Needless to say the debit/credit cards never arrived in Australia and hence we departed the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club on the first day of the Chinese New Year, 22 January 2023. The year of the rabbit. Having taken onboard victuals for the voyage and a full load of water we moved out to the fuel barge and topped up with 100 litres of diesel before sailing a short distance westwards to anchor in the shelter of Pulau Tepor for the night. This gave us an opportunity to ensure the boat was well stowed for the ocean passage ahead.
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| Our welcome on arrival |
Next morning at 0600 we set sail for Sri Lanka, 1170 miles to our west. Light winds from the north lapsed to nothing by mid day but the lull was short lived and by the first evening we were cracking along at 6-7 knots. The most memorable part of this passage was the torrential tropical rain which lasted for almost two days in the middle part of the voyage, Fortunately we were never without wind and only once did we have to reef the mainsail for excess of wind. The majority of the passage was spent between close hauled and broad reaching on starboard.
We passed south of the Nicobar Islands in the early hours of January 26th and arrived off the south coast of Sri Lanka on 31st of January. An 8 day passage averaging just over 6 knots, not bad. The winds as we approached Galle became light and fluky followed by gusty north-westerlies, just what we didn't need for the entry! That said by 1100 on the 31st we were tucked in alongside a rather bedraggled looking boat named “Test of Time”, in the “marina” at Galle. For marina read a small basin with no pontoons and large black fenders randomly secured around the walls! That said some berths had access to power and water so not all bad.
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| Galle "Marina" |
Surprisingly there was a send entering the marina causing all the boats to surge to and fro on their mooring lines, not great. We stuck it out alongside Test of Time (TofT) for the first week we were there but then, when a much calmer berth became available, sought approval to move.
Moving had another advantage; we had discovered by this time that T of T was also infested with cockroaches!
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| A collectors piece in Galle |
Fortunately we managed to fend them off with several tins of insecticide! It was frustrating that everything needing doing in the port requires letters in triplicate to all of the authorities, supply of power, water, taking a sail for repair were all subject to multiple letters seeking approval from various authorities; it was all designed to keep numerous otherwise underemployed Civil Servants in employment! That said it was hardly an expensive stay, the first 30 days were included in your agent's fee!
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| Colombo centre |
Part of my reason for wanting to visit Sri Lanka was that my father had taken over his only command of WWII, here at Trincomalee, in 1945. Following his partaking in the D Day landings in Normandy he was redeployed to take command of another Tank Landing Craft; it had been converted at Trincomalee to lay moorings which were to be laid off the coast of Burma ready for the resupply vessels sent from UK when the planned push, to oust the Japanese from Burma, started.
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| Colombo centre |
Fortunately, as a result of the USA dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, such moorings were never needed. Notwithstanding the loss of life in the two cities this needs to be weighed against the cost in both allied and Japanese human lives that the planned land campaign could have involved: a delicate balance! He finally delivered his ship to Borneo, following it's purchase by Burma Oil, and after training the company crews he was finally given a passage back to UK and demobbed in 1946.
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| Sanjeewa onboard |
The other reason for wishing to visit Sri Lanka was to revisit the places I visited in 1971. I made my first visit to Colombo in what was then Ceylon, when serving as a Midshipman in HMS Arethusa.
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| Sanjeewa and Nisha, in their home. |
We were fortunate in that we had been introduced to Sanjeewa, a Sri Lanca resident, through a mutual contact at Pangkor Marina. Sanjeewa was to become the essential element in all our plans! Our plan was to head overland, initially to Colombo and spend four days there before catching the train to Trincomalee. At Sanjeewa's insistence he came down to collect us from Galle and delivered us to our first hotel for a pair of days of unwinding before he again picked us up and took us to his home outside Colombo;
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| Lotus tower |
this was before giving us a comprehensive guided tour of Colombo the following day.
The day after it was an 0400 start and a 30 minute TukTuk ride to Colombo Fort Station where we all three boarded the train to Trincomalee, departing at 0600.
