Voyage Goa - Addoo atoll, Maldives

Upon signing on the Indian Empress on the 20^th I was put through the motions of the shipboard management system as stipulated by the ISM code. Familiarization, safety, security and so on was being explained by Chief Officer Tsvetan and 2^nd Officer Emil on separate occasions. Then Tsvetan went on vacation and was replaced by C/O Bruno on the same day.

Paco of Kundalini Airport

Kundalini Airport and the funny fake Baba also turned up

On the 22^nd we went to Anjuna to listen to Kundalini Airport, as I had so many times before, to do some crew bonding with IE and Kalizma crew. I had to cut the evening short for watch duty.

The IE and Kalizma girls

On 23^rd we had a small get together on Kalizma and crew got to know each other and after this IE departed same night towards Maldives. Chief Stewardess Nina was sad as she had to leave Richard’s cooking behind her.

Xmas Eve at sea

On 24^th we had Xmas Eve onboard with no special ceremony onboard except a few sundowners at the sundeck with the sun going down in the West.

Xmas sunset on Indian Ocean

25^th was the Christmas lunch with all crew and Santa Claus giving presents to all crew as we had a “Secret Santa” system with each crew contributing to a secretly allotted name a gift of minimum 2000 Rs. Bruno was acting as Santa and was a big success, the temperature in the mess room rose to a staggering 27˚C with all the fun.

On the 26^th we passed the Equator and were subsequently boarded by Neptune and his minions to examine the Scallywags and to introduce them into the Solemn Secrets of the Deep. The event was immemorial with many crews recording the event on camera and video. Afterwards all participants were duly certified to enter the southern hemisphere.

Sharp lookout whilst maneuvering into the atoll

Shangri-La resort on Addoo atoll

Sunset over Addoo atoll

Same evening we arrived Addoo atoll and anchored in front of Gan Island. After arrival procedures had been completed I went ashore with Captain Avnish and had dinner with agent Icey and Matty in a local restaurant. The fish curry was just delicious and it is big word from me as I have never been a great fan of fish curry.