First and foremost, Happy Easter Greetings to all! The only sign of Easter on the ship was an Easter Egg Hunt at 9am at the Seaview Pool. They had better be quick with their game or the chocolate eggs will certainly melt. That's if they use chocolate and not real hard boiled eggs. We did receive a cute Easter card from our most favorite travel agent – always a nice touch knowing that she is thinking of us (via our hosts).
We had hoped that today would be a little cooler, but that was wrong. If anything, it was hotter with temps in the 90's with that sticky humidity….and it was only 9am. We went off of the ship by 9:30am well after the tour groups left. Last night after dinner, we chatted with one of our buddies who had gone on the 7 hour private resort with lunch yesterday. He said it was OK, but the resort they used was on the older side and showed its age. On the plus side, there was an open bar for drinks – both virgin and alcoholic. Another nice fellow traveler also said she did the same tour and at $281 she thought it was pricey, but she had never been here before and wanted to see it and experience the snorkeling and swimming.
We had heard stories about sting ray feeding off of the pier wall, but did not see them yesterday. Bob mentioned that people told him that they saw them later in the afternoon. Kimberly had mentioned this in her talk, but failed to inform us that this feeding by the fishermen is done at 5pm when the Fish Market closes. We found this out when we asked a local policeman about the rays. He pointed the way to the spot, but said it happens at 5pm. Never taking anyone's word for it, we walked past the veggie tents and onto the bulkhead where we got lucky. It took some waiting, but while we were watching schools of tropical fish, here came a tawny-colored stingray about 3 feet in diameter. It came close to the black rocks below where we were standing, and we did take some photos. Getting good pictures of them underwater was challenging or next to impossible. But you have to take a chance and give it a try. Or sometimes you have to enjoy it while it's happening and store it in your memory. Three more came along and now more people were standing next to us watching the show. It was better than snorkeling to see the colorful tropical fish right below us.
Time to move on, we made one more stop at the Fish Market, which was just as busy today as it was yesterday. Many fishermen were loading the plastic buckets with assorted sizes of yellowfin tuna. We wonder if there is a limit to how many they catch in a day?
From here we made our way past the Grand Friday Mosque, the National Museum, and past a string of souvenir shops. At least they were opened for business, unlike every eatery in town, which was closed until sunset. Even the ice cream shops – not one was opened according to the Muslim law. Working our way towards the island's center, we found one of the main cross streets filled with more modern shops, hardware stores, boutiques, and even some malls. It felt like all 100,000 locals were out and about today. The only saving aspect in this intense heat were the old-growth trees that spanned the two-lane traffic creating a leafy canopy of shade. The most shopping we did was window-shopping, as nothing really caught our eye. And do we really need more stuff? Probably not.
On the way down this street we passed by a huge stadium surrounded with many dining options….all closed of course. Even a big advertisement showed a family style pizza ready to go at a nearby pizzeria. Good luck trying to find any pizza café here as the streets are chock-a-block jammed together as are the narrow side streets. We happened to run into another couple from the ship who had just come back from the Artificial Beach and another modern mosque. They pointed the way which turned out to be closer than we thought. Artificial Beach is just that – manmade. It was a cozy small crescent-shaped beach with imported white sand. Benches lined the beach and there were some trees for shade. Most every bench in the shade was occupied by locals. The food shack was closed as were the restrooms. Only one lady from our ship waded up to her knees in the warm waters with shorts on. No local women go swimming, and if they do, they will NOT wear a swimsuit. In other strict Muslim countries, such as Mozambique, we have seen the ladies go in the surf fully dressed in their flowing black robes and headscarves. No kidding.
Right next to this beach was a blue – tiled mosque….very modern with four dark granite minarets resembling obelisks for lack of a better word. There were men with young sons going inside since it was close to noontime. Our friends that gave us directions had wanted to go inside, but only the husband was allowed. She had not wished to take her shoes off, so she was not allowed in. Even in this day in age, this is a man's world. By 12:15pm, the call for prayer rang out from the city's minarets. And to be honest, we never felt the warm and fuzzy feeling of being totally welcomed here. We were not alone in our thinking, since many of our buddies said the same thing. We were tolerated in town, but considered more of a nuisance. Now if we had never seen the capital of Male and had gone straight to a private luxury resort, the feeling of being welcomed would be a far different experience. Ignoring some of those impressions, we still enjoyed roaming around and tried staying out of the locals way, especially at the produce and fish markets. This is their livelihood and from what we saw, they are hard workers.
We continued walking past the jetties in the marina until we reached the HAL tent and the tenderboat landing. We had consumed every drop of our ice water, and appreciated the cups of cold water that were discreetly handed to us in the covered tent. We were back onboard by 1pm. Cooling off was the first priority and ice cold sodas helped. Lunch was Dive-In with a chicken sandwich and a hot dog on a brioche bun. Finally figured out how to avoid those tiny black seeds on the hot dog buns. Going between the room and the veranda became impossible as the sun was shining on our side, and the heat was intense.
Captain Friso came on the speakers at 4:30pm and admitted how happy the crew and passengers were to visit here….a first for many, even us. Friso said he was most happy to stop here as it was a first for him as well. Pulling up the anchors and competing the remaining customs and immigration details with the officials was all that was needed before we left the lagoon. The Captain said he intended on circling the island slowly, then heading southwest towards our next port of the Seychelles in four days from now. He mentioned that we have 1254 nautical miles to reach our next port, which will take three sea days. That's great….we all need the rest and a chance to re-hydrate after two unbelievably hot days in Male.
Unfortunately, the direction the Captain took put the island's view on the starboard side. However, we did get close to an outer island with a nice resort with over-the-water huts and a large lagoon. This island would be reachable by local ferries, which we read that are quite cheap. That's about all that is cheap here, we think.
We had expected some Easter decorations in the dining room tonight. In fact it was a "dressy" night, so we thought the entrees would be top-notch. So the decorations were balloon figures of the Easter bunny at the entrance surrounded with colored lights. We ordered salads, a soup, and the every day shrimp cocktail. Club Orange had the best entrée with roasted lamb, white beans, and spinach. The meat was tasty, but not quite as hot as we like it, nor was it really tender. Since we finally sampled the Lido pizza at lunch, we were not all that hungry anyway. Dessert for one of us was sliced pineapple….so refreshing. There were no exciting desserts nor where there any chocolate Easter eggs or chocolate bunnies anywhere to be seen.
We always get something chocolate for Easter, but not this time. In our room, we had the formal candies, another towel animal, and that was that. Is it possible that every little extra touch will be stopped, due to the fact from here on out, the itinerary has changed? Sometimes there is a method to their madness when it comes to saving money. Little things add up.
Looking forward to some lazy days at sea.
Bill & Mary Ann
