November 4, 2008 – Male, Maldives

Today is American Election Day but the polls on the west coast won’t close until after we wake up tomorrow due to the time zone difference. We were given ballots to do a “Shipboard Vote” where we indicate whether or not we can vote in the USA. The results will be announced after the evening show and we’ll see how we compare with the actual results.

We arrived at Male an hour early at 11:00am in this beautiful group of islands with a lot of coral reefs. We’re just 3 degrees above the Equator and it is HOT. Male is the capital of the country, the island is only 1 square mile and is home to 60,000 people, half of the total Maldivian population, and it is reputedly the most densely populated city in the world. It is a crowded city with unkempt buildings and litter all around the streets. There seem to be more motorcycles and scooters than cars on the narrow streets, the sidewalks are quite narrow and walking on them was a bit of a challenge. The water around the docked fishing boats was trash lined but elsewhere it was clear and pristine.

After lunch we took the tender to shore and, with 3 friends, we went in search of a ferry to an island for snorkeling on our own rather than pay $79.00 for the ship’s tour. We tried to go to the same beaches as the tours but the resort islands weren’t accepting independent tourists due to the large number of shore excursions going there. We had offers of a private boat to another island for $150.00 for the boat and $20.00 per person to enter the island and we knew that was a rip off so we went in search of another place to get a boat. We walked past the fishing fleet and the fish market which was quite interesting. Fish were in buckets and spread out on a large covered marble floor and there was no fishy smell because the fish had just been caught close off shore. We asked for information at several places and finally one man said “My brother can help. Come to his shop.” We were a bit leery but went anyway and it was a good decision. Not only did he help out but he also had a great selection of t shirts for $5.00. He showed us on our map where there was a ferry terminal on the other side of the island that had ferries going to an island with public beaches for about 35 cents each way. We walked about ½ hour to the along the waterfront to the terminal, took the ferry and went to a close by beach. The water was clear and warm, the sand soft and white and the rim of the lagoon was about 50 yards off the beach. The lagoon was shallow, about chest high at the deepest, and there was a strong current running parallel to the beach so it made for great drift snorkeling. There were a 3 or 4 local families along the beach so we were fairly secluded and enjoyed about 1½ hours in the water. Just outside of the lagoon’s rim there were several boys surfing in 5 to 8 foot waves. We walked back through the city on the other side of the island and probably ended up with about 4 miles of walking all together. As I’ve mentioned previously, we enjoy the walking because we see so much of the local culture that would be missed riding in a bus or taxi. We got back to the ship around 5:00 and hurried to shower the salt off.

We had an early dinner and then watched the “Vintage Vegas” show, a repeat from the last segment but enjoyable never the less. At the end of the show it was announced that the “ship vote for President” had US voters favoring McCain, non US favoring Obama and the overall total favoring McCain. I won’t admit to our results at blackjack after the show.