Marshall Islands Part 1 ( Leg 14)

( March 2023)

We came through the Majuro Atoll pass on the 1^st March at 17.05. As usual, we tried to make radio contact with the Port Authority, but didn’t get a reply. It was going to take another couple of hours to get to the anchorage and being in an unfamiliar atoll with fading light, we decide it would be safer to drop anchor for the night just off of a small island, Lobikaere and continue on to the anchorage first thing in the morning. We managed to make contact with the Port Control as we made our way across the atoll the next morning and they notified the Boarding Party of our imminent arrival and so within an hour of taking up the mooring buoy, we had one Customs official and an Immigration Officer on board clearing us in. It was very refreshing to not have to wait around for hours or even days after the last couple of frustrating months in Kiribati.

As soon as we had eaten lunch we went ashore to check out the supermarkets, which are pretty well stocked with most things except salad veg. We also, as a priority, needed to find the office that deals with the permissions for visiting other inhabited atolls. Having been given vague directions by the Customs and Immigration guys, we walked up and down the high street not really know where we were going so we asked several people for help and we eventually discovered the Ministry of Internal Affairs where we were warmly welcomed into a large, air conditioned room where two ladies were at work. One of them had a baby crib behind her with a small sleeping baby in it. How lovely that she can take her child in to work with her like that, although I wonder what her colleagues think ( there are 4 desks in total) when the child starts crying? We were given the permission forms to fill in, one for each atoll, and went through them in order of priority with the member of staff. We explained that our time was limited and we were eager to leave to explore so she said she would ring or email each Mayor as soon as possible and told us to return at 4pm the following afternoon. Unfortunately, that was 4pm on a Friday and the lady who had dealt with us wasn’t there so another lady, Mabel assisted us. She was very chatty and friendly and was able to sign off one of the permissions on behalf of the Mayor as she was a friend of his, but no other responses had been received. As our time is being eaten away, we whittled the number of atolls down to allow for the delays (we had been told by a couple of people on other yachts that it can take up to a month for permissions to be granted! ) and we were told to return on Monday.

Majuro is the capital of the Marshall Islands and as such is heavily populated (30,000+), dirty ( although not as dirty as Tarawa) and busy. There were around 10 or 12 other yachts in the anchorage with only a few having long term cruisers on them. Some had been there years on and off and some of those stayed in Majuro without visiting anywhere else within the island group. Everyone we met was very friendly and they were keen to let us know about the Cruiser Net (VHF radio information/ communication) every morning at 07.30 and the Yachtie Dinner on Tuesday evenings. During the Cruisers Net, which happens in most areas where there is a yachting community, opportunities are given for raising any security or safety issues, buying and selling boat parts etc , welcoming new boats and notifications about social events are given. As we were both tired, we missed the Net on our first morning in the anchorage and later on met the “Commodore” of the Yacht Club and were made to feel like naughty children, unintentionally I think, for not being present and he seemed even less impressed when we said we wouldn’t be around for long and may not make the dinner on Tuesday evening. Our reason for not tuning in and taking part in the Net didn’t seem to be received very well and so the following morning (3^rd) our alarm was set for 07.20 and we had the handheld VHF radio in our cabin ready to switch on. The question was asked about any new arrivals and Shawn introduced us and we were duly welcomed. With so few people on the yachts here, we were surprised to hear the Net happens every day but having made the effort, it was all done and dusted within 10 minutes.

We took an empty cooking gas bottle to be refilled at a very small marina owned by a guy called Wally, who although seemed very miserable at first, was the kindest, most helpful and generous guy. The regulator on our gas bottle was incompatible with his filling equipment as it was a Caribbean one and so he replaced it with an international fitting free of charge and filled the bottle right to the top and didn’t charge full price. While there, we noticed a large bowl partly covered by a piece of wood with something splashing about so went to have a look. Inside was the most beautiful baby turtle that was being kept as a pet by Wally’s granddaughter. It had been found about a year earlier on one of the small islands and had been in the bucket ever since. It was so sad to see it confined like that and when told it would soon need a bigger bucket, we were told it would be freed when it outgrows the container it is in. Might be too late for it by then….it has been in captivity being fed goodness knows what, being handled by humans. When it is let go, it may not know how to feed itself and will not be wary of humans. Poor little thing.

