A cyclone formed off the West coast of India but it impacted on Sri Lanka and the Maldives. No seaplanes could fly for several days and whilst the waters in the lagoon were choppy we couldn't do outside our atoll to get back to Male and our flights.
We spent our last two days with solid rain. Water beat into our room but the outer reef keeps the area protected.
We did take some final photos through the rain. Much more picturesque in the sunshine!
We checked out of our room and had several false starts before being transferred by boat to another atoll within North Ari Atoll.
Did give a thought to what we should save if we went under. We arrived at Nika Island and waited again for a seaplane. The landing is more protected on Nika so it could fly from there.
Our boat in the much calmer waters of Nika harbour.
Gail on windswept Nika.
You can see our seaplane coming in. Check out Gail's clothes..you might see them again!
View of small islands during the flight.
Small atolls with lagoons inside the coral reef.
By the time our seaplane took off we had missed our flight from Male to Colombo and the connecting flight to Chennai.
It was chaos at Male. Some people had been waiting for their flight for several days. We eventually reclaimed our bags and rang the airline. The advice was that the only other flight that day was fully booked. We waited till the flight was due and managed to get a cancellation. At least we wouldn't have to fight for somewhere to sleep in Male. Having been told that there were no more flights on to Chennai that day we found that there was one at 3.25 am the next morning. We now had connections all the way and would make it for our India trip.
We finally made it to Chennai but one of our bags didn't! We had a lot of paperwork and made it to our hotel at a little after 6.00am. We normally mix our clothes but had reorganised to make the very strict weight limits for the seaplane. Gail has no clothes at all other than the ones in the photo above!! We also lost lots more. It is now over 24 hours later and no word at all. We guess that it might have been off loaded at Colombo. We move on from Chennai in half an hour so hope that it is reunited later. Not looking positive!!
We will try to find clothes today. We discovered that it is easier to buy a wedding sari than it is to buy underwear!! We will start to replace Sri Lankan gifts with Indian as well.
Spent much of the day yesterday sightseeing in Chennai but watch for that in our next blog.
We spent our last two days with solid rain. Water beat into our room but the outer reef keeps the area protected.
We did take some final photos through the rain. Much more picturesque in the sunshine!
We checked out of our room and had several false starts before being transferred by boat to another atoll within North Ari Atoll.
Did give a thought to what we should save if we went under. We arrived at Nika Island and waited again for a seaplane. The landing is more protected on Nika so it could fly from there.
Our boat in the much calmer waters of Nika harbour.
Gail on windswept Nika.
You can see our seaplane coming in. Check out Gail's clothes..you might see them again!
View of small islands during the flight.
Small atolls with lagoons inside the coral reef.
By the time our seaplane took off we had missed our flight from Male to Colombo and the connecting flight to Chennai.
It was chaos at Male. Some people had been waiting for their flight for several days. We eventually reclaimed our bags and rang the airline. The advice was that the only other flight that day was fully booked. We waited till the flight was due and managed to get a cancellation. At least we wouldn't have to fight for somewhere to sleep in Male. Having been told that there were no more flights on to Chennai that day we found that there was one at 3.25 am the next morning. We now had connections all the way and would make it for our India trip.
We finally made it to Chennai but one of our bags didn't! We had a lot of paperwork and made it to our hotel at a little after 6.00am. We normally mix our clothes but had reorganised to make the very strict weight limits for the seaplane. Gail has no clothes at all other than the ones in the photo above!! We also lost lots more. It is now over 24 hours later and no word at all. We guess that it might have been off loaded at Colombo. We move on from Chennai in half an hour so hope that it is reunited later. Not looking positive!!
We will try to find clothes today. We discovered that it is easier to buy a wedding sari than it is to buy underwear!! We will start to replace Sri Lankan gifts with Indian as well.
Spent much of the day yesterday sightseeing in Chennai but watch for that in our next blog.
1 comment:
You poor darlings.It exhausts me just reading your blog
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