Sunday July 3 – Alarm set for 5:30 but up at 5am. Made sure all was packed, did some internetting, took a tablet for (well, to prevent it) and at 6:15 I headed down to reception. When I left my room there was a guy from the hotel just there. I think he was checking to see if I owed anything from the minibar. (I didnt). They gave me a little breakfast sandwich for the journey (this is like of what I normally ate for breakfast there, but probably a normal human portion size).
The weather looked good online (cloudy but not raining) and it looked that way heading to the boat as well. I got a good seat and watched person after person step on after me. I dont know where they went, but it felt like a clown car. I read a book for almost the whole two hours. It was a good journey.
I arrived at the airport a little before 9am where I would catch my next boat. (What a weird thing to say). I went to the F3 meeting counter to let them know I was there and the guy showed up
about 10 minutes later. He told me back at 10:20 for the 10:30 boat. Despite internet info to the contrary, I found that the Male airport does have free wifi, so I was able to occupy myself until it was time to meet again. I also ate my little sandwich.
At 10:20, there were several people standing and they slowly started to get antsy as it got closer to 10:30. Since this was not my first rodeo, I knew it would be fine, but most of these people had just gotten off the plane and were likely One woman ran off towards the boats with her two kids (and then came back) and a guy was pointing out the time to the representative. The boat was just a little late. Normal. Island time.
Then it was time to make our move and everyone was rushing to get on the boat. Everyone was getting on but the rep was only letting people go in turns. No stress. But then the boat was getting full and it should have been my turn and he said hed call the hotel to check. To check what? His coworker had
already shown me my own name on his phone to confirm more than an hour earlier. I saw there was a second boat and he confirmed this too was going to Ukulhas. And there was a third boat. But they were still not letting me board. But they also werent telling me anything. I dont know if this is the normal process or a woman thing, but I started to get frustrated. Finally the rep told me to get on this boat and the captain said it would be $50. I told him the hotel said it would be $40. He said he would check (!!!) but then they confirmed my hotel name again and it was different than theyd thought. So then they told me to get on the other boat. It ended up fine and there was a seat for me and no seats on this boat faced backward, which was a relief. I really didnt think I wanted to sail that way.
We got underway and right away it felt choppier than the last boat. It slowly got worse. I did not read for long and just hoped that my anti- seasickness pill held
out. Then it was raining quite a lot, with ocean water sloshing around all sides of the boat. Up and down, I can still feel it hours later. The boat was closed off from the rain with plastic but water was still splashing into some seats. We kept slamming into the sea and rocking around a lot. The lady is front of me finally needed one of the many bags that hang within arms reach. I, fortunately, did not but it was a struggle. I put on a podcast and closed my eyes and tried to ignore it. I was actually falling asleep but the head jerking and boat slamming kept me awake.
We finally came to a stop in Rashdoo, and the next island, Ukulhas, was my destination. It took an age to get there, which might have been only 30 minutes. I got off the boat in the rain and was given an umbrella by the hotel rep and walked inside a building where I had a minute to put my rain cover on the big pack. Then we got into this little vehicle. I saw by the driver – barely enough room for 2 – and
another couple sat in the back with luggage under their umbrellas.