Late morning on Sunday 5^th March, after a very long time of dodgy internet connections, we were finally able to do a much needed video catch up with our friends, Andy and Jane who live in Carriacou, Grenada (WI). For over 2 hours we chatted and laughed and even had a couple of drinks together. Unfortunately for us, our drink was the strong beer and as a result, the rest of the day was a wipe out so nothing else got done 😛 That evening as the sun started to go down, Imagination was surrounded by dinner plate sized white jelly fish that would come up, break the surface and then swim down again. Whilst watching them, we noticed a big dark shadow between the hulls so put a lure into the water to attract whatever it was and it wasn’t long before a massive barracuda rushed in to try and take it. He was huge, probably a Great Barracuda.

Monday 6^th, we were ashore again late morning to find out about our permissions and as predicted, nothing had happened and so we whittled the list down even further and then went for lunch at a restaurant near the dinghy dock. It’s so frustrating that this process takes so long, just for a simple yes or no! We took Mabel’s email address and she ours so that we could at least move to another area within the atoll and so on Tuesday, we moved across to Ejit Island where we snorkelled on the remains of a small cargo ship – it felt good to be in warm water again. The next day (8^th), we moved along to Enemanot where we had been told there were fuselages of a helicopter and airplane in shallow water. We took the dinghy to locate the remains, had lunch and then retuned with scuba equipment to do short dives on each – our first dive since early November!

Thursday the 9^th, it rained and rained and rained. We were anticipating leaving for another atoll, but decided to wait for the weather to pass through and so had a tv day. At 11.15 the next morning, we had the anchor up and sailed overnight to Maloelap, crossing the easily navigated, deep lagoon to Taroa where the anchor went down at 12.30. We were both excited to be in this place – it is beautiful, calm and the water is crystal clear and warm. This island was used as a Japanese airbase during World War II and we had already seen the mast of a sunken ship whilst coming into the anchorage. After lunch, we went ashore and as we arrived on the beach, we were greeted by a group of children who “helped” us to pull the dinghy up on the sand before escorting and guiding us on a walk to a shipwreck on the beach, derelict bunkers, a 3 story command centre and aviation fuel tanks and anti aircraft guns on the coast before showing us through the undergrowth to an airplane graveyard where the remains of many different aircraft are slowly rotting away and being used as playground apparatus by the kids. It was fascinating to be there, if not a little scary – we had been warned by Mabel to stick to the paths as there are still unexploded land mines here. We have since been told that no one digs anywhere here for that reason and we also heard tales of mines being found underneath cooking fires and explosions whilst burning undergrowth, luckily with no loss of life. Although we couldn’t communicate with the children verbally, we had great fun together and were thankful for their guidance and company. When we got back to the beach, we were approached by a guy who introduced himself as James Bond, not 007. He welcomed us to Maloelap and explained he is the Doctor here, although he is not a doctor! He has done 2 years of training and runs the clinic where he invited us to visit him the next time we came ashore. We then went in the water to cool down ( in our shorts and t shirts as it is very conservative here) and several kids joined us and had a few swimming races before we returned to Imagination – a brilliant day!