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| View from the top of Lotus Tower |
There being no 1st or 2nd class available we travelled 3rd class at a cost 500 Rupia = £1.25 – good value! The journey was an interesting experience and certainly an opportunity to get to know some of the locals! The bench seats were three abreast. Food was available continuously through a never ending series of vendors jumping on at one station and off at the next to catch the next train back to their base. The only slight hiccough was that the train was not going to Trincomalee! For reasons we never did find out it was diverted part way, at Habarana, and we had to get a bus for the final 50km. For anyone who has not travelled on a Sri Lankan bus suffice to say it is a “White knuckle ride”;
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| Colombo Fort Station an 0600 |
if you are lucky the driver might have a drivers licence and all of them drive as if they are in charge of a formula one racing car, the only difference is that they hang on the horn all the time to clear their path!
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| Sri Lanca bus |
After another TukTuk ride, this time from the bus station to our hotel, we arrived there in the late afternoon. The photographs on the internet made it look quite swish; in reality they were struggling to get back trading again after a prolonged, 3 year, shutdown caused by a local terrorist attack followed by Covid. The photographs were obviously taken before the closure! That said they were welcoming and willing to provide whatever we asked for. All was not lost! After a night's sleep we set off again in the same TukTuk to explore Trincomalee.
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| Even the Police use TukTuks |
We started with the Maritime Museum where we were given an escorted tour, including views from the roof, despite the museum being closed for renovations. Interesting but no much on Trincomalee's wartime role.
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| View from the hotel |
From here we went to view the Fort protecting Trincomalee Bay and here we met up with a young Army Lieutenant, (manning the drinks/ice cream stall; the Armed Forces don't miss any opportunity to make money) and he introduced us to the Curator of the Fort Museum. They had a selection of personal, family, photographs from the Naval Families who had been stationed in Trincomalee during the war but little else. I promised to scan and forward to them some of my father's photographs once I get back to UK. The next day we did a rather more touristy programme including a trip to a “private” beach, where the beach access, resort and cafes were almost all run by the Air Force!
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| Net fishing from the beach, a community occupation! |
I didn't like to ask where the profits went! Our last call of the afternoon was to the train station to obtain tickets on the “Night Mail” back to Colombo. This time we were lucky enough to score 2nd Class tickets. Airline seats but no air conditioning (there were however more roof fans per carriage!).
Our overnight train ride brought us to Colombo at 0330; 266 km at an average speed of 32 km/hr (20 mph) and on some of the tracks that felt quite fast enough! From Colombo Fort Station it was another TukTuk ride back to Sanjeewa's house for what was left of a night's sleep. Next morning his wife, Nisha, very kindly provided us with an abundant breakfast before we said goodbye to her and their daughter, little one year old Zoe, and set off with Sanjeewa in his car to visit Kandy (another of my visits in 1971).
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| Yiorgos feeding the elephants |
En route we stopped off at the elephant orphanage to let Yiorgos get his first introduction to an elephant and followed this with a visit to Sanjeewa's mothers house for tea and to meet his older daughter, Daisha (who was staying with her grandmother), and his younger brother. A great family!
Kandy is a spectacular city hosting the most revered temple of the Buddhist faith in Sri Lanka; the Temple if the Tooth. Although we arrived late in the afternoon we were able to tour the temple and witness the opening of the inner sanctum where the tooth of Buddha is kept.
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| Temple of the Tooth, most sacred in SL |
An amazing spectacle. My memories of my previous visit were slightly tainted by being greeted, on arrival, (in a bus with only bars at the windows), by sufferers of leprosy begging alms at the windows. For someone who had never seen leprosy in its advanced stages before it was heart rending to say the least; this visit I am glad to say there was not a leprosy sufferer in sight!
After supper in Kandy, late in the evening, we set off southwards to NuwaraEliya where a friend of Sanjeewa has a hotel. It is on the slopes of the second highest peak in Sri Lanka and the area has a very Alpine appearance.
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| Up in the highlands, hotel view! |
The peak is guarded by the Air Force and of course you need a pass and to make payment to get access.... we gave it a miss when informed getting the passes might take up to two hours!
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| Waterfall resident |
From here it was a slow drive on mountain roads to descend to the coastal plain; en route we also visited two of the highest waterfalls in Sri Lanka; again spectacular! By 2300 we were back in Galle and searching for fuel for Sanjeewa's car. With the current crisis citizens are restricted to 20 ltrs of fuel per month and each driver has a unique QR Code through which this is monitored (although bribery seemed to circumvent this restriction). Unfortunately the security guards at the port were not prepared to allow Sanjeewa to enter at that time of night (security is relatively tight after a successful Tamil Tiger attack on the port some years back) and, unlike in Colombo, we were unable to find a “flexible” forecourt attendant in Galle.
