Traversing a multitude of islands scattered throughout the colossal Indian Ocean
Sailing the Uncharted: A Couple's Voyage Through the Maldives and Chagos
Saskia Stainer-Hutchins and her husband Ross, world cruisers, embarked on an extraordinary journey in March 2024, setting sail from Thailand towards the Cape of Good Hope. Their planned route, however, was altered due to the growing conflict in Yemen, leading them to navigate an uncommon path through the Indian Ocean, taking them to the Maldives and Chagos archipelagos.
Their voyage began with a surprise—the tidy sand streets and coral stone houses of Uligan, the northernmost port of entry in the Maldives, were unlike anything they'd expected. The charming scene instantly charmed them. As they journeyed south, they encountered a pattern of equatorial current pushing them off course for 400 miles all the way down to Chagos.
Sailing conditions as they turned south were very changeable, with squalls at least a daily occurrence. One of their most memorable stops was the island of Dholhiyadhoo, home to an abandoned luxury resort, complete with crumbling cabanas over the water.
Navigating through the Maldives proved challenging due to the islands' ongoing construction. Navionics charts proved unreliable, and satellite maps were needed to navigate through the new islands sprouting up everywhere. They encountered a 1,000ft-long dredging ship and a barge packed with fully-grown palm trees during their journey.
Sailing this route required meticulous planning to thread the weather needle, as the Maldives and Chagos straddle the Equator and therefore two opposing tradewinds and monsoon seasons. The winds clocked around to south-west as they neared the equator, which was inconvenient for their desired travel direction.
Chagos, currently one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries on the planet, offered an abundance of wildlife seemingly unafraid of people. They found themselves motoring hundreds of miles offshore, spotting wildlife easily, including an incredible number of turtles.
Chagos was once someone's home, and it was indescribably moving to walk the ruins of an abandoned town. The island was a beautiful but very lonely place, with only a tiny number of people permitted to enter its waters. Changing or extending permits was mostly denied, and two boats had to leave as their permits expired right at the time of a revolving tropical storm.
Anchoring by protected reefs was possible when the wind died for days at a time. During their last two days of passage, they experienced an utterly magical experience with no wind, motoring over a sea that was as flat as glass.
The Maldives is a very conservative Islamic country, and local islands are wildly different from anything tourists experience within the resorts. Fewer than 60 private sailing yachts had checked in through the Maldives during their season. Despite the challenges, Saskia and Ross's passage from Thailand to the north of the Maldives was one of the best they have ever made.
In Uligan, the call to prayer segmented their days there and governed life on the island. The right to visit Chagos was heavily restricted, making their journey even more extraordinary. Their experiences offer a unique glimpse into the uncharted waters of the Maldives and Chagos, a testament to the spirit of adventure and the allure of the open sea.
Saskia Stainer-Hutchins and her husband Ross, while sailing through the Maldives and Chagos archipelagos, found that their adventure-travel journey was filled with unexpected obstacles and enchanting experiences, such as navigating new islands and encountering abundant wildlife. As they journeyed, they also discovered that the local lifestyle in the Maldives was starkly different from the resort experiences, offering a unique perspective on the conserved Islamic country.
