Year 3 -13 April 2026 - South Miladhunmadulu Atoll – Faadipolhu Atoll – Diffuschi -Maldives
It was a greyish day when we woke and the rain had stopped. Some had a swim and we had breakfast and then decided to get underway. We upped the anchor and headed out the lagoon and had to head South down to the bottom of the atoll and we left the atoll through a gap between islands.
The wind was very low and whilst I put up the mainsail to motor sail and give us a bit of a lift, the direction and strength was not enough to sail properly.
We saw some black fins in the water and they looked about the size of a dolphin but were black and had blunt noses. They could have been pilot whales or porpoises or possibly sharks.
It was hot and there was traffic from some of the resorts. One of the resorts was Noku and we tried to ring them but the number would not work and we emailed them. The problem was that the anchorage was deep and there was some rainy weather coming in the night. A report had said they welcomed yachtsman but we could not contact them in time so we moved on. I did get an email later saying they would not accept outside dinner guests. I got a second email from them later in the day saying yes we were welcome.
We carried on and entered the Faadipolhu Atoll and came to another resort with a yacht anchored off it. We rang and they said we needed to email the General Manager which we did but did not get a reply in time so we continued. It would have been nice to go ashore for a meal.
We had coleslaw and tuna sweetcorn mayonnaise for lunch.
We motor sailed on and we had been fishing all day. We had a few strikes but alas we did not catch anything again. We eventually came to our anchorage which was called Diffuschi which was opposite a long island with a long sandy beach. I knew from the reports that we needed to feel our way in and anchor in sand and out of the way of coral bommies. We edged our way in and I had a waypoint where someone had anchored before. We could see a sandy area which seemed to be in the middle of a range of coral patches some with small bommies. We were in about 6.4m of water and we put down about 25m and it held. We then all got in for a swim and the anchor was bedded in sand. I went right around and calculated that if we swung 360 degrees that we would miss hitting any coral. The only issue was a patch behind us which had a large bommie only about a meter under the surface. This was teeming with fish of all sizes and full of activity. Within a further 5 meters there was another bit smaller and again was full of fish life. The large bommie was about 8 metres behind us and we could swing round it but if we dragged then it could be a problem.
I set the anchor alarm and we then chilled on the aft deck. The water around us was azure blue with dark patches of coral. There was a small breeze which was enough to cool us a little. As we were sitting there we could see in the distance dark clouds and rain which we were going to miss. However, the forecast was for rain certainly overnight. The anchor alarm went off as we were moving round in the wind and the bommie was behind us. We therefore took up 3 meters of anchor chain which pulled us forward a few meters. I was happy that we should be ok.
We had a sundowner and then as we had caught no fish we had pasta pesto (homemade from the basil we were given) with a green salad followed by a delicious papaya which we had got from the farm on Anhenunfuschi.
We anticipated rain but when we went to bed none had arrived.
The picture of today is the edge of the atoll.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
I will be going shortly from India to the Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.
I am looking for one crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town (mid-June to end of July). If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com