December 29, 2013
Anchorage Position: 08°18.62'N 171°09.18'E
Tabal Island, Aur Atoll, Marshall Islands
We're loving the Republic of Marshall Islands. It's very similar to French Polynesia's' Tuamotu Archipelago, but totally undeveloped aside from Majuro and the missile base on Kwaj. Snorkeling inside the atolls is far better with significantly more species of fish to enjoy and lots of WWII wrecks. Aside from some rain and squalls during the transition from fall to winter, the weather has been spectacular with comfortable temperatures and a steady breeze. In two weeks of sailing we've seen two boats. We're sharing an anchorage with s/v Confederate with Robin and Anna aboard hailing from New Zealand and looking forward to some kiteboarding with them the next few days in the southern end of Aur Atoll. If you wanted you could get lost in the Marshall islands for months and never see another boat.
Yesterday we had a rip of a 29 mile sail from Maloelap to Aur. We covered the 9 miles of open water between the atolls in far less than an hour with a top speed of 13.6 knots in fresh 20-24 knots with a reef in the main. Once inside the lagoon the sailing is bliss x 10 with flat waters, clean air blowing over the reef and boat speeds always in the 9-13 range.
Yesterday we pulled into the Tabal Island anchorage where we found s/v Confederate. We invited them over for dinner and had a great evening until finding their dinghy missing. Robin and Dave made a search, but strong winds in the lagoon would have taken their dinghy away quickly into the night. Sad and frustrating for Robin and Anna, but fortunate that they are close to Majuro where they can replace their dinghy both cost effectively and quickly. The next few days we plan to kite with them, so we can share our dinghy until they head to Majuro.
Daily adventures keep us busy with lots of snorkeling in 85F waters and lots of beach combing looking for Japanese glass floats. I've also been working on some major boat projects including the install of new mast head wind instrument, depth, speed and new displays for the cockpit. A multi day project of pulling wires and configuring the new components to integrate with our Autopilot. Since we have two really nice Simrad AC42 Autopilots and new AP 24 autopilot control heads I was pleased to find matching IS20 wind, depth and speed instruments on sale.
Our quite new wireless Tacktick wind, depth, speed, GPS and NEMA interface were ok, but they didn't play that nice with our Simrad autopilot in 'wind' mode. So, I'll sell the 3 year old Tacktick system on ebay. The new Simrad stuff was a royal pain to wire as pulling wires into our mast is a real B!ch. I was at the top of the mast for nearly 4 hours today!
The other new super cool project is the addition of a Simrad 3G 24nm broadband radar. It's low power consuming so we can run it all the time and the close range target discrimination is far superior to old magnetron technology. The best part is that we can run it on a laptop running OpenCPN, so no expensive $$$$ multifunctional display is required. On LightSpeed we'll have the radar image displayed on a 22" LED monitor at our navigation desk which will make navigating in restricted visibility a lot less stressful. With several thousands of miles of sailing in fog on our schedule for next year this is a major safety item. Unfortunately, the install is a huge project as I need to build a mounting pole as we are moving the radar from the mast to a new pole on the stern that will also house a stern/anchor/boarding light and wifi antenna.
That's it for now.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Friday, December 20, 2013
UPDATED: Kiteboarding and WWII relics Maloelap atoll
December 21, 2013
Anchor Position: 08 44.42 N 171 11.57 E
Pigeeyatto island, Maloelap atoll
Yesterday we headed to shore at Taroa Island to check-in with the acting mayor, submit our permit and pay our $25 visitors fee for the atoll of Maloelap. Landing in front of the conspicuous pale blue Protestant Church we sadly encountered an adult Hawksbill tethered to shore. The turtle had a few holes drilled in the trailing edge of its shell affixing it to a line leading up the beach to a palm tree.
Just behind the palm tree was outdoor an kitchen, so we can only guess what might be the main course for Christmas dinner. The turtle was fruitlessly swimming away from shore in the shallows and it's imminent demise tugged at our heart strings.
Further ashore in front of the Protestant Church we encountered several men, women and children all of whom were quite shy.
Church at Taroa, Maloelap Marshall islands. Second blue house on left is the home or Reverend Standin.
