The Zuiderdam sailed into the lagoon of the main island, Male, early just after sunrise. There must have been some small boats in our way because the Captain blew the horn more than once as he approached the anchorage spot. Or perhaps the pilots tooted the horn. The capital of the Maldives is Male with 1/3 of the population living there. The total population is 393,000 people that speak Dhivehi, a close relation to Sri Lankan language. Three factors associated with the Maldives is unrivalled luxury, gorgeous white sand beaches, and an overwhelming underwater world. It is advertised as a guaranteed choice for a vacation of a lifetime.
There are 1200 islands here, many of which are natural atolls. Private luxury resorts are situated on these outlying islands, some are only reachable by a floatplane. Over one million visitors come here in a year to enjoy this Indian Ocean paradise.
The big draw at these resorts are the diving and snorkeling opportunities. There are dazzling corals, tropical fish, manta rays, turtles, not to mention hammerhead sharks. The world's largest fish is here….the whale shark. Despite their massive size, they dine on plankton.
Male is the best place to get to mix with the locals, although this is not the best weekend to be here. For most of us, it is Easter weekend, but locally, it is Ramadan, a time of Muslim fasting. It will last until April 9th. Many shops and cafes will be closed until sunset. And forget about drinking beer or any other alcoholic drink, as it is not served here in town. You would have to go to the airport or to a resort to enjoy alcoholic drinks.
The anchors were dropped giving the port side the view of part of the city, a connecting bridge, and the ever-so-busy international airport. For such a remote part of the world, we never saw so many airplanes landing. There were commercial jets, twin Otter seaplanes and helicopters.
The ship was cleared by the local authorities by 8:15am. Due to tendering, most everyone had to get tickets. Shortly before the thundering herd went off, Kimberly announced that there were steep cement stairs to access the landing so those with mobility problems had to be able to do these stairs. Furthermore, she said that no one should be seen in public sipping our water bottles , since it was considered impolite due to the fact that all of the locals were still fasting during Ramadan.
We would never go off without water for safety reasons, but we would be discreet drinking it. Being in a Muslim country, we knew to dress conservatively. Not everyone from the ship got that message.
We joined the tenderboat about the same time "open" tenders were announced. Many folks had booked tours, but just as many had not. Here is what was offered for the two day stay here. The least expensive was the snorkel excursion for 2 ¼ hours for $100. Two tours that were $160 were Bandoss Island Resort for 4 hours or a 2 hour ride in a submarine. A dinner and beach party for 4 hours went for $240, while a trip to a remote resort for 7 hours was $281. An over night stay at the Maldives Full Moon Resort was $630.
The ride to the ferry landing took about 15 minutes. Turning right, we walked past the fishing boats crowded next to each other to unload their catch of the day. The first market we entered was the produce section. Most everything sold here must be imported from elsewhere. For instance, the oranges came from Egypt, the fresh berries were from Turkey, the wheat flour was from India, and Sri Lanka provided the tea and coffee.
We have to mention here that what we saw in town was far from the idealistic paradise described in the tour books. This waterfront area was littered with trash discarded in piles on broken sidewalks and uneven cobblestoned streets. Tons of motor scooters filled every inch of the street and side alleys. To say that it was crowded is an understatement. On the other hand, the busy fruit and veggie markets were bustling with locals shopping for the weekend. Their fish market had the biggest and plumpest snapper we have ever seen. There were barracudas, wahoo, swordfish and tuna and more. In fact, they catch up to 100,000 pounds of tuna annually. It was all fresh, and there was little smell. Sometimes these types of markets will knock you over with the smell, but not today.
A string of butchers were skillfully chopping and fileting some of the largest tunas we have seen. They seemed to enjoy having their pictures taken. Sometimes they don't. Continuing on up this street, we passed a few hardware stores, but it became difficult dodging the many parked scooters blocking the sidewalk. Taxis and trucks were also weaving their way through the traffic. Time to turn back, we went down a narrow side alley to the back street. There were fewer cars here, and also a few cafes. But they were all closed until later. Truthfully, there was not one place that we would even consider going to.
Some of the local favorite foods are called "short eats". One is called karaubu, a small deep-fried dough ball with tuna, mashed potatoes, peppers and lime. Other finger foods are fish pieces coated with chili, and another is a fried dough ball with fish and spices. They like spicy fishcakes rolled in batter and fried. Doing some online research, we did locate several pizza places and international cuisine too. Useless info now that most everything is closed. And there was no way we would desire to come back after dark. The crew will come over in groups for sure tonight. And they will be happy to find there is a KFC in town.
The ferry landing was already full of folks ready to go back either from short tours or just exploring like us. Good thing that the HAL tent had some hidden containers of ice water to serve because most of them were "melting" from the high heat and humidity. We decided to walk into the center of the island to see some of the sights. Across the busy road was a square with tall shade trees and a place to sit for a while. We could see the minaret of the Grand Friday Mosque and went in that direction to see it. It has an impressive golden dome and is made with white marble. A symbol of the city, it is the largest mosque in the country. It happened to be a non-praying time, but the surrounding patio was chained off for people to get closer. Some tourists were clueless as they went up on the marble stairs to pose for photos. Located in this square was the Victory Monument, a tribute to a war fought with the Tamils not too long ago. There was a nice garden beyond the mosque, but it closed just as we got there at 11:30am. We found a small park with benches under some huge old trees and sat for a spell. Locals were out and about shopping. There was more to see, but we found it way to hot to explore further. We have another day here tomorrow, so we shall save the other side of this city for then.
The tender ride was easy, and we were back to the coolness of our room by 12:30pm. We found that our every two- week delivery of Coke Zeros were on our coffee table. Just in time as we were running low. Working online and doing research took the rest of the afternoon. Lunch was room service salads and sandwiches.
We did have a good exposure on our veranda with no direct sun and somewhat of a breeze. And we had a great view of the lagoon and the boat traffic as well as the airplane activity. Before we knew it, the time had come for dinner. We enjoyed appetizers of a Thai salad and one arancini with marinara sauce. Salads for both, then one honey mustard chicken and one Club Orange short rib dinner. Both were excellent. Dessert was a sliced banana with a little chocolate sauce of course. One coffee and we were ready to go.
There was no live show tonight, but a movie, Oppenheimer. We do need to watch it, but we think it is also on the TV movie grid. Tonight we would fall asleep in the middle of it.
Bill & Mary Ann
