Sign off Kalizma

So on the 12th I moved Kalizma alongsoide M-wall as directed by the Management. The trip from Gateway to he M-wall was short and went in a normal manner. Was chatting away with the pilot and had to bribe him with the usual whisky bottle as is customary.

Planes at the Hulhumale airport Island

Arial glimpse of Male'

On the 14th I sign off from Kalizma at the Yellow Gate police station. I was scheduled to fly to the Maldives to inspect an Island and it's water transport arrangements in light of opening a resort. I spend the night in Elphinstone Hotel again and have dinner in Balgi near the Yellow Gate.

Atolls enroute

Atolls enroute

15th morning early wake up call to make it to the Chhatrapati Shivaji airport. I was flying to Bangalore with Cmde Mongia to join other people that was going to the same destination but with other tasks. We land in Bangalore at abt 10am and are guided to the KFA lounge to wait for our connection. Slowly other people start to appear and dicussions start. At noon we get the call to get to the aiplane and we board the bus that takes us to the corporate airplane.

Sancia at the Filitheyo International

Our destination

Soon we take off and head for Male', the capital of Maldives. Our flight lasts for abt 2 hrs and I can soon see how we circle above Male's airport and the pilot is orientating himself for landing. Landing goes smoothly and we are met on the tarmac by our local agent and guide, Mr. Ibrahim Shafeeq of MVK. From here we are hustled into a small propeller plane, a de Havilland Twin Otter.

M/y Rania

Sun is setting

Soon we are taking off again, this time on sea and we are heading south for our destination. The flight takes abt 45 minutes and we land again in the sea and make fast to a pontoon that says "International airport". Soon after the plane has left we are picked up the Islands speedboat and it takes us to our destination. At the Island we arrive to a man made lagoon with a jetty and are greeted with a welcome drink.

Sunset

After walking around the Island a bit I and other guests were allocated their own beach cabana. The Island was not very big, actually it took barely 10 minutes to walk around it. At one end near the jetty there was another Islet that had come about when the marina had been dredged into the coral. The center of the Island was taken up by the auxiliary equipment and staff quarters. Those who does not know: it is compulsory by Maldivian law to generate your own power (by generators), making your own freshwater (reverse osmosis plants), sewage treatment (usually a biological plant) and garbage handling (usually by incinerating) before a resort can operate.

Sunset

As it soon grew dark I could not do much about the water transport inspection so I had the pleasure of meeting the Maldivian Captain in charge of the yacht that was sort of  attached to the Island as a marketing tool. There was also the small speedboat and a glassfibre dive dhoni (a traditional boat of Maldives). Later in the evening we were served dinner and pretty soon after that people drifted off to their cabanas as I did too.