The Maldives are all about tourism, as evidenced by the many fancy yachts anchored at their shore. It’s a country made up of hundreds of islands and more of them are occupied by resorts (about 250) than their own citizens (about 186). We didn’t get to partake of the resort activities. We had diving and snorkeling planned for our second day there, but the captain pulled out of the area at the end of the first day to avoid an incoming storm. We did a walking tour of Male, which didn’t take very long–though long enough to leave us dripping from the humidity.

The Old Friday Mosque, below, is the oldest and most important building in the region, dating to 1658. It’s all original materials except for the utilitarian but ugly corrugated metal roof. Coconut leaves were traditional roof materials, but they’re too expensive to use now. The buildings and gravestones are made of intricately carved coral, put together without any nails. Harvesting coral for building used to be common, but since tourists come for diving, snorkeling and sea life, it’s no longer done. Good to hear that the priceless reefs were saved by tourism, instead of destroyed by it.

Below is another prominent mosque and Islamic center. In the plaza in front of the mosque is a memorial with eight flags, dedicated to the people killed in the attempted coup and Tamil Tigers invasion in 1988. At that time a group of Tamils arrived on a hijacked freighter from Sri Lanka and quickly gained control of major government buildings, the airport and TV and radio stations. Calls for help were answered by India, which swooped in to regain control and seize most of the invaders. It was then that Maldive decided to beef up its own military.