CAPT. MIKE IN THE MALDIVES: DAY 1

It's about  four hour flight from Doha to Male.  They handed us a Maldives Customs and Immigratiom form on the plane which was had some very interesting restrictions:

Not exactly sure what a "psycho tropic substance" is but, I've been on boats that definitely had crew and/or Captain  who IMO were borderline psycho. It's also a pretty safe bet we won't be having spare ribs for dinner while staying in the country.  As for the alcohol even though you can't bring it in with you. The Safari boats and resorts have special permits that allow them to buy and serve alcohol. As did our charter boat. But, the cost of alcohol is high because it is highly taxed.  If you think you will avoid paying  the high duty for the beverage of your choice by bringing your own bottles in. Forget about it. Every bag is X-rayed BEFORE you leave the airport.

After the four hour flight from Doha we landed in Male. Well, we did not land in Male we actually landed on Hulhule' which is an island near Male.

It's a quick ferry ride from the airport island to the Male. But, for us we did not come all this way to head to a crowded city. We came for the sea. That's one of the charms of this country almost all transportation is by boat. For me it's a rather unique experience to be in country that has more boats than cars. The experience was enhanced because instead of jumping into an airport taxi to be taken to the charter boat the charter boat was actually waiting for us at the airport. Because a fairly large harbor is located just outside the arrivals terminal.

Our skipper Ibrahim was waiting for us as we left the airport terminal. He grab our luggage cart and walked us just across the road to the docks:

This is were all the ferries from Male dock and also where people who are staying at some of the island resorts are picked up and dropped off at the airport. Seaplanes that take people to the more remote island resorts are based on the other side of the island. The ferry docks are a busy place with ferries and boats called Dhonis from all over coming and going:

Now that's my idea of mass transportation!  Soon we we in the dingy heading out to our floating home for the next 12 days a 44 foot Knysna 440 catamaran which was anchored in the north end of the harbor:

Once we were settled in we were soon underway heading for the South Male Atoll:

After about an hour we came through the Embudhu cut. Cuts in the atolls are conveniently named "Kandus" in the Maldivian language an easy reminder to a visiting sailor where he will be able to find access to inside the atoll. We anchored behind the reef at 04 05.51N, 073.31.144E in about 60 feet for the night:

 After a quick swim and dinner as we were relaxing in the cockpit.  Ibrahim threw out a hand line off the stern to try some and catch some fish.

He used a rather simple rig that consisted of a reel of some 50 lb line:

Along with a small sinker and a lure made up of some pieces of red plastic strips wrapped around a hook:

Within ten minutes he had caught three nice Banded Trevally (called Kora Kali locally) using this setup.

So that was the evenings entertainment and a great way to end the first day in the Maldives

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