An Arabian Sea Tale

This morning, Eric let me sleep an extra hour, as at the end of my watch at 2am we changed sails again, from the jib to the screecher, since the winds were now more behind us.  This was about a 20 min process, and by the time we were done, I was tired.  I could not sleep before my late2am watch (Eric's watch is 6pm-10pm) so by the time 2am rolled around, I was pretty beat.  I finally hit the sack around 2:30 and with the noise cancelling headphones I was in a deep sleep.  Eric woke me at 7am instead of my scheduled 6am, and he took the noise cancelling headphones and fell into a deep sleep himself.

We had picked up some Uligan bananas before we left the Maldives, super sweet and similar to the apple bananas from Maui.  They were a little too ripe to eat so it was time to bake them.   Yum, I preheated the oven which I finally figured out that it heats to 350 degrees and before too long, it filled the cabin with the sweet aromas of baking banana bread.

While entering in the logs and catching up on my journal, I noticed something that catches my eye outside.  I stop, put my pen down, and go out to see what was there.  I spotted an albatross, a sleek, long winged grey and white bird with a narrow body and long wingspan.  I waved at him, as this is the first sign of life we've seen since leaving Maldives over 5 days ago.  I watched him for a while, he flew high, dipped his wings, then soared down fast, banking left, banking right, complete stop mid-flight, barrel roll down into the water like a torpedo.  He resurfaces, lifting off in the updrafts of the wind waves, a few strong graceful strokes of his long wings and he's airborne again.  Gaining speed, he flies along the surface of the water, just broadside to Sea Child, and waits, looking here and there, waiting patiently.  Suddenly, a school flying fish are startled by Sea Child barreling through the water, they take off away from our bow wake, and there!  The albatross changes direction, spots the flying fish, and dives for them.  As he comes back up again, he takes off again, and I almost feel like he thanks us for our help in his morning meal.

His acrobatic maneouvers have me mesmerized.  I can see how  mankind was enthralled by the flight of birds and wanted to mimic them, taking us into the heavens as well.  I have named my albatross friend, "Sean Tucker", after the famous acrobatic pilot we've seen for years at OSH.  Eric just got up from his nap, and now he is watching the antics of "Sean Tucker".  Oh, the joys of being out at sea.

We are now 214 NM from Socotra Island, sailing fast averaging 10+ knots boat speed on 15knots apparent wind. 

We are satiated by both the banana bread and by the aerobatics show this morning.  This is a glimpse of life on Sea Child.

CURRENT LOCATION:
12 DEGREES 01.244 NORTH
58 DEGREES 07.688 EAST

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The Maldives

Sea Child arrived in Uligan, Haa Alifa Atoll, Maldives on Thursday 25
February 2016. After our 1760 NM sail from Similans, Thailand, we
dropped anchor at 11:00am local Maldives time. We were met by some of
the most beautiful sights we have ever seen. The Maldives were visible
from about 6 miles out and appeared low on the horizon. They reminded
us at first of the island in San Blas, Panama, with one exception: The
Maldives are covered in more greenery that just the palm trees of San
Blas. As we sailed closer, we picked up the AIS of other vessels at the
Uligan anchorage, Taimada & Laragh. These two boats appeared as if they
were staged in the ultimate tropical landscape: Vivid turquoise waters,
bleached white sand beaches, massive breadfruit trees and the cobalt
blue waters of the Indian Ocean. The stark contrast of days of open
ocean sailing to the vivid beauty of Uligan was overwhelming. Never had
we seen such incredible beauty, not in all the 36 or so countries that
we have seen to date on Sea Child.

We were surprised at the small numbers of boats at the anchorage,
though. In years past, before the piracy incidents of 2009-2012, Uligan
was a hopping destination. Our agent, Assad of RealSeahawks Maldives,
was quite busy in those days. He has turned out to be a wonderful agent
for cruising yachts in the Maldives, acquiring sim cards for cell & data
service, arranging local dinners in Uligan ($15 per person, a cruiser
MUST) with the families of Uligan, even taking care of our need to make
a quick trip back to California and leaving Sea Child for 10 days to
meet our new granddaughter, Kaia. He assists all his clients, those who
need toarrange repairs for their damaged vessels and even acq uiring
new parts such as our need of a new starting battery which wen bad on
our sail from Thailand. Sea Child highly recommends all entering
vessels use RealSeahawks Maldives and enter in Uligan. Assad is the
very best we've worked with, and we couldn't ask for a more helpful,
kind, interesting and all around good guy.

