Day 146, Year 5: Arrival in Addu Atoll
Date: Sunday, March 21, 2010
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny, HOT Day; No Wind
Location: Gan Island, Addu Atoll, Maldives
Latitude: 00 degrees 41.157 minutes SOUTH
Longitude: 073 degrees 08.635 minutes E

Passage Statistics:
496 Miles in 101 Hours
41 Hours Sailing
60 Hours Motoring
Fuel Usage~30 US gallons or 114 liters

3:48 am Crossed the Equator
2:00 pm Anchored Off Gan Island
2:45 pm Coast Guard Boat Brought Officials to Windbird
3:30 pm Coast Guard Boat Left After Checking Us In
4:15 pm Went to Shore to Explore
5:30 pm Back on Windbird

We are south of the equator once again. It will take a bit to get used to writing our latitude with an S instead of an N. We ended up motoring all night and all day today, but we got here safe and sound and had no trouble checking-in. The officials got very concerned when they saw our paperwork that showed we had checked out of Uligan, but when we told them we went to the high seas and then had some mechanical issues that need to be dealt with, they made some phone calls, nodded their heads, and then finished the process. They simply put our last port of call as “high seas” not another port in the Maldives. They were very helpful and efficient and on and off the boat very quickly. And we were very grateful that they let us stay here. Our “mechanical problem” didn’t really happen on the passage, but we used our freezer compressor as the issue and that worked. We have little hope that anything can be done, but there is a man here that is supposed to be a very good refrigeration guy. We will ask him to check out the compressor and see what he thinks. Constance needs to get a capacitor for their gen-set, so that is their “mechanical problem.” So now we will be able to fill our fuel tanks and load up with fresh fruit and veggies before heading off to Chagos. It will take us at least three days to reach Chagos from here and we want to be there no later than April 1, so we will probably spend a week here and then head out.

This is not the idyllic anchorage. There’s no white sand beach, no swaying palm trees, and no pristine water. Instead we are anchored in front of a causeway that connects two islands and watch trucks, cars, and motorbikes crossing. It is a very small anchorage and we are crowded with three sailboats and two tour boats at anchor. Single Malt, a boat we know from the Sail Indonesia Rally two years ago, was here when we arrived. Edi and Eli are also headed to Chagos. So they are one side of us and Constance is on the other. As the tide comes in, it brings LOTS of seaweed and other organic matter with it, so it is not inviting to jump in. But there is supposed to be really nice snorkeling in the pass just yards away, so hopefully we will get in some good snorkeling and enjoy walking or biking the chain of islands connected with causeways. We understand that we might be able to rent bikes at the Equator Village, the resort here, and that would be great fun.

When we went ashore, we went looking for a SIM card for our modem that would allow us to have internet on the boat. We found a little store that sells SIM cards, but they were not familiar with our type of modem. We bought the card which works in our cell phone, but we need to search further to find a way to get internet on the boat. We know it is possible, but we just need to find the right person to help us. So that will be tomorrow’s search.

100321 Day 146 Maldives–Passage to Gan