We left Mombasa and headed on a northeasterly course for the nearly 1600 mile journey to a place we had wanted to visit from the first time we heard about it in the early 1970's, until now, when we finally were able to accomplish our dream of visiting the Seychelles. When you and your spouse are working hard, building a career and a family together, having an island escape, if only in your mind, is a great thing to have. We would finally set foot on ours some forty five years later.
Idyllic, secluded, white sand beaches with 87 degree ocean water lapping up on the shore and a gentle breeze cooling you off, as you sip tropical drinks, and gaze into each others eyes, realizing you finally accomplished your dream. How fortunate are we?
Unfortunately, this isn't a romance novel and while I managed to snap these shots in the few hours we had sunshine and blue skies, we had the misfortune of visiting during rainy season and we had dark skies and periods of rain the two days we were there.
On our first day, we booked a snorkeling and beach trip that would have been wonderful except for the dark skies and rain. We ditched the snorkeling and made it to some shelter on the beach under a convenient branch of a tree. On our way back to the ship we stopped at a spice plantation, for a nature hike and got to see a giant tortoise, they inhabit the islands, but most are kept in captivity.
There ware only 86,000 inhabitants in the islands and atolls that make up the Seychelles. It is the smallest country in the African Union. We were surprised to learn that they consider themselves part of Africa. It's a mixed race culture with a heavy French influence and they refer to themselves and their language as Creole. At a folkloric show that evening , if you closed your eyes and just listened to the music, you would have thought you were in the Bayou's of Louisiana.
The next day we hired a car and did a drive around Mahe, the largest island. The island itself is basically a giant mountain rising out of the sea with little flat land. It is lush and densely tropical.
The main town, Victoria, is small and compact and frankly, there is not much to see there. So as we pulled away from town to head for the Maldives, were we disappointed? The answer is no. It would be a spectacular place to visit if one went to one of the resorts on one of the islands and just wanted to vegetate on the beach. That is just not us. , but we got get to be in a place we always had dreamed about.
Two days and 1300 miles later, we sailed into the archipelago called the Maldives, consisting of two strings of atolls containing about 26 islands each. The first sights you see are the amazing resort islands.
Then, seemingly out of no where pops up this mini metropolis, reminiscent of Manhattan, but without the skyscrapers. Male' is the capital city of the Maldives and houses 100,000 people in an area of 1.2 miles by .6 miles. It is the world's lowest country sitting only 4.5 feet above sea level and Asia's smallest. It was quite a sight to see.
If seeing this city suddenly appear in the middle of the ocean wasn't shocking enough, getting off of the ship and wading into the throngs of people, cars and motorbikes certainly was. Kathy is rarely uncomfortable anywhere we have been, but she wondered if we should be diving into the market area.
The Maldives has been a Muslim country since the 1100's. While much more open than most Arab countries, women are not seen as much in the working fish and produce market areas. We were literally surrounded at times by staring men who were getting off of fishing boats, hauling vegetables, selling fish, or just standing around. Nothing happened, but you could understand her discomfort.
On the other hand, the markets were fabulous. The produce market was in a building and was dark and hot. We saw this mysterious looking fruit called the pine fruit that when cut open was a brilliant red and stalls everywhere selling the betel leave. We ate and bought some type of coconut/honey concoction that really tasted good and had no intestinal problems from it.
The fish market was crowded, wet, slippery, but also airy and light. There was no smell despite there being fish and fish parts everywhere. The guys filleting the fish could do a large tuna in less than a minute.
Then there was the street action. It seemed like everywhere you turned there were shops and people selling things. It was quite fascinating. We wondered, "Who was buying all of this stuff?"
Ok you are saying, Bill, enough markets. Is that all there is? Well, almost. The main attractions in town are the Old Mosque Cemetery, The (new) Friday Mosque, the Presidential Palace, and a wall commemorating a failed coup. That's it folks and here they are.
That's it. Otherwise, it's people and street scene shots. I loved the place, but Kathy was tiring of it pretty quickly and we had a walking tour the next day going over the same things. So we retired to the roof top bar at the Trader's Hotel, enjoyed the breeze and the view and had a Mocktail. This being a Muslim country, no alcohol was served, but her White Mojito and my Basil/Ginger Cooler were both mighty good.
I could go on, but you've probably had enough of Male. One really doesn't go to the Maldives to visit this city, but to sit on pristine beaches. Maybe next time.
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