The following day was Sunday ( 12^th) and we stayed on board with Shawn cleaning the hulls and Ally cleaning inside. We were visited by a family in their boat – they had bought us coconuts as a welcome gift which we were not expecting and were very grateful for. We went ashore for more exploring late morning on Monday and this time the children were in school. We went to find James who was at his home right next door to the clinic building and he eagerly invited us in and gave us both a seat and we chatted for a while. His home is very sparcely furnished and his wife was sitting on the floor weaving very intricate wall hangings out of raffia which we later discovered she is paid $1.25 per inch to produce and send to Majuro for tourists to buy. After a while, we took our leave having left our local telephone number with James and walked back in the direction we had walked on our first day. James lives just behind the one and only school which consists of 4 classrooms and by the time we left him, the dinner bell had rung and the kids came tumbling out. Ally was on the beach collecting shells(!!) (Shawn had returned to Imagination to pick up some epoxy hardener so that a guy who had started chatting to us could repair his boat) and several kids walked passed saying “hi” as they went and looking at the shells Ally had collected. Ally thought they were on their way home for lunch, but they soon returned carrying plastic plates under their arms on their way back to school for a plate full of food. As we went along the beach, one little lad came to proudly show us what he had for lunch before crouching in the shade of a tree to eat with his fingers. He had a good helping of rice topped with what looked like tinned spaghetti with cubes of tinned ham – bless his little heart! We left him to eat and we walked further around the coast this time and discovered more derelict bunkers and guns and sat under some shade to eat the snacks we had bought with us. Soon the tide was turning and coming in again, so we headed back and as we did, we couldn’t believe our eyes as we saw various blue glass jars in the shallows and on the exposed beach. We had seen bits of glass before and marvelled at how thick it was, but these jars were intact and had Japanese writing on them!! How had they survived 80 years without being smashed to bits? We also found empty shell casings – one large and one smaller! As we were walking back, James called us and invited us back to his for a drink and when we arrived he cracked open a lovely cold fresh coconut for each of us. He then wanted to show us the clinic and explained that the government had installed a medical fridge around 5 months ago, but it was not getting to a very low temperature. The clinic was in a bit of a mess with medications etc everywhere, but it’s clear that James is able to treat and prescribe and dispense medications for various conditions and there were also suture packs around. There was a side room with a rusting old hospital bed in it, but no mattress, so not sure if folks have to provide their own bedding if they need close supervision. Shawn had a quick look at the fridge and agreed to return in a couple of days with some tools and testing equipment to try and improve things.

During the morning of Tuesday 14^th, we took some bedding, towels and unused cooking trays and pots to James and his family which were very gratefully received and also took some pans to the family that had bought us the coconuts when we first arrived. We then took the dinghy across to the wreck of the Japanese cargo ship, Toroshima Maru, and snorkelled on it before going on down to the South of the island where we discovered what looked like rail tracks and remains of rail cars. Shawn went to the clinic the following morning and spent several hours checking the solar panel connections and batteries and did some rewiring/rerouting of connections etc. Unfortunately, the battery in the clinic isn’t great so the fridge won’t get cooler than 7 or 8 degrees C, but hopefully it’ll stay cooler for longer overnight. It is so sad that this very expensive equipment has been installed but noone is following up to make sure it is functioning as it should be and there is noone for James to call to get it sorted out. As a gesture of thanks, James’s wife gave Shawn one of the wall hangings she had made, which was very generous and lovely of her. One gets the feeling this lovely place and it’s warm and generous people have been forgotten about by their government ( where have we heard that story before?!). They have the infrastructure for internet all installed, but it likely won’t be connected for another couple of years! Goodness knows why it should take that long. They can’t even buy credit for their mobile phones here – they have to call a relative in Majuro to have them either transfer credit or give them the code from the scratch card.

That afternoon, we returned to Toroshima Maru, this time to dive. The wreck is alive with corals and there are a fair few fish around, including large Spadefish. The aft deck, rudder and propeller are all pretty much intact but the forward deck has collapsed with the anchor chain fused together. We’re not sure how or why this ship sank, but it was a good, interesting, easy and shallow dive.

