Neptune's Tribute and Fauci's Ouchy

I'm not all that a superstitious person but when it comes possibly staying on the good side of those that control the ocean, I'm not going to take any chances. We crossed the equator, for the third time, heading North to South as we worked our way down the Maldives chain. This means we have one more time to cross the equator before we make it back to North America. Above is a shot for the Captain 

 

And the required shot for Neptune

Here's our Latitude and Longitude just as we crossed to the southern hemisphere. The .013 degrees is 79 feet past the equator. We went from a nice Spring day to a nice Fall day. It didn't really feel much colder. I knew to take the picture because I could feel the bump as we crossed over the equatorial line.

As we arrived at the next atoll, Addu, we were greeted by a large pod of dolphins while going through the cut.

One of the reasons we left our last anchorage early was because we had a possibility to get a Covid vaccination. When we were up in one of the northern atolls we met a local who was traveling island to island promoting Home Stay Tourism. This is tourism that involves the locals on the island instead of the large, planned and isolated resorts. He was interesting and enjoyed discussing his work. He mentioned h was friends with the Mayo of Addu and said he could help us get into a vaccination clinic there. A couple of days after we arrived and had contacted the Mayor, he messaged us that we should go to the clinic between 9 and 10 pm that night. 

Above is the clinic when we arrived at around 8:45pm. They were handing out numbers and told we had to get an appointment and come back latter. We mentioned that the Mayor told us to show up tonight. Instantly we they handed us our numbers and should us where to sit. There were probably 60 people waiting by about 9:30pm. The clinic was at night because we are in the month of Ramadan, where the faithful do not eat or drink during daylight hours.

 

By 10:30 pm we had our first jabs of Covishield. Covishield is the Indian manufactured version of AstraZenica. 

The way Covishield works is a little different than the other vaccines, such as the mRna vaccines in the US. After about 7 to 10 days this small shield show up. When walking around potential infectious people you hold it in front of you for partial protection. A few weeks after you get a second dose the shield gets much larger, much more protective and takes two hands to hold.

We are anchored in Gan, one of the towns in the Addu Atoll. The British were here just after World War II. They put in a long airstrip right next to our anchorage. They added bridges between the islands that connected the main towns. The main use of the RAF Gan was as a staging post for bombers, fighters and transports enroute to the Far East Air Force based in Singapore. Today Gan airport has a few passenger flights and is used by military and private jets as a cross Indian Ocean refueling stop. We watched a noisy, Australian C-130 take off for the Seychelles after refueling the other day. Gan is covered with old base housing and building in various states of disrepair. The old Officers Club is now the Equator Resort.

The anchorage is apparently also in the flight path of hundreds of Fruit Bats. We see them every evening.

RAF Gan supported flying boats too, such as this Short Sunderland RAF patrol bomber.

 

As usual when we get to civilization we start our project list. Here's the boat boy refueling in the midday sun. We have a few weeks to kill before our permit to enter Chagos is valid. As soon as we are allowed in we will start our passage to Chagos in the British Indian Ocean Territory. More on this next time.

Paul