7 May Gan - the final port

We're in our final few hours of our visit to the Maldives. The fuel tank and spare jerry jugs are filled, the freezer and fridge are filled to bursting, sun covers down, jack lines fitted and the waypoints for Chagos entered in to the chart plotter.

anchorage at Gan

Tern sculpture

We enjoyed the islands and the diving was good, not superb as it once was. However, for us, joining the Sail Maldives Yacht Rally detracted from our full enjoyment. We have to admit we are not rally people, but the poor planning, poor management and the experience of clearing out, the last memory you take away from a country.  The rally fizzled out after Male when the support ship suffered a generator malfunction and didn't go further than Male. From thereon the rally boats did their own thing and the experience improved. It was good to travel with friends, to share diving and snorkelling trips, sunset drinks on the beach and the camaraderie of fellow sailors.
Then we arrived in Gan sent our request to the rally organiser, Ahmed Adeel CEO of Luxury Resorts, ten days ahead of our planned departure date. Yachts that were not in the rally and had engaged Real Seahawks as their agent cleared in less than 48 hours. From our first email to ask to prpepare clearance papers to our depaeture day has been 17 days! Every question asking when? returned the answer tomorrow.
In our time in Gan, just over a week we went for dinner at the Equator hotel, sampled most of the menu at the Seahouse, shopped for food - finding a decent fresh vegetable is like a treasure hunt. The call goes out new supplies are arriving this afternoon and by evening the shelves have been picked clean by the swarming locusts. Potatoes have been trickiest, quickly followed by bananas. In tropical country where banana plants flourish.
Overall we are very glad we came to the Maldives, it is The Most Expensive country in terms of agency and government fees and taxes we have visited making Galapagos look cheap by comparison, but we sail to see, not to save.
Next stop Chagos where there are no local villages, no shops and no internet. If our schedule goes to plan we should arrive in Rodriguez, Mauritius in early to mid June. Bye for now.