24 March Hulhumale, airport anchorage

04 13.43N 073 32.18E 10m sand

You enter the anchorage through a well marked, busy channel; ferries are buzzing back and fro between here and Male, a Customs boat followed us in and tied to the wall, the live aboard fleets, the fishing fleets, water taxis and a dredger all use the same 80 foot wide channel. Depth is not a problem. Finding a gap to drop your anchor can be tricky because the live aboard boats use two anchors on very long rope lines . Moving through the boats we kept a sharp look out for these lines which can be within propeller and keel depth of the surface for a distance. We found a gap opposite the building site of new Marriott hotel and laid out 30m of chain – there's a balance here between holding and a too large turning circle. In a light breeze, excellent holding and a big Rocna we went with shorter scope than normal.

On the first afternoon we took the dinghy across to building site of the Marriot where there are steps and a ramp to haul the dinghy out. From here we walked to the town centre of Hulhumale; a brand new town built by Chinese contractors with three storey blocks of flats, a shopping precinct and the first ATM we have seen. With local money in our pocket we went to a big, modern supermarket and loaded up with decent wholemeal bread, fresh fruit and ice creams. The essentials.

Next day was spent waiting for the fuel barge to come round to buy petrol. (It was Friday so most shops are closed or only open in the afternoon.) The barge came to the yachts mid afternoon. The rally organiser had said they were arranging a barge, but when their man didn't turn up one yachtie took the initiative and found another barge who was able to come and fill yachts with diesel or to fill jerry cans. The rally's price was US 94c a litre for petrol. We paid MVR 11 (US 73c) a litre by going direct. A few days later we bought diesel from the same barge for MVR 8.5 (US 57c) litre.

Hulhumale anchorage

Male ferry

Seagull cafe gelato

Early evening we took our dinghy to the boat ramp by the hotel and using the wheels pulled it up and to the side of the ramp and then walked ten minutes to the ferry terminal. This is the Hulhumale boat club jetty used by amateur fishermen and we confident leaving our dinghy here while we were away in Male. We never heard of any incidents of loss or damage to anything in our time in Maldives.

There's a ferry to Male every 15 minutes, takes about 20 minutes, the service operates 24 hours a day and it costs MVR 5.50 (US 37c) each way.

Our mission this evening was dinner at the Seagull Cafe. For many years David and I used to come to the Maldives for diving holidays on live aboards and at the end of the holiday there was always a visit to Male and an obligatory visit to the Seagull cafe for ice cream. The place is a legend in our lifetime and it didn't disappoint after an eleven year break between visits.