Eventually we met Reverend Standin (it makes me smile every time I say or type that name:) who was very nice and let us know that the acting mayor should soon arrive from the island of Ollot Island. In the interim we were welcome to go anywhere we liked on the island (Taroa) or sail towards Ollot island if we so wished. It was all very casual. The Reverend Standin lives near the church, has 5 children a friendly wife and two mother cats and lots of 1 month old kittens. We enjoyed holding a few of the kittens and the Reverend Standin offered a few to us. We were tempted to bring a few back to the boat, but they seem a bit young to leave their mother.
We headed off for a walk on the north side of the island, drawn by the lonely anti-aircraft gun on the sand spit.
After a few photos of the rusty old gun we walked the beach toward the ocean marvelling at the number of broken blue bottles on the beach. Did a ship full of blue bottles sink sending 1.5 liter blue bottles adrift or were these war relics. Taroa was the heavily fortified home to 3000 Japanese troops supporting 2 airstrips and a contingent of Zeros and Betty Bombers.
Remains of Taroa after US forces bombed and shelled it to oblivion. 
We anchored to the North of the pier seen in the upper left of this photo. And found remains of airplanes on the top right near the end of the runway.
Remains of the fierce battles between the Japanese and US warships and planes literally are everywhere. Walking the beach, concrete pill boxes pock marked with bullet blasts line the shore, and big guns, that weren't blow to bits still point seaward.
Anti aircraft guns
Kathy stands in the shallows near a gun that must have been blown from it's base.
Close up of blasted gun.
I picked up a few rounds for this photo, but put them back where I found. Bullet second from right shows rifling marks indicating it was fired. I think it's a 50 cal round that would have been fired from a US fighter or bomber?
On our way back we cut across the edge of the island amongst the palm trees and weaving between huge shell craters from B24 and B25 bombers or huge naval guns? To our surprise we discovered many many planes in the bush. Mostly Japanese Zeros and Betty Bombers filled with strafing holes that must have been shot up on the ground. Pretty much all the pieces were there, but deteriorating in the salty tropical heat.
Did a bullet hit this propeller?
Zero Wreckage
Betty Bomber
Zero Wreckage
Back at the village, the acting mayor had yet to arrive so we headed to the boat for lunch and a snorkel. Just off the island of Taroa lies a 300' Japanese supply ship Terushima Maru, sunk by US forces. Its all snorkel-able with the maximum depth at the huge stern propeller of 47' (prop center is at 43'). The lagoon waters are clear (I've read best at low tide) and the ship ranks as one of our favorite snorkels of all time. The wreck is easy to locate as the ships masts still stick more than 40' out of the water and provide a convenient locations to secure the dinghy for a snorkel.
Terushima Maru mast with LightSpeed faintly visable in the distance on the left. Taroa Island, Maloelap atoll Marshall Islands.
Terushima Maru yop masts still stand 70 years later. We made 4 full passes of the ship exploring the top sides and port and starboard and even some of the holds. Lots of fish, but no sharks.
The Terushima Maru is particularly interesting as it still contains LIVE depth charges. I'd seen a photo of Majuro's Matt Holly posing next to seven canisters and was curious to see if we could located them without SCUBA setups. For some more photos and great history check out this link: http://marshall.csu.edu.au/MJHSS/Issue2006/MJHSS2006_112.pdf
Kathy focused mostly on the marine life and I tested my free diving skills checking out the nooks and crannies and diving down to the bottom to measure the depth with my free diving watch. It was on our third pass of the ship from bow to stern that I explored the holds forward of the aft masts. Swimming between some huge cross beams I peered into the second below deck level and spotted the depth charges. Kathy took a looks as well, then tempting fate I swam down between the decks and some dangling wires to get a close and personal view of the depth charge canisters. Not a mom approved moment. These depth charges are still live and some say that if the ship deck collapses over time and the charges roll or fall down to the depth of 33' they may very likely explode as it was customary to set the charges to blow at 33',, my dive watch puts them at 26'. It may seem a bit crazy, but the Marshall islands still have plenty of unexploded ordinance in the form of bombs near many of the best wreck dives.
