Dhapparu Atoll

We said good-bye to Uligan on the 2nd of March after 4 relaxing days there. Uligan is a very quiet place - an ideal place to rest up. Not a lot happening there but the streets are clean with hard packed sand instead of pavements and tidy homes and yards built predominantly out of coral. This type of building led to a lot of coral destruction in the bay - not sure how they broke the coral up ? dynamite but fortunately this has now been outlawed. The locals seem to burn their rubbish at a couple of sites in the town which is preferable to us witnessing a woman hurl a couple of small plastic bags of rubbish into the water. Overall the water was crystal clear and we could see every detail on the bottom where we were anchored in 10m. We inadvertently ended up anchoring over a very large bommie which gave us a great view of coral and fish but a bit of worry when it came to retrieving our anchor - in the end it was all ok. Uligan was a really nice entry port to the Maldives and the entry process could not have been easier. Our agent Asad was very friendly and helpful - nothing was too much trouble but then we were also pretty undemanding. With no wind at all we ended up motoring the 22nm to - this is where it gets confusing - Filladhoo Island in the Dhapparu atoll but we could also be in the North Thilandhunmathee atoll - take your pick. Once again very quiet - there is a village on the southern end of the island but a long way from where we are anchored. The water isn't as clear as Uligan but we think there may be a small stream close by emptying into the lagoon. We have sy Sage (Canada) anchored close by so it's nice to have company. So, another day of swimming,reading and maybe a card game or two later in the day and then moving on tomorrow to our next anchorage about 15nm away. It's a hard life! Sorry about the lack of photos - have posted a few on FB. Still waiting for my gen Y friend Astrid back in Langkawi to send me the blogspot tutorial she promised - come on Astrid, people are waiting!