Himmafushi
coordinates 04.18.390N,073.33.788E
You know you are getting the lay of the land when you start to see familiar faces on the ferry ride home at the end of the day. We've met some great friendly faces here and as well as always are enjoying the company of our pals on Moorea, Luna and Pelikaan. They were right there in fact all donning their black t-shirts ready to celebrate the big 40 for Lisa. They all spent the day surfing and the night with a pot luck. Lisa caught two of the best waves of her life here. One to send out 39 and
one to ring in the new day. She certainly never thought she would be saying that anytime in her previous life. It was a great time had and best of all was the chance to share the waves with all the kids who are quickly finding their feet and styles on their boards. There is nothing more fun than to see all 5, Tristan, Matthew, River & Roxy of Pelikaan, and Soleil of Luna, following Bruce around like a small flotilla of ducklings or all 5 on Bart's paddle board at once. To watch the ocean floor
mirrored in the curve of a beautiful tube rolling by, dolphins or manta rays leaping out of the waters and even the spray of a whale is one of the treasures that we cherish the most out here.
Back in town together we all found our favorite markets for produce and shops for provisioning. There is something addicting about their tiny Maldivian Mango's. Ahamed turned us in the right direction when it came to filling our fridge's and freezers with meat. A local distributor that he uses for charters also fills orders for civilians based in Iraq at the moment, and little old us. Were we tickled pink to find Original Log Cabin Country Kitchen syrup!!! It is the simple things in life isn't
it. We also found one fantastic Thai restaurant to ease our pains of leaving Thailand behind. We held one great feast night there with all the boats to toast the next leg of our adventures.
The sails and canvas are stitched, our windless and Moorea's alternator, both which gave up the ghost but found new life and are ready to go. We are weighted down with banana stalks, water and fuel. We have trimmed the hedges and mowed the lawn. That is the affectionate way to say that we chipped all the barnacles off the keel and scrapped the mosses off the hull. We have planned and prepared for what is potentially a bit more dangerous stretch of our trail. With all the unrest in Somalia, the
waters surrounding it are not much better at times we hear with potential pirate attacks. For precautions we have arranged to travel as close in proximity with our buddy boats, strength in numbers. We have code names if needed, (ours is Okie Dokie, the others are Lil' Mo, Moonies, and Big Bird in case you were curious) and codes for giving our positions so as to not give our locations away to others. Most importantly we will be keeping our distance from the Somalia shores and making our first
landfall in Al Mukallah, Yemen. This is the beginning of the more troublesome alley between Aden and itself. There we will regroup after the approximately 1400 mile trek. From there we will travel very closely, i.e. within eyesight if possible, for the remainder of the 200 mile jaunt to Aden. We have heard great things about both ports of call and anxiously await a whole new world for us to explore. We will be sending our much more frequent blog and tracking positions as well so you can keep
track of us too. We have emergency phone numbers and radio call frequencies should something arise but most importantly is to remember that the chances are slim to none to have such difficulties. Most vessels that approach us are simply looking for a friendly hand out of cigarettes and snacks. We plan to have a stack of cookies and a smile ready to win them over at any given moment. So don't worry mom's and dad's. All's Well.
As all the locals in the Maldives have been telling us "Winter is coming early". Bad news for us as that meant strong winds out of the north west, or more correctly, the direction we need to go. It has been a pleasant stay in the Maldive Islands but it's time to go. We have found our weather window and we're off. With so many blessing for us to count, let's remember our greatest gift in Christ, Happy Easter.
Until next time,
Your Ohana Kai crew
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