of fresh water and who knows we
could get wet again!
We had also forgotten, not having done a long
passage for a while, just how boring, tiring and hard work it all
is. The seas were extremely rough and at times we battled with the
elements to change sails and provide meals. Always
before a passage I prepare a number of meals and these were our
saviour. Sadly on passage neither of us is able to
read as we would become seasick, hence the boredom. Songster discovered she loved the conditions sailing at speeds
we had never seen before, she looked after us well.
It is amazing how after a few days rest one forgets
the bad bits and you start to plan the next leg of your passage.
Here in Uligan we are without internet facilities
and have only just learned of the serious situation in Egypt and the increased
piracy activity in the Indian Ocean, much of it along the route we intended to
take. We had always thought the passage along the Yemeni coast
and into the Red Sea to be the most dangerous but with the pirates now operating
from hijacked merchants vessels they are spreading their wings further north
east.
There are something like 20 odd yachts here in the
anchorage with more to arrive over the coming days. We all
have one thing in common, we have to get to the Mediterannean. The
majority are Europeans returning home like ourselves after many years at
sea. Each afternoon we meet as a group to pool information on how to
best tackle the next leg. In the meantime we continue
with boat jobs and prepare for the next passage.
The reception by officials here in Uligan has been
possibly the very best we have received anywhere in the world.
They could not be more helpful and realise our plight, the need for longer than
72 hours to rest from the previous passage, deal with repairs and prepare for
the next. The TTT convoy was due to leave here around 10th
February but this has been delayed a day or two whilst people repair their
yachts in Sri Lanka and sail here, currently there are something like 8 TTT
yachts here. In a couple of days time we
plan to take a trip to a few islands on a local boat. The
water here is crystal clear and appears to be full of fish, we are amazed at
their antics as they scurry past Songster many leaping out of the
water. Yesterday whilst dinghying to a nearby beach for a pot luck
supper organised by the officials we came across a small manta
ray. It is a beautiful spot here, we can buy supplies and have
refuelled so hopefully over the coming days we will be able to enjoy ourselves
before embarking on the next leg.
Uligan is almost the most northern island in the
Maldives and like all the other islands heree is only a few metres above sea
level. causing them concern with global warming. People here
appear prosperous. Although remote they live in homes that
reminded me of Cornwall back in the 1940/50s with rendered walls and windows
with green paintwork. Their gardens, along with the village,
are extremely neat, tidy and clean. The women are the
best dressed of any islanders we have visited. Being Muslim
they cover up wearing the most beautiful scarves and well made outfits, so
different to the gaudy patterned shapeless outfits worn by the Malaysian
women. The guys on the other hand are like all others in
their regular uniform of Manchester United, Chelsea etc T
shirts. It is amazing, wherever we are in the world British
Footballs teams have many, many foreign supporters.
The officials here are treating us as very special
people even though we do not match the typical Maldivian tourist who usually is
an extremely rich and rude Russian. The locals primarily make
their living from tourism at the many high standard resorts dotted around the
islands.
If the sea and winds are a little calmer today I
plan to snorkel on the reef that surrounds this island.
Our current plan is to sail north east towards
Cochin, India and then up the Indian coast to take advantage of the sea breezes
before heading west. The Indian visas that I eventually
collected back in November may well come in useful should be need to stop to
refuel somewhere.
We will keep you posted on this blog as much as
possible.
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