The bad weather didn't subside overnight and I'm sure someone was up fiddling with the anchor at 2am. I got up at 8ish to write these words for an 8.30 breakfast. No sign of anyone else until 8.25 so I guess breakfast is going to be late.
A slow morning with nothing to do but pack. Helen seems to be winning a lot at bao. When the dhoni arrives to pick us up the rain has cleared but the sea is a bit rough. The crew give us a cheery goodbye and we head off to the airport, the dhoni rocking +/- 15 degrees -- that never sounds very much sat in an armchair and is a disappointing figure to calculate when being tossed violently around at sea. The Japanese are off shopping in Male' so we have another extended goodbye, and more photo opportunities.
We head off looking for our agents but no show. We grab another rep. who phones and we gather that a speedboat is being sent our way. We settle down and a nice man asks us if we'd like a drink. We are thirsty so we ask for two Cokes. Little rounded 335 ml plastic bottles from a cool box in the corner. Just as the speed boat arrived the bill came. US$3.5 each! Our agents must have been making a healthy profit to stump us for those last time we were here.
The speedboat canes it across the choppy channel between North and South Male' atolls. Even at 40mph, the engines flat out, the pilot still tries to squeeze a little more out by pressing down on the throttles. Calm down son! [They had] no worries about crashing a foot down into a trough, you wouldn't do that in dry dock, surely?
We arrive at Embudhu Village Resort Island, the speedboat guys loiter a little but our tip is a cheery "Thanks!" [It should be "Go a bit bloody slower and you might see some money!"] In reception we get a refresher towelette and a soft drink -- things are looking good. Sadly, not that good as our US$ 84 per night (full board) rooms appear to be in the front of the menial staff quaters, not one of the luxury cabins along the edge of the island. Ah well, lets hope they paid a lot more and they get just the same island reef -- though they may get hot water.
We took a quick tour of the island, not bad, but not much beach space, a lot of the water front is covered by trees. Quick is the operative word as we were back in less than 20 minutes at a slow dawdle and stopping for photos of geckos. We decide to go for a swim to finish the day off. It felt a bit chilly but maybe [that's] because we've been used to wetsuits for a week. Plenty of crabs out and about.
Then, as we were ambling back, we see a baby (18 inch) black-tip reef shark, and another, then a couple of pale yellow (rather than grey) ones all patrolling within a few feet of the shore. Fantastic! We watch them for a bit from the jetty then (probably foolishly) wade in up to our knees to see if they'll swim past -- keeping an eye out for the 4 foot one we saw on the jetty. But they sense us and stay several feet away. Another predator launches at a nearby school of fish and we leap out like scaredy-cats [thinking it was a shark attack or something]. A fruit bat flies over. This should be a nice island to spend a few lazy days.
Back to the room and time to try our the shears. Much reading of the instructions -- plug in, put by head, hair falls off -- we attack my lanky locks. Fifteen nervous minutes later and some fine, if nervous, work by Helen and I'm down to a trim 13mm on top and less elsewhere. Wayhey! No hair and no more expensive haircuts. A revelation! Ten minutes later I'm thinking I need a little more off...
To dinner and a somewhat confusing experience. We wnader in and have to attract attention before being ushered to a table -- same table every day. We sit there unsure what to do next sipping water. Finally we ask and, yes, it's help yourself. After the relative delights of the Maldivian cooking (with a hint of Japanese) it is slightly disappointing to see roast turkey and lamb on the menu. However, we stack our plates high with salad and roast and head back to the table.
Another couple appears and looks slightly miffed -- obviously there's some table sharing to be done and we're the aggressors. However, they come back with even higher stacked plates including a dinner plate with a dozen slices of water melon which the (slim) woman wolf's down. We head back for dessert and following evident tradition stack our plates with mousse and chocolate cake. [All of] which turns out to be an overfull stomach mistake. On the other hand our, we now suppose French/Russian, couple come back with seven or eight squares of chocolate cake and, like with the main course, leave a little.
The whole thing reminded me of a glorified Pontins Holiday Camp experiences from my youth, the exception being the absence of any "playing for" Embassy or Castello. It took me many years to relaise the dinner-time games had been sponsored by tobacco companies.
We left to go walk off dinner and found a crowd at the jetty. We saw our baby sharks again. The noisy French fellows were watching the fish at the end of the jetty. Unlike the small-fry of the boat these were up to a foot long swimming around in the light. We presumed that light attracted plankton which brought the fish. The wind is still occasionally fresh.
Embudhu Village N4.08428 E73.51318 Elev. 50m!
PS. Irritatingly the water [in the room] appears to be slightly salty -- yuk! Will have to buy extra mineral water for cleaning teeth.
Copyright 2002 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.