April 9th 2013

“Two Oceans” just reached the Maldives and there are few pieces of information that will be of interest to whoever wants to go there.

We were told that a new rule has come into effect prohibiting yachties from going ashore on all inhabited islands except four which are considered as International Ports. Those are, as much as I understood, Uligamu, Khuludhufushi, Male and Gan. In all other inhabited places, you can anchor, but not go ashore.

The prohibition on visiting inhabited island does not include resorts and private islands, those can still be visited with prior communication.

An Inter Atoll Travel Permit can only be obtained through an agent; we used Antrac and up to now their service seems to be good.

We went into Khuludhufushi International port, which is at the southern point of the island (6 36.909 N 73 03.968 E inside the harbour). There is a fee of 12$ U.S for 24 hours stay in the port and one can fill water there for a small fee.

Maldives – Khuludhufushi

The town of Khuludhufushi has quite a few shops with basic provisioning and some restaurants. A café on the main street said they had Wi-Fi but electricity was down…

To our surprise we found a diesel mechanic who had a Yanmar sign on his workshop; it is on the main street too and you can’t miss it. Abdul Razzak refurbished my engine sweet water pump, doing a good job. His phone number is – 7794000.

India – Cochin

Regarding Cochin, from where we sailed to the Maldives – our boat was kept for two months at John Crabtree’s dock in Old Cochin (Mattanchery). The location is good with restaurants and shops nearby. There is an old security man guarding the place; nothing went missing from our boat. It is just slightly less costly than the Borgata marina. Well, water is available. The area is not so clean and when we left we discovered that both our head outlets were blocked, probably by mud. It is also very shallow; drawing 1 meter only it still felt we were slicing through the soft mud as we got out at mid tide. A friend on an Amel super Maramu (2 meters keel) stayed there a few years ago, but maybe it silted up.

Michael Barzam

www.catamarantwooceans.wordpress.com

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