Our next scheduled stop was to be a two-day visit to the Seychelles on March 6-7. However due to safety/security issues, the call was replaced with a visit to the Maldives, nearer to India. As it turned out, there was a Norwegian tanker ship capture by pirates near Madagascar (that general area) on March 6 so it was good we had taken another route.
Maldives are islands that are basically Indian heritage that are very flat – so flat that as our glaciers are melting and the water levels in the oceans rising, they may soon have to evacuate their 80,000 people to another land. They are considering purchasing part of Australia to move their country there. Some friends & I went to their man-made beach on the main island and after about one hour, some female police officers came and informed us that women were not allowed in bathing suits and we had to put some cover up on. We did so, then left as it was too hot to stay in the sun with more clothing on as we were not allowed to even swim in our bathing suits – we would have to go in with all our clothing on. This is a Muslim custom. A lot of corruption was evident here as we spoke with others who were taken to islands for beaches and then had to come up with more than the contracted money to get a ride back in time before the ship left. We learn a lot as we travel! Following two more sea days, we arrived in Mumbai, India – formerly Bombay. The name was changed in the 90’s however even the people here still call it Bombay. The newspaper is the Bombay Times. It’s a city of 18,000,000 people. 65% are homeless or live in shanties like the shacks we saw in South Africa. It is hot & humid. Cows are sacred and are allowed to roam freely outside the city limits but must be tethered to something when they are within the city limits.
While here I visited the Ghandi Museum, Gateway to India, had lunch at the Taj Hotel and had some custom clothing made. Many pax and crew bought traditional Indian kaftans and such here so there will be an evening designated where everyone will wear their new clothes. I’ll post photos of that later. The laundry service in Mumbai is quite unique. Men do all the "beating" of the laundry. There are women under the bridges that do all the ironing. I'll let the video speak for itself.
Maldives are islands that are basically Indian heritage that are very flat – so flat that as our glaciers are melting and the water levels in the oceans rising, they may soon have to evacuate their 80,000 people to another land. They are considering purchasing part of Australia to move their country there. Some friends & I went to their man-made beach on the main island and after about one hour, some female police officers came and informed us that women were not allowed in bathing suits and we had to put some cover up on. We did so, then left as it was too hot to stay in the sun with more clothing on as we were not allowed to even swim in our bathing suits – we would have to go in with all our clothing on. This is a Muslim custom. A lot of corruption was evident here as we spoke with others who were taken to islands for beaches and then had to come up with more than the contracted money to get a ride back in time before the ship left. We learn a lot as we travel! Following two more sea days, we arrived in Mumbai, India – formerly Bombay. The name was changed in the 90’s however even the people here still call it Bombay. The newspaper is the Bombay Times. It’s a city of 18,000,000 people. 65% are homeless or live in shanties like the shacks we saw in South Africa. It is hot & humid. Cows are sacred and are allowed to roam freely outside the city limits but must be tethered to something when they are within the city limits. 
While here I visited the Ghandi Museum, Gateway to India, had lunch at the Taj Hotel and had some custom clothing made. Many pax and crew bought traditional Indian kaftans and such here so there will be an evening designated where everyone will wear their new clothes. I’ll post photos of that later. The laundry service in Mumbai is quite unique. Men do all the "beating" of the laundry. There are women under the bridges that do all the ironing. I'll let the video speak for itself.
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