As a side note the war ships used in Bikini atoll nuclear tests atoll were fully loaded including fuel, planes bombs and ammunition to see what would happen when subjected to a nuclear blast. For those enthusiastic divers with re-breathers and enough cash for the dive charter to Bikini, it's possible to dive the flight decks of the USS Saratoga and swim amongst the planes.
Today we tried to track down the mayor and eventually proffered our permit and cash to another guy at Taroa and received full permission to do whatever wherever we wanted within the atoll. All we really want to do is kiteboard, snorkel and walk the beach a few times. So, we cruised up the lagoon to Pigeeyatto island for some kite-boarding. We found a decent pump up and launching beach (coral rubble and sand) just to the north of Pigeeyatto that works well at low tide.
Looking SE toward Pigeeyatto island. Sandbar as shown at low tide.
Kathy ready to go kiting at Pigeeyatto island sandbar.
After kiting we had a nice snorkel from the boat and enjoyed healthy coral and tons of fish of every size and description.
Dave flying the new F-One bandit 12m and wishing for a little more wind. We're still total beginners, but having fun.
Kathy kiting... her sixth session.
Kahty popping up, but winds are a bit light.
That's it for now.
Anchor Position: 08 44.42 N 171 11.57 E
Pigeeyatto island, Maloelap atoll
Yesterday we headed to shore at Taroa Island to check-in with the acting mayor, submit our permit and pay our $25 visitors fee for the atoll of Maloelap. Landing in front of the conspicuous pale blue Protestant Church we sadly encountered an adult Hawksbill tethered to shore. The turtle had a few holes drilled in the trailing edge of its shell affixing it to a line leading up the beach to a palm tree.
Turtle for Christmas dinner awaits it's fate tehered to shore. It's about 3' (1m) long.
Further ashore in front of the Protestant Church we encountered several men, women and children all of whom were quite shy.
We headed off for a walk on the north side of the island, drawn by the lonely anti-aircraft gun on the sand spit.
After a few photos of the rusty old gun we walked the beach toward the ocean marvelling at the number of broken blue bottles on the beach. Did a ship full of blue bottles sink sending 1.5 liter blue bottles adrift or were these war relics. Taroa was the heavily fortified home to 3000 Japanese troops supporting 2 airstrips and a contingent of Zeros and Betty Bombers.
We anchored to the North of the pier seen in the upper left of this photo. And found remains of airplanes on the top right near the end of the runway.
Remains of the fierce battles between the Japanese and US warships and planes literally are everywhere. Walking the beach, concrete pill boxes pock marked with bullet blasts line the shore, and big guns, that weren't blow to bits still point seaward.
I picked up a few rounds for this photo, but put them back where I found. Bullet second from right shows rifling marks indicating it was fired. I think it's a 50 cal round that would have been fired from a US fighter or bomber?
Japaneese Rice bowl with a print of Mount Fuji on the bottom.
At low tide metal war debris still litters the scoured coral abutting the atoll. In certain places you can look closely and see 2 or 3 rifle bullets resting in coral crevices. I picked up a few bullets for a photograph, but didn't take any home as the historical significance of these scattered artifacts should not be sullied by collectors. I did identify several large 50 caliber? rounds complete with rifling marks that were fired from a US Hellcat? And there were tons of Japanese rifle bullets in the 6-8 mm range mostly missing the cartridge, but not fired. More big guns, some still standing on their turrets and others half buried in coral.
On our way back we cut across the edge of the island amongst the palm trees and weaving between huge shell craters from B24 and B25 bombers or huge naval guns? To our surprise we discovered many many planes in the bush. Mostly Japanese Zeros and Betty Bombers filled with strafing holes that must have been shot up on the ground. Pretty much all the pieces were there, but deteriorating in the salty tropical heat.
Back at the village, the acting mayor had yet to arrive so we headed to the boat for lunch and a snorkel. Just off the island of Taroa lies a 300' Japanese supply ship Terushima Maru, sunk by US forces. Its all snorkel-able with the maximum depth at the huge stern propeller of 47' (prop center is at 43'). The lagoon waters are clear (I've read best at low tide) and the ship ranks as one of our favorite snorkels of all time. The wreck is easy to locate as the ships masts still stick more than 40' out of the water and provide a convenient locations to secure the dinghy for a snorkel.