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| Waterfall at sunset |
The net result was Sanjeewa having to head back to Colombo late that night; fortunately he successfully refuelled at a motorway service station along the way.
Whilst in Galle we made use of the local sailmaker to repair our No2 Genoa (which is by now getting very long in the tooth!) and to make, by hand, three spare Royal Naval Sailing Association burgees; my stock from UK was running out. The burgees came out as very good copies at £5 per flag, slightly different to the £45 asked by the RNSA. I should have bought some more! We also put two bags of laundry through the system. The first was a great success and very economic; sadly, in the absence of our regular team of TukTuk drivers I trusted the second bag to Bennett, another TukTuk driver, who I later found out had a reputation for ripping off his customers! He overcharged us by a factor of x5! Be warned, never use him for anything! Ekka, our regular TukTuk driver (+94 723 371 116) was as honest as the day is long,
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| TukTuk parade |
thoroughly reliable, and made our life very much simpler. He also offers tours although we didn't take him up on this, we had our own guide in Sanjeewa who had been brought up in the area before moving to Colombo!
The other purpose of a three week stay in Sri Lanka was to try to get hold of replacements for my missing credit cards and to receive a book and some spare parts from various suppliers. Having cancelled the cards sent from UK to Australia (for my daughter to bring out at Christmas) which have never arrived (Thank you Royal Mail!) I arranged for new cards to be sent to my UK address and then DHL'd to Sri Lanka via our agent; they arrived within 4 days. A spare part from China arrived via UPS in 3 days as did a book from UK again via DHL. Then came the saga of a spare part demonstrably used for a boat …. such items apparently come under “special regulations” and although it was in Colombo Airport DHL Bonded Warehouse within 3 days of despatch they steadfastly refused to release it without it passing through the hands of an Inward Shipping Agent, the value of the item (a GPS Repeat) was £94, the Inward Shipping Agent, Sujith, (recommended by Windsor Reef, our agents in Galle) wanted the equivalent of £208 to handle it; DHL were no help whatsoever! After 10 days of getting no where I was on the verge of telling them to “Keep the b****y thing!” but decided to have one last try by going to the airport myself, aided by Sanjeewa. Thus it was Yiorgos and I set off for Colombo again on the 0700 train, 1st Class! Air conditioned splendour! 130 km / 81 miles cost ~£7 per head! Later that day our return was perforce 2nd class (1st was not available) but notwithstanding this we still had to stand for half the journey; there is no shortage of passengers on Sri Lanka's railway system!
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| Galle departures board, high tec! |
Sanjeewa met us at the station on arrival and we then drove to the airport. After an hour of security checks, form filling and much shaking of heads we were finally allowed into the DHL Bonded Warehouse where our arrival was not met with universal acclaim. From here started a five hour saga where we refused to move without the part and they pretended to be helpful whilst doing very little! Eventually I was escorted in to meet the Inspector of Customs (who could not have been less interested) to declare that the part I was expecting was not “unique to seagoing vessels”. After my writing another hand written letter to this effect he seemed to be satisfied that it could be released. It was then we bumped into another DHL employee, a manager in the facility, who Sanjeewa recognised as the daughter of Vinney, the owner of Windsor Reef Ltd, our agency in Galle! She did not seem pleased to see us! It was then the “penny dropped”! My suspicion is that there is a scam going on between her and her father where goods are deliberately delayed in the DHL Bonded Warehouse and they pass you on to their “Recommended” Inward Shipping Agent who then charges exorbitant rates for his service knowing that ships and yachts all have a deadline for departure. A good scam!
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| Beach at Unawatuna, Galle |
After a further two hours we finally received an invoice for “Dues” before the package could be released. The invoice showed that No duty was payable but there were charges for “Port and Airport Development Levy - 6000Rupia = £15, and “Social Security Contribution” - 1800Rupia = £4.50: a bit different to the £208 the agent demanded! Even then I was not convinced of the legitimacy of the charges but by then I had lost the urge to argue! Interestingly, on return to Galle, Vinney (owner of Windsor Reef Agency) almost fell over himself in his haste to greet me and let me know I had met his daughter ….....
