Sri Lanka and Maldives

We left Phuket and headed to the high seas, crossing the Bay of Bengal on our way to Colombo Sri Lanka.  Had a piracy talk and drill for post Maldives seas.  In fact the ship we are on was chased three years ago by pirates.  Our defenses are speed, height, water canons and a high pitched ear piercing noise machine, plus trained staff and additional guards picked up in Colombo.  We feel very comfortable and safe.  So what do you do for two days at sea?  Eat, eat, eat and eat again, workout, rest, read, walk around, shop, watch the ocean go by and meet other passengers to trade travel stories.

Colombo, Sri Lanka on a rainy day.  As we pulled into port we were watching the cranes load containers onto ships.  It is among the list of busiest ports.  The ship side market sprung up as were tying off.  We got off to shop and the clouds opened up.  Back on board to await our tour, which was shopping.  Was not what we expected but we managed to spend a little bit of money.  Went to a gem market, beautiful stones but the average price was $5000 and above...all natural stones from Sri Lanka. Next came the government handicrafts store, not as much fun as markets, but interesting to see local items.  TEA.  Known for Ceylon tea in all varieties, black, green, golden tip and silver tip white teas, not to mention flavored.  Tea growing is the island's main industry and export, followed by rubber and coconut.  Last stop was a department store.  Small compared to shopping in Singapore but interesting and with a variety of locally made brands plus international brands.  Did we mention it was still raining and it was holiday so not much was open.  Back on board, past the ship side market again, still raining and then came the thunderstorm.  Sat at dinner watching lightening and listening to the booms of the thunder.

Another sea day on the way to Maldives.  Sat in the library in big cushy chairs reading, met new friends for dinner and enjoying eating on the back deck, breeze kept the warmth at bay but the coolness of yesterday's rain had disappeared.  By the way the food is terrific.  We like to eat at the buffet which has choices similar to the main dining room but takes 1/2 the time.  Managed to stay up for the show--the Nautica singers in a musical tour of the US.  We have been changing times at night 1/2 hour at a time back and forth.

Open the blinds in the morning to blue, blue, clear waters and brilliant, hot sun.  We are in the Maldives.  The highest elevation on the main island, Male is about 21 feet and the island is 1.2 miles long by .62 miles wide packed to the edges with buildings and roads.  65,000 full time residents and lots of boats and mosques live in the capital city of this Islamic country.  The island is one of many in this low lying coral bed chain.  It is a destination for scuba divers with it's spectacular reefs and sea life. We experienced a little bit of it:

We got up in the morning with Sue singing the Beatles "Yellow Submarine"  We headed off by tender to the pier where we caught another boat to take us to a submarine launch site.  48 of us boarded sitting two to a large porthole and off we went.  125 feet down to one of the reefs and along side and up the reef for a about 20 minutes before turning around and going the other way.  Colorful coral and fish were everywhere.  Saw an eel poking his head out of the coral looking at us square in the eye and watching as we went by.  Tiny, medium and large fish, gray to striped to multi colored.  Hard to take pictures so we primarily just watched and understood why people come here to dive.  What fun.

Back on shore we walked through the windy, narrow streets of town.  Sue swears every other shop was a hardware store, with souvenir and fruit stands in between.  Every hardware store was packed.  After an hour we succumbed to the intense heat and made our way back to the pier and the tender ride home.  Relief.  Sat on the balcony watching smalls boats dart all over from island to island.  Enjoyed sunset, dinner on the deck and another show.  A one man show by a tenor with a beautiful full voice and wonderful range of songs.  Everything from Frankie Valle to Frank Sinatra, Pavaroti, Josh Grobin and Elvis with a few show tunes and Irish ballads thrown in for good measure.

Presently is is 12:00 noon on the 18th we are at 6 degrees 54 minutes n,  6 degrees 53 minutes east, traveling at 12.5 knots.  We are halfway between Male and Cochin India--resting up for the next adventures.  Many folks leave the ship tomorrow to fly to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.  Since we are coming back in November we will explore Cochin and Mumbai and enjoy another day at sea.  Bollywood here we come.