The partially submerged wreck of the Japanese freighter Terushima Maru, off Taroa Island, Maloelap Atoll. The vessel was sunk by US aircraft during World War II.
(Photograph © 1989-2001 Dirk HR Spennemann)
(Photograph © 1989-2001 Dirk HR Spennemann)
Kathy focused mostly on the marine life and I tested my free diving skills checking out the nooks and crannies and diving down to the bottom to measure the depth with my free diving watch. It was on our third pass of the ship from bow to stern that I explored the holds forward of the aft masts. Swimming between some huge cross beams I peered into the second below deck level and spotted the depth charges. Kathy took a looks as well, then tempting fate I swam down between the decks and some dangling wires to get a close and personal view of the depth charge canisters. Not a mom approved moment. These depth charges are still live and some say that if the ship deck collapses over time and the charges roll or fall down to the depth of 33' they may very likely explode as it was customary to set the charges to blow at 33',, my dive watch puts them at 26'. It may seem a bit crazy, but the Marshall islands still have plenty of unexploded ordinance in the form of bombs near many of the best wreck dives.
As a side note the war ships used in Bikini atoll nuclear tests atoll were fully loaded including fuel, planes bombs and ammunition to see what would happen when subjected to a nuclear blast. For those enthusiastic divers with re-breathers and enough cash for the dive charter to Bikini, it's possible to dive the flight decks of the USS Saratoga and swim amongst the planes.
Today we tried to track down the mayor and eventually proffered our permit and cash to another guy at Taroa and received full permission to do whatever wherever we wanted within the atoll. All we really want to do is kiteboard, snorkel and walk the beach a few times. So, we cruised up the lagoon to Pigeeyatto island for some kite-boarding. We found a decent pump up and launching beach (coral rubble and sand) just to the north of Pigeeyatto that works well at low tide.
After kiting we had a nice snorkel from the boat and enjoyed healthy coral and tons of fish of every size and description.
Kahty popping up, but winds are a bit light.
That's it for now.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Cruising the Marshall Islands- Aur and Maloelap atolls
December 20, 2013 8:11 AM local
Position: 08-42.34N 171-13.38E
Anchored off Taroa Island, Maloelap atoll
After three fun filled weeks in Majuro we need a vacation in the solitude of the outer atolls. Majuro has an incredibly robust social scene that's included 2 yacht races, 1 triathlon, a thanksgiving feast, 2 skippers meetings, 3 Yachtie nights out for dinner, girls card game on Tuesdays, a Saturday swap meet, picnic at the beach, snorkeling many times, 2 kite boarding sessions, a concert at the American Embassy, lots of shopping and even a few boat projects. We've even managed to make the news at least twice and probably three times, but I haven't seen the Marshall Islands Journal this week. Kathy made the front page with her Triathlon win on the second week and the first week we had a photo of the boat to go along with first win in the Yacht race.
It's small town living where you chat with friends at the post office, know your local grocer and hardware store manager. The expat community is very well educated and primarily comprised of teachers, professionals and volunteers. It's both unfortunate and ironic that we've met very few Marshall Islanders. However, now that we're away from the hustle and bustle of Majuro we'll be fully immersed in the local communities and will meet no one else.
Anticipating an early morning start we staged LightSpeed at the Enigu 'free' moorings located about 6.5nm west of town. Our alarm roused us at 5:30AM, but intense rain delayed our departure until 7AM putting us under pressure to sail fast to cover the 72 nautical miles with enough daylight remaining to safely navigate inside Aur lagoon. The wind cooperated for the most part providing many hours of average speeds in the mid-8 knot range. Our worst hourly run was 5.5 miles, but that was due to landing a beautiful HUGE rainbow runner. We arrived at Aur and sailed through the pass on the SW corner with ease, dropped sail and motored the few remaining miles into the anchorage and dropped our hook near s/v Astarte with Mike and Barbara aboard.
The next morning we decided to push on and had a beautiful 12 mile sail across Aur lagoon exiting at the NW pass. Once in open ocean between Aur and Maloelap we made several tacks to lay the south opening in the reef, sailed though and across the lagoon, tacked and sailed about half way toward Taroa island until getting headed. We could have kept tacking, but stiff winds in the lagoon were splashing the deck and since a rain shower had just washed the boat we decided to motor the last 8 nm in the lee of the reef and keep the boat clean, dry and salt free. Now that we're north of the convergence zone and it's dry season we may not see rain again for weeks.