On the 16^th, we took some items of clothing, more unused bedding and towels along with some colouring pencils, lead pencils and exercise books to the school where teacher, Julian, thanked us and assured us the bedding etc would be distributed to those families most in need. We then went back to the South of the Island to walk further around the coast where we found more pillar boxes, unexploded bombs and another rifle shell casing. James is keeping us well supplied with stripped coconuts, ready to be refrigerated, opened and consumed and after a swim and shower we enjoyed one each as heavy rain came in. The following day was glorious again and we went for another walk along a beach and this time found a number of Japanese bottles – weird how the other day was jars and today it was bottles. Saturday the 18^th was another day of bottom cleaning ( it’s an ongoing, continual process now!) and we even had a short visit by a Manta Ray. James had asked if he could come to the boat to fish late afternoon, so Shawn picked him up from the beach at 4pm. He did catch a small fish, but there wasn’t much around so he and Shawn went off in the dinghy to sit over the reef outcrops for a couple of hours. Apart from one other small fish, they caught nothing so we gave James some of the Wahoo we had in the freezer. He called us on Sunday morning to tell us he, his family and some friends had enjoyed the fish for dinner and on Monday afternoon, he and Shawn went out and fished again, this time more successfully 🙂

On Tuesday the 21st, after sending emails to other people over the last few days in the hope they could chase up our permissions, Shawn wrote yet another email to Mabel, ( we discovered she is the Chief of Internal Affairs) asking why things were taking so long and explained we now do not have time to visit all of the atolls we wanted to go to this month. He asked for the contact details for the Minister of Tourism and Minister for Internal Affairs so that he could explain how this lack of urgency in giving permissions is losing the islanders money (there is a fee to pay for visiting) and practical help. Most cruisers/yachties are keen and able to help out and donate unused equipment/items/clothing and would very gladly transport provisions if asked . All of a sudden, we had 4 missed calls in quick succession ( the phone was on silent!) but noticed as soon as the 4^th call was dropped. It was Mabel! We called her back immediately and she apologised and told us she had been off work as one of her children had COVID, but that we were good to go to Likiep. We then had to explain that we no longer had the time to go to Likiep and that we needed permission for Wotho as soon as possible so we could pick up our next crew member there……she said she would make some calls and get back to us…..watch this space! The rest of the day was spent finishing the bottom clean and cleaning the stainless steel solar panel framework that hasn’t been done since, well, we can’t remember when!! The following day, after messaging Mabel again, we were told we had been granted permission to spend time in Wotho which meant we could be there in time to meet our oncoming crew member, Christine, which was a relief. The day was a very wet one, but the 23^rd was another gorgeous day. We went ashore to see James who took us to the airstrip which is one of the old Japanese runways, now covered in grass. They have one flight a week that comes in on Mondays – unless there are not enough passengers in which case it is delayed until there is enough demand! Another one of the uncertainties of atoll life. We said our goodbyes before revisiting the beach and doing a final treasure hunt where we found more empty shell casings of different sizes and more intact small glass jars including ink wells. Just before 3pm that afternoon, we commenced the sail to Wotho.

The (almost) 3 days sail was a good one with a constant wind speed and direction, fair sea conditions and plenty of sunshine and we arrived at Wotho Island, Wotho at 10.00 on Monday 27^th March. The anchorage here is perfect….lots of smooth, deep, soft sand in shallow water and it is very pretty. It wasn’t too long before we had a visit from the local Policeman, Carlson and his boat driver, Simpson. They had come to check out why we were here etc. They were both very friendly and came on board for a drink and were very keen to see inside Imagination. After around an hour or so, they left us so that we could rest after the long sail, but instead of resting, we had lots of cleaning, tidying and rearranging to do which carried through to the following day.