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| Galle fort and lighthouse |
We set our departure date for the following Saturday with Sanjeewa insisting on driving down to say goodbye and wave us off. Sadly his visit was cut short as Zoe, his youngest daughter had been hospitalised and was in need of an operation, hence he made a flying visit to join us for dinner on the Friday and we re-victualled etc, with the help of Ekka our TukTuk man, on Saturday morning before departing at midday for the Maldives. The departure formalities went smoothly, with no delays, thanks to Uresh at Windsor Reef.
Before departing Galle we had made contact with, and sent all the necessary forms to, our agent in the Maldives. On advice from fellow sailors we had changed our intended port of entry from Male to Uligan, in the north, which we were told was much cheaper and very much more convenient. Asadhulla, at Real Sea Hawks Agency, proved very efficient and welcoming.
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| The main street, Uligan |
The passage from Sri Lanka to the Maldives started in an almost flat calm, hence we motored for the first two hours. By then the wind had filled in from the SW and we were away on port tack heading for our destination. Two and a half days, 450 miles and many windshifts later we hove too off Uligan at 0300 in the morning, waiting for daylight before entering. By 0800 we were anchored off the village on Uligan and in contact with the agent. By 1200, having had a visit from Customs and Immigration, we were cleared and into the Maldives; it was that simple! Interestingly one of the Customs Officers had a brother who is a journalist for the local paper in Male and he asked that I talk to him about my last visit to the Maldives, in 1972, when serving in HMS ARETHUSA. The resulting article is at https://edition.mv/features/27290 .
Uligan is a small community with two shops, one café and a few dozen houses plus, of course, a Mosque. We stayed anchored here for four days, surrounded by several boats we had met in Galle, before departing for an overnight passage to Male. I was keen to see what had changed since my last visit there in 1972. It was port tack all the way ranging from broad reach, in sunshine, on departure, to close hauled, in heavy rain, on arrival. Having departed at 0700, half an hour late (we had snagged a large coral lump with out anchor buoy line which took time to unravel!) we arrived in Male just before sunset the following day. Being surrounded by heavy rain clouds was not quite what we had anticipated but even in these conditions, from seaward, it was obvious Male had changed out of all recognition.
Our agent had recommended anchoring in the new harbour, built north of the airport on Hulule island, the adjacent island to Male. Both islands are now connected by the “China – Maldives Friendship Bridge” a dual carriageway bridge which now straddles the Male Channel.
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| Friendship Bridge |
The island of Hulule has been massively extended northwards by land reclamation and the “new” land is one massive building site. From the anchorage I can count 37, 20 storey plus, apartment blocks either recently completed or under construction.
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| Chinese developments! |
Not quite the Male I remember. The other major difference is that Male and its adjacent islands have a serious refuse problem. The streets are festooned with piles of cardboard stacked in doorways, alleyways and alcoves. The roads are littered with plastic bottles, bags and cans; despite the efforts of the occasional roadsweeper there seems to be no public conscience and no refuse collection system.
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| Modern Male |
It is all a very far cry from the pristine town and slow pace of life I remember from my first visit 52 years ago!
Westwards, from Male, there is another bridge under construction to connect Male to the island of Viligili. Beyond this island, just to it's west, on the next part of the reef, new port facilities are under construction; it's all very impressive but...... The bridge, we were told, is being donated by India. Whatever the nation is involved there is an almost unsustainable amount of construction going on; everywhere there are Chinese or Indian construction workers en mass. How the Maldives Government will ever afford to pay for this concrete jungle goodness knows.
Away from Male (although not far away) almost every small island, on a coral outcrop, has a chic hotel consisting of a central facility with villas connected by a walkway running out over the reef; many charging around £1000 per day for the solitude. There almost seems to be a standard design!
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| Male Sunami Monument |
The government has sold the islands to the developers and hence for us yachtsmen they have become, in many cases, almost no go areas. Nobody paying those sorts of prices wants to look at someone else's yacht parked on their doorstep! This combined with the paucity of anchorages in reasonable depths in most of the atolls (majority are 20 mtrs+ minimum) makes cruising the Maldives even more challenging!
Our plan had been to stay in or near Male for 3 days before slowly heading back to Uligan. To go to Male we were exempt a cruising permit but to leave we needed it. Our agent had promised it would be issued within three working days and he would forward it on to us by e-mail. Six days later we were still waiting and having to put our plans on hold; stuck in Male. Frustrating! It was very much the old adage, never go back to places you fondly remember, it is better to keep your memories intact.