We'll head into town this morning to deliver our permit and pay our $25 visitors fee and then ask for permission to move up the lagoon a bit further to a good kiting spot.
The anchorage here at Taroa is littered with World War II relics. Taroa was a major Japanese base, before US forces obliterated the stronghold. Many sunken ships, Japanese Zero fighter planes, unexploded ordinance and more await our snorkeling adventures. On the NW tip of Taroa stands a lone howitzer mounted on the small concrete base, it sure looks strange sitting on an otherwise pristine sandy beach.
That's it for now.
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Position: 08-42.34N 171-13.38E
Anchored off Taroa Island, Maloelap atoll
After three fun filled weeks in Majuro we need a vacation in the solitude of the outer atolls. Majuro has an incredibly robust social scene that's included 2 yacht races, 1 triathlon, a thanksgiving feast, 2 skippers meetings, 3 Yachtie nights out for dinner, girls card game on Tuesdays, a Saturday swap meet, picnic at the beach, snorkeling many times, 2 kite boarding sessions, a concert at the American Embassy, lots of shopping and even a few boat projects. We've even managed to make the news at least twice and probably three times, but I haven't seen the Marshall Islands Journal this week. Kathy made the front page with her Triathlon win on the second week and the first week we had a photo of the boat to go along with first win in the Yacht race.
It's small town living where you chat with friends at the post office, know your local grocer and hardware store manager. The expat community is very well educated and primarily comprised of teachers, professionals and volunteers. It's both unfortunate and ironic that we've met very few Marshall Islanders. However, now that we're away from the hustle and bustle of Majuro we'll be fully immersed in the local communities and will meet no one else.
Anticipating an early morning start we staged LightSpeed at the Enigu 'free' moorings located about 6.5nm west of town. Our alarm roused us at 5:30AM, but intense rain delayed our departure until 7AM putting us under pressure to sail fast to cover the 72 nautical miles with enough daylight remaining to safely navigate inside Aur lagoon. The wind cooperated for the most part providing many hours of average speeds in the mid-8 knot range. Our worst hourly run was 5.5 miles, but that was due to landing a beautiful HUGE rainbow runner. We arrived at Aur and sailed through the pass on the SW corner with ease, dropped sail and motored the few remaining miles into the anchorage and dropped our hook near s/v Astarte with Mike and Barbara aboard.
The next morning we decided to push on and had a beautiful 12 mile sail across Aur lagoon exiting at the NW pass. Once in open ocean between Aur and Maloelap we made several tacks to lay the south opening in the reef, sailed though and across the lagoon, tacked and sailed about half way toward Taroa island until getting headed. We could have kept tacking, but stiff winds in the lagoon were splashing the deck and since a rain shower had just washed the boat we decided to motor the last 8 nm in the lee of the reef and keep the boat clean, dry and salt free. Now that we're north of the convergence zone and it's dry season we may not see rain again for weeks.
We'll head into town this morning to deliver our permit and pay our $25 visitors fee and then ask for permission to move up the lagoon a bit further to a good kiting spot.
The anchorage here at Taroa is littered with World War II relics. Taroa was a major Japanese base, before US forces obliterated the stronghold. Many sunken ships, Japanese Zero fighter planes, unexploded ordinance and more await our snorkeling adventures. On the NW tip of Taroa stands a lone howitzer mounted on the small concrete base, it sure looks strange sitting on an otherwise pristine sandy beach.
That's it for now.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Saturday, December 07, 2013
Mieco Beach Yacht Club yacht race December 1 2013
Majuro atoll is home of the Mieco Beach Yacht Club http://www.sailingmarshallislands.com/
From left to right: Off Tempo, Seal, Aka and LightSpeed charging for the start line marked by the race committee boat Navigator.
Off and racing in near perfect 15 knot conditions and clear skies.
Kathy wins womens division of KIO club Triathalon
Nearing the finish in first place for the women's division.
Kathy at the startline
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