Sundowners with friends, a few lunches in Male and that is about all we have done since our last posting. Just nothing much going on here. Unless one enjoys diving there really is nothing to do in the Maldives. The currents are too strong for snorkeling. There are no interesting sightseeing attractions unless one enjoys visiting mosques. We have been anchored here since March 12 and are more than ready to get out of here.
One really good thing is that there are no biting insects here. None at all. In the first spot we anchored there were thousands of flies; but within a few days we moved to the northern end of the anchorage and have not seen flies again. It is really nice to not be bothered by mosquitoes. Wonder if it is like this all year long or if this is just a seasonal lack of insects. Bill thinks there are no mosquitoes because of the lack of fresh water on these coral islands. During the month we have been here it has not rained one drop.
The crews and customers on the large tour boats routinely throw plastic bottles and plastic bags into the water. There is so much trash floating through the anchorage daily! They are ruining this beautiful place. Since there is nothing here except tourism, one would think the local people would strive to keep it clean in order to encourage future tourism. But they don't have any understanding of a clean environment. It really is a shame to see such a lovely place being blemished by trash and debris floating in the sea and collecting on the shores.
The resorts are pristine, but don't look on the back side of those islands where there are huge piles of trash.
The resort ferries zip through the anchorage back and forth from the resorts to the ferry docks or from the resorts to the dive boats all day long. It is only a matter of time until someone gets killed -- as has happened in several other places frequented by cruisers. One of these fast speedboats is going to run over a dinghy or a swimmer if they do not slow down in the anchorage.
One anchored yacht flagged down a speeding resort ferry a few days ago and asked him to slow down in the designated anchorage area. The response: "These are our waters. You are not welcome here. You should not come here."
Wonder if the Minister of Tourism would agree with that sentiment?
We recently saw the local seaplane airport terminal. Bill was impressed. That was a first for us. We had never seen a commercial seaplane airport terminal anywhere else in our travels. You really would not believe how many seaplanes are here.
crowded anchorages are just a nuisance for the resort ferries. Even in some yacht anchorages a tender will be operated too fast when the owner/guests want to get to shore fast. Sometimes an anchor light would be better displayed closer to the waterline than the masttop just to help tenders navigate crowded anchorages at night. The resorts feel that their guests spend money and that the yachties are more likely to be nature lovers who only buy an occasional roll of film.
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