3-8 Day 62 Male, Maldives

We have now officially left the African part of our itinerary and arrived in the Asian part.  The Maldives are a group of many islands in the Indian Ocean off of the southwest part of India.  The island of Male is the capital. These are all low lying islands (atolls) and difficult to see until you get very close, so it is difficult to navigate through them. 

We arrived around 7 a.m. and dropped anchor.  Our ship is much too big to dock here.  The Costa ship was also anchored near ours.  So, everyone had to use tenders to get to the island.

Our ship, the ms Amsterdam, anchored with tenders by the side to take us to shore.

We were supposed to do a snorkel excursion today, but we kept getting information from the ship that it was going to be very crowded because the resort island we were going to was fully booked, we might not get snorkel equipment, there would not be umbrellas to sit under, and there would only be one place for us to eat, at the cost of $58 per person.  It was not sounding like something we wanted to do anymore. 

So, we opted, like the majority of the passengers, to just walk around the town of Male.  It was 87 degrees and VERY humid.  We only lasted a couple of hours before we were totally drenched and wilted. 

 Part of the skyline we saw as we tendered in.  The tall city buildings come right to the water’s edge.

The island is mainly Muslim and there are many mosques. 

Their flag indicates it is a Muslim country with the crescent on it.

We first saw the Old Friday mosque (but couldn’t go inside.) 

This is taken from the outside looking in.  This gentleman kept us from going any further.

A cemetery adjoins the mosque with headstones and above the ground rather ornate crypts.

The round headstones are for women, the pointed ones are for men.

 

This tower is right outside the mosque.  At the top are speakers which are used to call the Muslims to prayer several times during the day.

We saw the National Museum (didn’t go inside) and the old botanical gardens (called Sultan Gardens now) right outside of it.  There were students waiting to go into the museum who let me take their picture.

Walking in town was tricky with so many motorcycles and bikes.   There were many more of these than cars.  And most of the roads were narrow in the capital city.

Most of the roads in the capital city were narrow and rather crowded with either people or motor vehicles of some type.

Another interesting part of the city was near the waterfront with the local markets.

 

There were many other colorful sights to see – the fishing boats near the fish market with men bringing the fish directly to market.  Tuna is the main fish here.  [Heard that the ship bought some fresh fish from here today and tomorrow we are having a special fish lunch!]

The older women were covered either totally with their burkas with only their eyes showing while the younger women wore only head coverings and long skirts.  It was hard to get pictures without seeming to be an “ugly American.”

As it turned out, later in the evening after dinner, we found out from some people who had gone on the snorkeling excursion that it was GREAT!  The ship didn’t know enough about the resort island and gave wrong info.  There were plenty of chairs in the shade with snorkel equipment available.  The water was clear, the beaches sandy white, and reefs with colorful fish right off the beach.  And there were lots of places to eat for a very reasonable price.  So, we missed out on this one unfortunately. 

We are a bit worried about how we are going to see much in India where it will be even hotter and more crowded.  But that is three days away – so not to worry now!