玲子的航海日記

When people think of Maldives, they imagine the beautiful white sand beaches, green coconut trees, crystal clear blue sea, amazing sea lives and the largest number of atolls in their minds. “ What is atolls?” I asked Captain when I heard it first time. “ An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef surrounding a lagoon. Surrounding the whole lagoon is a ring reef that falls off into the sea on the outer side. The reef are many small individual islands consisting of coral and gravel.” There is no doubt of the nature beauty here. After staying here for a while, I think there are two different worlds in Maldives---the resort life and the local life.


There is no mountain, no farm in Maldives. They have good fishes and great curry. But most of the fresh vegetables, fruits, food and daily stuffs are imported. That`s why they are expensive. People have to earn their living hard here. Most of people are friendly and nice here .One time I went to a hose shop in Male.They did not have that exact size I wanted. The shop owner took me to almost all the hose shops in Male for that size of hose by his cool motorbike.It was great that we found one at the end.Captain Hiro said that ladies always got special treatments! It sounded good to me! I think there is one thing in common between resort life and local life. They are both expensive!
The first night I arrived Male, the capital city of Maldives, Captain Hiro, Yuuki , Yori chan and I had a dinner party in a restaurant.“ It`s a Muslim country. No alcohol here.” said Captain Hiro with a can of nonalcoholic beer in his hand and a sad face. “ No alcohol is good for your health.He drank too much in Japan.” said Yuuki.
Maldives is one of three countries in the world that is 100% Moslem. (The other two are Oman and Qatar .) It`s their country religion and cultural identity. I couldn`t imagine how it felt that when you were born to this world, you already have your religion and value decided. When Yori chan and I walked on the street , most of time ,there were men on the streets, men in the shop and men did the business. They said that most of women`s responsibilities are limited to house, garden, kitchen and raising children. Maldivians get married in their young ages. The latest time for a woman to get married is about 25. That means I am out of the marriage market in Maldives. I am an OLD lady here. I remember one time Captain Hiro, Yori chan and I went to a gift shop, the shop owner said he got four wives very proudly. I said without thinking that “ how awful !” I thought I offended him in my careless manner.
In Islamic law, a man can have up to four wives at one time but you have to treat them equally. Those who can afford four times expenses for a family, he can marry four. It depends on the economic considerations. I couldn`t help wondering that a man who married four ever communicated with a woman`s soul deeply or what he cared was the prosperity of his blood.
We met some Japanese ladies who married to Maldivians and had lived here for many years. I thought they were all brave women for chasing their love of their lives. There were many difficulties they had to face in life, language usage, life style changing and , the most difficult one, religion changing. You had to be a Muslim. One of Japanese lady , told us she prayed like locals five times a day but she could never bear the heat to wear a veil in hot summer days. The other two Japanese ladies , Ichiko and Kaorita, ran the diving company with their husbands in Maldives. They loved the world under the sea and enjoyed their lives on boat here. There is only one thing that they will never agree with ,yes, the second wife of their husband. NEVER!
During our stay in Hulhumale , we met a crazy and nice skipper from South Africa. Dilter was his name. He called Captain “ PAPA!” in a very funny way. We had a small party on his catamaran the last night and of course, he prepared some drinks, coke with Rum and a bottle of champagne. Captain was so happy to see real alcohol that night. “ What are they thinking to make those nonalcoholic beers! A life without alcohol is miserable! “ said Captain Hiro. We all laughed together loudly. Dilter gave us a lot of information about sailing along the South African coastline. It sounded like a battle to sail there. We got useful information and were about to leave. “ It`s still early. You guys are not party animals ,aren`t you?” said Dilter. We might not be the party animals but we drank all of his Rum and the champagne. “ We are pirates!” said Captain to Dilter.