On the morning of the 29^th, we pulled the dinghy up on the beach to walk to the landing strip where we were going to watch the weekly flight come in that Christine was on, but we were very quickly told that there was no flight coming today! We were told that if not enough people are on a flight, they cancel and do a “catch up” flight another day when there are enough people, or just come the following week ( just as in Maloelap). On this occasion though, it was cancelled as the pilot had already flown the maximum allowed hours for the week and so maybe the flight will come tomorrow or the next day. We walked to the airstrip anyway so we could easily find our way when the flight does come in, and it was just a short 7 minutes away, by which time we were on the other ( ocean) side of the island so we walked along the beach in the large sandy bay. On the way back, we were looking and talking about all the coconuts in the trees when we were approached from behind by a guy carrying a machete and wearing a smile. He asked if we wanted coconuts and of course, we said yes please! He walked with us and introduced himself as Banner, the Acting Mayor. He was very pleasant and took us to his home where in the kitchen area, Carlson was chopping coconuts to send to Majuro for processing. We were offered seats and we all chatted for a while with fresh, young coconuts being delivered and then opened for us so we could enjoy the sweet, refreshing water which was very welcome after our hot and sweaty walk. As we left, we were given more coconuts to take back to the boat with us and Banner heartily welcomed us to Wotho. It is so heart warming to be on the receiving end of such warmth and generosity and it has been shown to us in abundance in these outer atolls.

On the 30^th, Christine told us the flight had been rescheduled for the 31^st and so Shawn and Ally went beach combing in a couple of areas, finding various “ treasures” before returning to Imagination. Friday morning, we walked along the beach to the end of the airstrip and then along the edge of the runway to the tiny terminal building where several islanders were already waiting. Amongst them was Carlson who came to chat with us. He told us the flight had been delayed for a while but in the mean time, he told us about a birthday party that was taking place that evening and invited us along. In the Marshall Islands, a child’s 1^st birthday ( Kemem) is the most important one as historically, the infant death rate is high and so this occasion celerates the child’s first year on earth – it’s a massive event with families taking out huge loans for food and to fly relatives and friends in from other atolls and so we were very privileged to have been invited. We watched as one of the other police officers very skilfully dehusked some coconuts and we were handed one each which we were very grateful for with the delayed arrived of the plane. One lad climbed to the top of a tree to shake more coconuts down for some kids that were waiting patiently for theirs. Watching him come back down again was nerve racking, but it was incredible to watch him defy gravity so effortlessly! Finally, almost 2 hours late, the plane came in and Christine was with us.

We spent the afternoon chatting and preparing some food and cake as a small gesture of thanks, for the party that evening. Although we had been told there would be food, we didn’t want to be intrusive and eat the community food and so we had a small dinner before going ashore at around 7.30pm. Just as in the Caribbean, when you are told a party starts at a certain time, you can be sure nothing will actually happen until a couple of hours later, but we sat chatting and playing with some of the children who were also there waiting for the festivities to begin. We were then shown to a table in the community centre where the ladies sorting out the food had placed 3 large plates of food ( rice, breadfruit, chicken, ribs and sashimi), extra baked breadfruit parcels, bread, and more fish, along with a can of soda, a fruit juice pouch and a coconut each. We were not expecting that! Once again, we were being treated like guests of honour with many other people sat outside eating in family groups. It wasn’t a party as you would imagine for a 1^st birthday. It was most definitely a community celebration with the vast majority of the atolls 70 (ish) residents in attendance, and it consisted of various parts. Mum and baby (Eddie Paul, known as Paul) sat on the floor on a blanket at the front and were sung to by various groups of different ages, speeches and prayers were said by several people and then the groups went forward, dancing as they went, to give bank notes to the mother and child whilst chocolate and gifts were thrown out to those coming forward. We were encouraged to take part in the dancing and celebrations and the locals loved it when we joined in, dancing with us and taking pictures ( reversing the roles!). As the proceedings came to an end, Christine and Ally were presented with a hand made woven backpack bag each, which was a very emotional moment – such kind generosity, genuine displays of friendship, unexpected acts of kindness ( whatever you want to call it, because I struggle to find the words to express such experiences) totally take us by surprise and make us feel very humble and leave us wishing that the rest of the world could be more like this. We had read that this part of the world could be a little unfriendly, but we have absolutely found the opposite to be true. What a way to end the month and to start the next adventure with Christine!!