8 March Dholhiyadhoo

05 59 65N 073 12 93E 28m sand Cross into the lagoon from the south / south east side with minimum depth of 9m.

We loved Dholhiyadhoo. Our favourite spot so far. Why? It's pretty. The only noise is birds. The anchorage is protected. In front of the over water bungalows is a 5m shelf for snorkelling and lobster hunting (yes, plenty of lobsters) and easy diving along the wall of the house reef where eagle rays are frequent visitors. There is even a good WiFi signal. When we paid a courtesy visit to work jetty the island caretaker, Mr Ibrahim, invited us ashore, gave us a tour of the island, a hat full of limes, added our burnable rubbish to their bonfire and offered us the use of one of their two supply ship moorings, but we were already anchored and not 100% sure of the age, or strength, of the line and opted to stay at anchor in front of the visitor jetty. Caretaker Mr Ibrahim told us we were the first yacht to visit the island this year.

one boat, two guests

tranquil lagoon

This island had been recommended by friends who visited last year so while the rally toured a number of islands on the east side of South Miladhunmadulu atoll we stayed in the centre. The island is a crescent shape lying west-east with the circle completed by submerged reef and a deep, sandy lagoon in the centre. Twelve years ago work commenced on building a resort and stopped before completion. Ever since it has been maintained in it's semi finished state by a small group of caretakers while a buyer is sought for the remaining time on the lease. I believe it's many millions of dollars for a few years.

We felt completely relaxed here and stayed for four days. We did three dives and went snorkelling, teased a few lobsters but never liberated one, caught fish for Polly and saw a squadron of a dozen eagle rays cruising along the sandy slope.

While we were here we kept in touch with the rally as they moved to two anchorages to the east of us and they circled back to the west.