The Good!

    The big transport ship is supposed to arrive some time this week and then a few days later the 15 boats will start being loaded.    After waiting around for so long it will be rush, rush, rush!  We have all sent our boat size, shape, weight info to the shipping company so they can make a stowing plan for all of the boats.  When the loadmaster gets here he should be able to tell us the day and hopefully approximate time we will be loaded. (We go to the transport ship: it doesn’t come to us. It will be anchored not far from where we are anchored so that should be an interesting sight!)  Once we know our load date we have to make a hotel reservation, an airline reservation and also go to Male to officially check out. (We need an E-ticket out to prove we are leaving before we can be checked out from Male’.)  That official check-out process takes at least a day and if it falls on Friday, two days since offices are closed. Also, with 15 boats all trying to do the same thing at the same time, it will be a bit chaotic at Emirates Airlines and the Antrac Agency we have all used for all of our official processing here.  The transport company will take care of checking the boats out from Male’.  Once DoraMac is loaded onto the transport ship, we can finish closing her up, get everything we’re taking with us (not much) and then be transported to shore.  We have experienced being hauled out of the water onto land, but never onto a ship though the process is similar.  We will not be on DoraMac when she is lifted from the water; we’ll already be on the transport ship.  I’ll try to take photos but commercial ships have strict regulations and I’m not sure where we’ll be.  Another last minute task will be to clean out and turn off the refrigerator.  Luckily our friends on Voyager will still be here.  They have chosen to make a passage around Africa instead of shipping to the Med so we can give any food we still have to them.  There aren’t many places to provision along their route so they will really have to stock up.  We have already taken down our front sail but still have to take down our canvas sun covers on the fly bridge, cockpit, bow, and side awnings.  We have to really secure the motorbike.  Adding the possible strong Red Sea winds to the wind generated by the faster speed of the huge and more rolly transport ship means everything must be really secure.  Blowing sand is an issue too we’ve been told.  Every vent or opening that water, sand, bugs, or even mice could get in must be closed up.  We’ll put out buckets of powdered laundry soap to absorb smells.  We’ve never had to close up everything like this before, but hopefully it won’t make the boat stinky when we open it again in Marmaris.  Oh, and Randal even had to write instructions for someone to be able to start DoraMac in case that’s necessary though the plan is that we will be there to retrieve her when she is put into the water in Turkey.  This morning on the "morning net" we listen to over the single sideband radio everyone is talking about preparing their boat for passage and contacting the Emirates Airlines.  Also, mentioned was that the price of gasoline and diesel on the Maldives apparently has gone way up and is even being rationed a bit.  A cruiser was limited to the amount of gasoline he was allowed to purchase just the other day.  Luckily we loaded up on diesel in Langkawi and bought gasoline early during our stay here. 

The Bad.

I finished most of my really good books and now have to read "whatever" since there are no real English language book shops on Male’.  We will have to rush around a bit at the end and I really don’t like to have to rush.  It makes me worry.  Also, had we known we were going to spend so much time here, we would have gotten a cruising permit and seen more of the Maldives and its lovely islands.  We both do love to snorkel. As for diving, I hate my wetsuit and I seem never to get my face mask to fit properly so I’m just not so enthused by it all.  Maybe it’s because we’ve never been anywhere like the Maldives with its clear water so here would have been a great place to get enthused.  Oh well.

The UGLY…

The Sox lost their first 3 games of the season!  Texas destroyed them.  Maybe it is my fault for losing my hat!  The only saving factor is they started out this way last year and were 1/2 game out of first at the All Star break.  Then everyone got hurt and it all fell to pieces.  So if they just stay healthy, things should improve.  PLEASE!!!!