Year 3 -26 April 2026 – Himmufushi -North Male Atoll – Maldives – another treading water day but potentially success at last.
We woke at a reasonable time and had breakfast and the ladies had an early morning swim. I packed away the tools from the night before and liaised with the agent about getting the gas cylinder filled. He said if I put it on the 10.45am ferry then he would arrange for his representative to meet the ferry the other end. I therefore went ashore and put the cylinder on the 10.45am ferry.
Once it had gone I went shopping and found some tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce and cokes. I returned to Stormbird. Thaleem said he was working on the control box and he would come this evening and finish everything as he had to work in the office today.
Keith was feeling a lot better and more himself and his appetite had returned. The ladies prepared some lunch and we waited.
I decided to clean the hull. Armed with a scraper and wire wool brush type thing I managed to clean some green which was beginning to appear. This was quite hard work. I then did some more planning. I then heard from Thaleem that he had fixed the control box and would be on the 8.00pm ferry. This was very late but what could I do and I knew he was flying off tomorrow South.
We rested in the afternoon and read and Carolyn managed to eke out her curry and we eat about 7.00pm. It was dark by now and I met Thaleem at 8.15pm and of course he wanted a coffee first and two cigarettes.
We then came back to Stormbird and fitted the control box and then he wanted to test it before putting in the correct fuse. He asked me to press the buttons and all I heard was a click. I thought oh no it is not fixed and another problem. However, I think the reason for this was the wiring and once he wired it correctly the windlass seemed to be working. We checked the switches and once we were satisfied we put in the correct fuse and then tried it again and all was working. We then put the chain around the windlass and moved the chain up and down and it now seemed to be working correctly. Hurrah – however the proof of the pudding will be when we actually use it properly up and down. What a relief and testament to Thaleem who stuck at it. If this works I will have a completely reconditioned windlass.
Once we had done this we set about changing the batteries over again which took a little time. Therefore I moved 4 old batteries from then bow thruster box to the main bank and the 4 new ones from the main bank to replace them. Once this was done I took Thaleem ashore about 11.30pm for a coffee and cigarettes and agreed a price. He was meeting a friend and sleeping on the boat and going to Male at 5.30am in the morning. I thanked him for all his help.
I returned to Stormbird about midnight and went straight to bed. It had been another long day.
The picture of today is the windlass which has caused so much trouble recently.
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 currently full which is great but if things change I will make this clear.
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