Around the Indian Ocean

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On March 20th we arrived in Male, capital of the Maldives. When we were here 8 years ago we discovered that this was not a very attractive place being the main city with only a small artificial beach. So we decided to do one of the ship's tours to an outer resort. In the morning we stayed on board, and had our first quiz win!! Then after a quick lunch we headed down to the tender to motor to the port from where we would start our tour.
The sea was calm and it was a calm and comfortable ride to shore. We then waited a while to board a speedboat which then took us out to a man made island, to Crossroads Marina. It was a hot day but as we arrived the place looked inviting. However, as we started walking there was noone in sight. No shops seemed to be open and many businesses were for rent.
Eventually we came to a Thai restaurant that had people in it and stopped for a cold beer. We asked there, where is everyone and were told most people were at the Beach Club, a little further on. So on we walked and finally spied a large white hotel with Beach Club written on it. We were greeted at the door with a drink, however it was very warm having been sitting in the sun. As we walked in there was a large pool area with crystal clear waters on the beach further on. Most of our fellow travellers were there. We wanted to use the WiFi so we went indoors, only to be told that the inside was closed. Hot and bothered we left. Just around the corner was a Hard Rock Cafe. The staff here welcomed us and we then spent the next hour or so in the comfort of their air conditioning with a nice bottle of wine. They even organised a golf cart to take us back to our landing spot. We loved it there!!
Then it was another ride in a larger boat back to the port and thus a return to the ship. Unless you want to go to a resort the Maldives is not somewhere I would recommend, especially not during Ramadan.
The next three days were spent at sea. Sea days follow a pattern. There are three quizzes a day, a 20 question general knowledge one at 10-30, a themed trivia of 10 questions at 4-15, then at 7-15, a 15 question one which has 10 general knowledge and 5 on a topic. On the Thursday we were equal winners in all 3 with me losing the tiebreaker on the first one, Fletcher winning the second and me the third. A good effort all round. We are usually joined by our new friend, Deb, a British lady, which is helpful as there is a definite British bias to the questions. We are then sometimes joined by Lesley and Murray from WA as well as Keith, an Englishman and his German wife, Eva.
Apart from the quizzes, I have joined the choir and we have practice at 1pm each sea day. We are preparing for a concert just before we get to Cape Town. So far we have learnt 4 songs. We usually go to the Botanical Bar for pre dinner drinks as it is literally the coolest place on the 🚢. Then it is dinner with Deb, Garry and Jeff.
We reached the Seychelles on Sunday, 24th. We had been here 8 years ago and Fletcher had overestimated the amount of money we would need so we thought we could use it again. We left the ship about 9-30 and started walking into the capital, Victoria. We remembered it wasn't all that far. However, this time, 8 years later it seemed a very long way so we were pleased when a car pulled up and asked if we needed a taxi. We negotiated a rate for 3 hours and handed over our money. Paul, our driver, said there was very little open in the city so he took us to Beau-Vallon, a lovely local beach where we had brunch in a small Cafe. However, he returned and said that the notes we had given him were now invalid as they had changed to new plastic ones. We tried to convince him and the waiter that a bank would still honour them but no way would they risk that. So we paid the cafe with credit card and stopped at an ATM to withdraw cash for Paul.
Our next stop was in the city where we saw some of the main buildings, such as the Cathedral, the Clock Tower and a Hindu Temple. Then it was off to the Botanical Gardens. We had not been there before and had been told about their collection of giant tortoises. We spent about an hour there. The tortoises were numerous and fairly active and we also saw some of the endemic Seychelles plants, including a Cocoa de Mer tree.By the time we returned to the car we were dripping wet and very tired as the gardens go up the mountainside.
Our final stop was high on the mountain overlooking the city and Port. A great viewing spot which gave us a panoramic scene of our ship, the harbour and the man made island housing estate.Then back to the ship and the air conditioning, such as it is!!. We had to completely change as our clothes were wet through. A good and not so good day. We gave Paul the rest of our now unuseable bank notes so hopefully the bank will honour them.
Now there are 2 more sea days before our next port, Mombasa in Kenya.

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