cruisingworld.com80june/july 2016
june/july 2016cruisingworld.com80or have all-weather anchorages, a visit to
the Maldives required a combination of
old-fashioned adventurous seamanship
and the judicious use of modern
technology: We checked the charts to
pinpoint a potential anchorage and then
downloaded images from Google Earth
to help with navigation.
Understanding the weather was our
next step. Since ancient times, the
Maldivian people have organized their
lives around two seasonal monsoons. The
northeast monsoon, called iruvai (which
means “hot and dry”), is characterized
by relatively gentle winds that are lovely
for sailing. The southwest monsoon,
called hulhangu (“hot and wet”),
typically features storms and
strong winds. Historically,
hulhangu starts the second
week of April, but the local
fi shermen told us climate
change is altering the monsoons
and warned us to keep a
constant eye on the weather.
Cruising permits run for 30
days in the Maldives, but we
were spending two months
exploring the country, so we
stopped in the capital, Malé,
to renew our cruising permit
and provision in the country’s
bigger grocery stores. We’d
spent the previous month
trying to come up with the perfect
balance of uninhabited islands, remote
villages and tourist activities, and our
second month would be more of the same.
After a week in built-up Malé, we
headed to an uninhabited island in Ari
Atoll, where a pod of dolphins became
the main attraction after we discovered
they would swim near us whenever we
dived on the reef. From there we visited
a small village where we befriended
Mashood, a local who invited us to his
home for a dinner of mas huni (spicy
tuna and coconut), garudiya (fi sh soup)
and barbecued fi sh. Then it was another
uninhabited island of pared-down beauty,
with shady palms, white sand, iridescentlagoons and abundant reefs, and then
another small village, where we learned
the ancient Maldivian game of bashi ball.South of the Equator
As April pushed into May, we continued
south, deeper into the hulhangu. As we
neared the equator, the weather continued
to fl ip-fl op between postcard-perfect and
not at all nice. Our favorite anchorages
had what we dubbed “catamaran parking”
— shallow shelves of coral-free sand that
off ered good holding when multiday
squalls gave us whiteout rain and gusts to
50 knots. Off one village, we had a daily
visit from a fi shing boat that came by tooff er fresh mangoes and to advise us to stay
where we were, warning that the seas in
the Equatorial Channel were too rough for
transit into the Southern Hemisphere.
Finally the weather eased, and
we made our way to Addu Atoll, the
southernmost in the Maldives. We
wanted to buy four to fi ve weeks of
fresh provisions before continuing to
Chagos, where we’d spend the transition
time between cyclone seasons. The fi rst
clue that this might be a challenge was
when storekeepers would only sell us
four eggs at a time (and when tested,
about half of these were rotten); then we
discovered there was a general shortage
of everything from apples to zucchini.The same weather that kept us harbor-
bound had delayed the supply ships, and
several boat crews had been waiting more
than a week for fresh food. Locals were
waiting as well, and every time a supply
ship came in, there was a race to the
grocery stores to buy up whatever was
available. Eventually Evan and I headed
out individually, and we both struck gold.
Suddenly we had more than 120 eggs and
enough extra potatoes and onions to
make us popular in Chagos.
For cruisers, Chagos’ Salomon Atoll is
a fabled stop. It’s found 300 miles south
of Gan and requires proof of medical
evacuation and wreck removal insurance,
as well as a 50-pound weekly
fee to get a 28-day yacht-in-
transit permit. Once there,
we weren’t allowed unlimited
run of the place, but we could
travel between Ile Takamaka,
with its lush bird life, dolphins
and manta rays, and the old
Chagossian settlement on Ile
Boddam, with its wells, crum-
bled jail, abandoned hospital
and ruined church.
In 2010, a marine protected
area was created that covers
the territorial waters of the
Chagos Archipelago, which
has resulted in a rebound-
ing of fi sh, shark and seabird
populations and a reef that’s considered
one of the most pristine in the world.
On one snorkeling trip, we attracted the
puppylike attention of a young blacktip
reef shark and a green turtle. As Maia
swam and dived with the turtle, we were
mesmerized by the colors around us: Flu-
orescent lime green, pink, purple and
blue corals sprouted like wildfl owersSoutheast Asia to Sri Lanka: Easy sailing with light beam winds, with a chance of squalls in
December and January, early in the season. Q Sri Lanka to Maldives: Light to no wind. Many
boats carried enough fuel for the whole distance. Approaching the Maldives, the ocean currents
get stronger, and there are lots of unlit fi shing nets. Have a waterproof fl ashlight and sharp knives
available in case you need to cut nets free at night. Q Maldives to Chagos:Can be a bumpy ride if
the currents south of the Maldives hit the southwest winds. Watch for squalls later in the season.
Q Chagos to Seychelles:Classic trade-wind sailing with the wind from well astern. Cats with aCROSSINGTHE INDIANOCEAN ON ACATAMARANA POD OF DOLPHINS BECAME THE MAIN ATTRACTION AFTER WE DISCOVERED THEY
WOULD SWIM NEAR US WHENEVER WE DIVED ON THE REEF.Opposite, clockwise from top: Ce i l yd h, a
40-foot Wood’s Meander catamaran, an-
chors at sunset off Haa Alif Atoll, Mal-
dives. A procession of women attending
a wedding on Anjouan, Comoros, show
off the gifts. Maia swims with a curious
turtle in Salomon Atoll, Chagos.INDIAN OCEAN
INDIA10° N20° N50° E 70° E 90° E 110° ESRI LANKAChagos
ArchipelagoINDIAN OCEANRevised High Risk AreaMADAGASCARAFRICA
Equator10° S20°S(^06001200)
Nautical Miles
Langkawi
MALDIVES
SEYCHELLES
COMOROS
Route of Ceilydh
MALAYSIA
DIANE SELKIRK; MAP BY SHANNON CAIN TUMINO