05
13 97N 073 09 50E 8m sand
Veyofushi
has a perfect desert island with a disappearing sand bar, lots of
clean sand to anchor on and clear water. Another great spot to spend
a few days.
 |
| top deck of Mother Ship |
 |
| crystal waters |
 |
| walking on the sandbar |
We
joined up with the rally boats and the Mother Ship here and spent
time swimming, taking long walks on a short beach and a trip to Hani
Faru to dive a known whale shark spot. It is too deep at Hani Faru
for yachts to anchor so we all jumped on the mother ship with our
respective dive or snorkelling gear and let the captain drive us
there. He was able to manouever through a narrow pass and allow us
to jump into the deep end of the channel where it is reported to be a
place where mantas and whale sharks gather. The big boat then moved
out to clear water and we swam around seeing a lot of nothing. When
we surfaced forty minutes later conditions had deteriorated. The
seas were more gnarlly. There were now waves breaking over the
shallow rim and we couldn't see the Mother Ship or anyone else.
Finally the swell lifted us and we saw the Mother Ship half a mile
away. We swam towards the ship and away from the breakers and then
we heard voices and the faint sound of an outboard motor. I had
taken off and held aloft one yellow fin – a standard dive practice
to increase your visibility to others – and this was spotted by
young Mairi in the dinghy belonging to Ngalawa which had been towed
behind the big boat. In the next ten to fifteen minutes Mairi picked
up eight divers and four snorkellers and expertly carried us safely
back through the swell to the big boat. Ten minutes after Mairi had
picked us all up the dinghy belonging to the Mother Ship, which we
had been told would stay with the swimmers in the water as surface
cover, returned from the local village where they'd been to buy
cigarettes. To add to our disappointment in Sail Maldives rally
organisational skills we learned later this was the wrong time of
year to see whale sharks at this spot.
The
next day it rained, rained, rained all day with strong winds keeping
us hunkered on board. I continued with my project of making new
covers for our cockpit cushions while David did boat maintenance and
in the evening we ate comfort food and watched the last Bond film.
Overnight
it stopped raining and dawn broke to clear skies. We were up and out
to walk on the beach, skip down the sand bar and enjoy hanging out
with our friends in the sunshine. It is a lovely place to spend some
time – what you expect the Maldives to look like.
 |
| pilot whale pod passed on passage |
We
joined up with the rally boats and the Mother Ship here and spent
time swimming, taking long walks on a short beach and a trip to Hani
Faru to dive a known whale shark spot. It is too deep at Hani Faru
for yachts to anchor so we all jumped on the mother ship with our
respective dive or snorkelling gear and let the captain drive us
there. He was able to manouever through a narrow pass and allow us
to jump into the deep end of the channel where it is reported to be a
place where mantas and whale sharks gather. The big boat then moved
out to clear water and we swam around seeing a lot of nothing. When
we surfaced forty minutes later conditions had deteriorated. The
seas were more gnarlly. There were now waves breaking over the
shallow rim and we couldn't see the Mother Ship or anyone else.
Finally the swell lifted us and we saw the Mother Ship half a mile
away. We swam towards the ship and away from the breakers and then
we heard voices and the faint sound of an outboard motor. I had
taken off and held aloft one yellow fin – a standard dive practice
to increase your visibility to others – and this was spotted by
young Mairi in the dinghy belonging to Ngalawa which had been towed
behind the big boat. In the next ten to fifteen minutes Mairi picked
up eight divers and four snorkellers and expertly carried us safely
back through the swell to the big boat. Ten minutes after Mairi had
picked us all up the dinghy belonging to the Mother Ship, which we
had been told would stay with the swimmers in the water as surface
cover, returned from the local village where they'd been to buy
cigarettes. To add to our disappointment in Sail Maldives rally
organisational skills we learned later this was the wrong time of
year to see whale sharks at this spot.
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