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| Our first anchorage |
Eventually we managed to get away and set sail in the early morning for our first anchorage for the night in the lagoon at Gaafaru, just north west of the Male archipelago. The entry to the lagoon and passage from the entry, in the west, to the populated island, in the east, was clear and easy; that is until the last 1.5 miles. Try as we might, navigating between the coral outcrops by eye, we could not find a channel through to the anchorage nearer the island. Later, as we were leaving, I noticed a motor vessel entering the lagoon from the south east. Not a channel marked on our charts and not visible on Google Earth but probably blasted through when the new harbour was built. Sadly we didn't have time to investigate. Notwithstanding the distance to the island from our anchorage, which was in amongst the coral outcrops, it was great for snorkelling so not all bad!
Next morning it was another early morning start as we headed for the island of Veyofushi, 37 miles further north. The anchorage was described as well protected from the NE and with it's own small island on the reef. On arrival we crossed the reef, again by reference to Google Earth, but the reported (and charted) island had ceased to exist! All we saw was a few coral outcrops sticking out of the water at low tide! Notwithstanding, the water quality was crystal clear and the snorkelling again great. With adverse winds the next day we opted to stay for two nights and enjoy the surroundings. The other islands around us all seemed to be busy with boats and seaplanes coming and going but we had our bit of reef to ourselves!
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| Me at the ruined resort |
Next morning was again an early start with 46 miles to go to our next anchorage at Dholhiyadhoo, Milandhunmadulu Atoll. This place was intriguing! Our cruising guide on the internet described the resort as under construction (2010); well, as we drew closer, it became increasingly obvious that all construction had stopped long ago and the place had fallen into disrepair. Not all Maldivian Resorts make money, obviously! The lagoon provided a delightful anchorage and we were able to anchor almost on the beach in front of a set of ruined villas. As a result of the unexpected peace and tranquillity of this anchorage we again opted to stay two nights. A walk ashore provided even more surprises, there were over 50 cabins on stilts, built above the water, and a further twenty five or so luxury villas (the signs describing them as such were still on them) in amongst the trees along the single road connecting all the facilities. It was only when walking along this road that we realised we were perhaps not the only people on the island! The road had obviously been swept recently to remove leaves and debris; why goodness only knows. All buildings, except for a few “Staff quarters” were in ruins including the bars, restaurants, spa facilities etcetera. Someone's dream had obviously gone horribly wrong!
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Although we didn't see anyone on the island we did stumble upon a few buildings that were obviously inhabited. A very strange lifestyle living amongst the ruins!
On the next morning we set off north again to make distance back towards Uligan for our departure from the Maldives. Our final stop was to be a night in Kullundhuffushee, where we would anchor in the southern section of the islands harbour. It is also one of the few islands that has an airport rather than a seaplane service. This is where fate, (otherwise known as Microsoft's bad design), took a turn. The wire connecting my Surface Pro tablet to it's charger developed a fault. Basically it doesn't matter which way you insert the connection it requires a sharp bend in the connecting lead and this caused one of the numerous wires inside the cover to break. Impossible to repair and my spare charger was in Hove (very bad planning, or lack of it;
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| Kullundhuffushee shops |
I had left it there during my last visit!). My trusty old Lenovo laptop came out of it's stowage and 10 minutes later we had charts and were navigating again but I was not prepared to launch out on the second part of the Indian Ocean crossing without a backup computer and charts. A quick WhatsApp back to Hove confirmed my spare was there but DHL wanted 3 days to deliver and at a cost greater than a new charger. Fortunately our agent in Uligan came to the rescue, recommending Link Serve who had a branch in Kullundhuffushee and a bigger store in Male. They had a spare in Male and 24 hours later it arrived by air freight.
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| A drinks break at Kullundhuffushee |
Very efficient and saved our programme. In the interim we also took advantage of the better shopping in Kullundhuffushee and replenished our onboard stocks ready for our upcoming ocean passage and replenished water from shore rather than “jerry jug” it when in Uligan.
After 3 days in Kullundhuffushee it was time to leave, only 48 hours behind our planned schedule. By late that evening we were at anchor, back in Uligan, and making preparations for departure. With two days of calms forecast we opted to plan for a departure on the 21st of March and settled for a quiet 48 hours of relaxation in preparation...... Well almost.
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| Back at Uligan harbour |
More when we arrive in Djibouti
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