Sailing the Maldives is exceptional! We had guests on board who needed
to fly out a few days after our arrival. A nice beam reach south to
HIdeaway Resort on Gaafushi Island, perfect flat water sailing along at
7-8 knots boat speed, full main & Jib. A short 16NM journey with
pristine waters, sailing around incredibly beautiful islands and atolls,
past an amazing reef that has waves breaking on the south end with a
lovely white sand beach in the center. The colors of the reef alone
captivated us as we sailed past the turquoise, cobalt, and white. The
waves were smooth and inviting. Trying to capture this beauty with a
camera is most difficult as a picture just doesn't give the perspective
of the beauty of the Maldives. But it does come close.

We dropped our guests off at Kulhudhuffushi Island, the largest
populated island in the northern atolls. With a Muslim population of
over 10,000, we found that the several mosques and their calls to prayer
were beautiful and in sync with each other. We passed several of the
mosques during prayer time as we went to dinner in the city and
witnessed the faithful in their standing poses. We have found the local
Muslim population to be kind hearted, interested, helpful, peaceful and
more. Our Agent, Assad, recommended that western women dress
conservatively, covering arms and legs below the knee. And it really
was more comfortable to walk around the villages and town in this
conservative attire (though it was very hot). While the local women
were dressed in full burka, their demeanor was pleasant and kind. They
were shy, especially the younger teens, who stood together and chatted
with each other as most teen girls do. They had their cell phones in
their hands, even playfully tucking the phones into their head coverings
since they didn't seem to have any pockets. Some of the wives of the
Uligan families were more talkative than others (possibly a language
barrier). We ended up buying some roti (chappatti) from one such family
who hosted our first local dinner in Uligan. These tasty rotis were a
wonderful addition to the provisions on Sea Child and we had made
arrangements to buy more for our crossing to Socotra.

The snorkeling at Maldives was colorful and amazing, several new fish
varieties we had never seen before. The massive bleaching event that
Maldives experienced previously has recovered a bit, with the blues and
purples and pinks returning to the coral reefs. We found a reef just
west of Nellaidhoo Island that captivated us again. Pristine waters,
visibility atleast 100'+, table corals and leather corals and tangs and
dorys and clowns and other new fish were everywhere. Coordinates of
this amazing reef, which we highly recommend on any visit to Maldives
are: 06 degrees 42.9 N, 072 degrees 55.1 E. Check it out. You won't
be disappointed.

Our visit to Maldives also included a night at Nellaidhoo Island, in
their guest cottage, RockSea Beach Inn. A Muslim island, Nellaidhoo is
captivating and is Uligan Island. Nellaidhoo Island has a population of
1200, compared to Uligan (500 people). Both have elected council
members, who dress in pressed white shirts and ties during the work week
(Sunday-Thursday). We were lucky to spend time with councilmember
Imaahd at Uligan, and council member Faru on Nellaidhoo. Both men
shared valuable information on their islands, from cultural practices to
schools and markets. On Nellaidhoo, we enjoyed lunch and dinner at Cafe
Oligo, an excellent outdoor cafe where seating is framed by lush
landscape with an ocean view. We talked through dinner with Faru and
Ahmed, our host from JA Manafaru. We learned much about the Muslim way
of life, and are blessed to have had the experience. If you should find
yourself in Maldives, we highly recommend a stay at the RockSea Beach
Inn. Tour Nellaidhoo. And say hello to the locals for Sea Child.

We sadly bid farewell to the Maldives on 20 Mar 2016 and are currently
underway to Socotra Island, Yemen. The winds have died on us, so we are
motor sailing. GRIB files show little to no wind for the next several
days. Wish we would have stayed in the Maldives a little longer. Oh
well, our memories of them will stay with us forever.

CURRENT LOCATION:
07 DEGREE 33 MINUTES NORTH
70 DEGREES 000 MINUTES EAST

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