Year 3 -15 April 2026 -Kagimer Lagoon – Houvafen Fuschi Lagoon -North Male Atoll – 25.67nm Maldives
It was a greyish morning and some had a swim. Rain was forecast at about 12-2.00pm. J had heard from Baros and we could come and drop them off and we may stay for lunch. We had breakfast in this unusual lagoon and as we were preparing to leave a sea plane came into land and a boat met it and whisked the occupants off to a nearby resort.
We upped the anchor without difficulty and then eased through the lagoon to the narrow entrance. We went through this slowly retracing our steps and the lowest again we saw was 3.1m on the depth gauge. We therefore had about 0.5m under our keel.
Once through we sort of skirted round the outside of the atoll as we were going to an anchorage on the western side only some 5.5 nm from Baros. We passed a number of resorts and islands in the making which will no doubt be likely to be turned into resorts with diggers and boats depositing sand it appeared.
We put up the main to give us a little lift but could not sail properly due to the strength and direction of the wind.
I saw on No Foreign Land (NFL - a sailing app) that a boat called Jamal was in the same anchorage that we proposed to go to. As we were sailing Jamal called another boat and asked them to change to Ch 8 on the VHF. We listened in and Jamal said they were going to stay to avoid moving with the rain which was forecast. This made me more interested in getting anchored before it the rain arrived. We fished again but had no luck although J had caught a fish the night before at anchor but due to its size he put it back.
We motor sailed on and had to meander round bits of reef and shallow patches and before long -about midday we were approaching our lagoon. I had seen Jamal on AIS and then visually as we got closer we could see her anchored. We came round the reef and there was a narrow entrance round the reef and I checked this on satellite and visually you could see from the colours of the water the distinction in depth and which parts were safe to use.
We came into the lagoon and motored passed Jamal which was an Amel Supermaru. I looked them up on NFL and they were from the UK. They had left the UK in 2020 and went to the Galapagos and then in 2023 to New Zealand. In 2024 they went to Malaysia and then in 2025 to Thailand so they took quite a long time in these places. This year 2026 they went straight from Thailand to the Maldives.
We passed them in the lagoon and I judged our turning circle and we anchored at 12.35 pm behind Jamal in 16 m of water and we could see the reef around us. Whilst there were some threatening clouds it did not rain although we could see flashes of lightning in the distance.
We were in a lagoon surrounded by a circular reef with no land near us so it was like anchoring in the middle of the sea. There appeared to be little around us. We all had a swim which was nice and there was a bit of a current so we put out a fender on a line to hold on to.
We then had some lunch -egg mayonnaise, coleslaw, salad etc. We then rested and read and enjoyed the afternoon. There was a bit of a breeze which fanned us on the aft deck.
I got on with some planning to Chagos and Mauritius.
I got a message from Jamala to say hello and I explained that our outboards were not working. They are going on to Himmafuschi next and so are we after we have left Baros. I said we would see them there.
We had more of the chili for supper with pak choy which was nice and we finished off the papaya.
We had dodged the rain but there is some forecast overnight and so we shall see.
The picture of today is Cari & I on watch.
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