Sailing through the Maldives Part One of Four...! (possibly)
We arrived at the northernmost tip of the Maldives at the beginning of May. We had to wait a few days to receive our ‘cruising’ permit before we are allowed to sail south through the chain of 1100 islands which only 200 of them are locally inhabited. Though we were anchored in about 4m’s over sand with rich coral reefs full of life to either side of the boat, so I was not complaining! To reach atolls of this scale and diversity by boat and in complete control of where we go and when, armed to the teeth with fishing kit and diving gear has always been a dream of mine so it would be fair to say I was quite excited...
This little Tern came and perched in the exact same place on the boat quite often while we were sitting on the anchor waiting for our clearance to cruise down through the Maldives, which by what little we had seen by then so was completely stunning.
This stunning fish has loads of different names all over the tropics but my favourite is ‘lunar tailed coral trout’ the guy behind him also has many names but as a migratory species to the Maldives the locals here call it a ‘lesser freckled red man’ extremely rare and is known to be dangerous when woken from slumber, I’d avoid it with a wide birth and encourage you to call your local law enforcement agency or similar if you should see one sailing towards you.
No spring lamb in the Maldives so had to make do with crab for Easter lunch. Tough life!
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Fly fishing in the first quiet lagoon we stopped at for Blue Trevally’s, occasionally seen big Giant Travelly’s and Bonefish produces all sorts of interesting and beautiful species of fish that often come out of sight and take your fly when you are casting at those bigger fish. It’s fairly annoying to a degree when targeting a specific fish but some of them are really stunning. In order (what I call them!) - Blue trevally, small jack trevally, false bonefish, small coral trout, parrot fish.!
Bonefish are right up there with my favourite fish in the world to catch, almost level with Salmon and Sea Trout (though so much stronger!). The conditions of wind, with sunlight direction and the shallow water you need to accurately and discreetly target this clever fish with light tackle, small flies and well presented casts with the fly rod make it addictive fishing. I have seen a few on other islands but haven’t had the ideal topography to actually pursue them in particular, the first atoll we have arrived on with the first semblance of a ‘flats’ (a very tidal zone that can almost dry out at low, preferably with sea grass abundant) the first one I had a proper cast at while wading and bingo! I also saw plenty of trigger fish, blue t’s, some GT’s, cruising at high speeds out of range, but still on the flats.. so the Maldives are shaping up to be quite and interesting fly fishing destination.
Sashimi yellow fin tuna with a wasabi poo 💩 cut and eaten 30 minutes after capture. It’s possible that it may be the best sashimi I have eaten and being pretty fishy, I’ve eaten a fair bit in my time 🍣
On an island which you can walk across the entirety in about 10 minutes, where the traffic has no rules as to what side of the road to drive on or what speed, though just over 10 miles an hour or slower seemed to be the sort of general pace, one of the main occupations seemed to be taxi driving... 🤔 and this guys car is amazing, there were others similarly kitted out things with the spoiler and body kit absolutely necessary for aerodynamic driving in the Maldives. vroom, vvvvvroommm!
More catches on the fly from Maldivian flats. The first is a crab / shrimp / bottom feeding trevally that I have yet to accurately identify. The next is a unicorn fish that I have seen often snorkeling and diving.
After turning up unannounced on a resort island that looked to us like it was under construction (which part of it was) after much trepidation with the security, then the management, then the general management (overseas) we were welcomed with open arms (probably because it was in the middle of its soft landing and not fully occupied) and then given a guided golf buggy tour around the island by lovely Elena, who mentioned she used to be a racing driver in Russia as we were scraping the edges of the stilted board walk. The place looked fairly ugly when nearing on the Cat but actually ashore there was something rather nice about it, though not my dream holiday, I could certainly see the attraction. The rooms were hugely lavish, I especially loved the loo with a view and the bathtub. The Dolphin Island Fairmont doesn’t come cheap though, prices starting at about $2000 a night going up to as much as $17,000 a night for a tented villa in the jungle which I found utterly bizarre as you’d think you go to the Maldives for the coconut fringed beaches, sunsets and sunrises ect. I might be missing a trick here- buy a cheap bit of jungle somewhere, set up a few tents and advertise in the Middle East and China... We were asked to use the facilities (bar and restaurant) as part of the deal of inviting us on to their private island which also didn’t come cheap, especially for two ropey old sea dogs like us..