Exploring the outer atolls of the Marshall Islands requires a bit of patience, a strong will, and a keen eye on the weather. There are two parallel island chains: The Ratak, or Sunrise island chain lies to the east and the Ralik, or Sunset island chain lies to the west. The chains lie about 125 miles (200 km) apart and extend some 800 miles northwest to southeast. So, travelling between them requires some distance sailing.
The trade winds are typically east or north east and during the months of December-March average wind speeds of 18-25kts. Sugar Shack typically likes winds in the 12-15kt range which may not seem like much of a difference. However, you add a squall or gusts and then all of a sudden you are in uncomfortable conditions.
The seas average 2-3 meters (6-9′) and we prefer the seas to be flat to 1m. Of course it also is important to note the intervals between the waves and they can range from short to decent (3 to 9 second). We will consider a passage with 2-2.5m seas if the intervals are 6-9 seconds. It will mean a choppy passage, but “doable.”
Overall, these are not our “ideal” conditions. But if we want to explore the outer atolls it is what we have to deal with to see these new places.
Our Marshall Islands Sailing Plan
We arrived in Majuro in late September and spent a month trying to obtain our permits, reprovisioning, and waiting for a good weather window to depart. We had high hopes of visiting several atolls in a short 4 months.
9 Island Cruising Permits were requested for the atolls listed below. We received permission to visit all of them except Kwaj.
- Maloelap: Large collection of WWII remnants
- Wotje: More WWII remnants
- Ailuk: Known for its locals continued use of authentic canoes for transport
- Likiep: Rich history of European owners & tallest point in RMI
- Rongerik, Rongelap, Alinginae: Prettiest and most remote atolls
- Bikini Island: Nuclear weapon testing site
- Wotho: We would use this as an emergency weather stop
- Kwajalein (Kwaj): U.S. military base off limits except for formalities
- Namu: We would use this as an emergency weather stop
Our plan was to sail North East through the Ratak Island Chain stopping at Maloelap, Wotje, Ailuk, and Likiep. Then we would cross over to the Ralik Island chain stopping first at Rongerik (uninhabited), then Rongelap, Alinginae and then Bikini.
Unfortunately, our timing was off and we ended up not being able to make it to the Bikini atoll. Which is probably for the best as it cost $250.00 USD per day.
Getting Back to Majuro
It is very difficult to find a weather window back to Majuro as it is east. The tradewinds are coming from the east. Sailboats don’t sail directly into the wind. We had to come up with multiple plans to get back and the one we select will be based on weather at the time.
Plan A: Sail direct to Majuro from Alinginae. Only if a rare weather window occurred.
Plan B: Sail from Alinginae to Likiep (110 miles), then to Majuro (206 miles), Unlikely as it is east.
The blue arrows indicate the typical trade winds. Sailboats don’t point into the wind.
Sailing Conditions
As many of you know, I get terribly sea sick despite sailing over 60,000 nautical miles across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. So, we are constantly looking for good sailing conditions which include winds at 12-16kts and seas below 1 meter. Usually, during season, the seas in RMI are 2.5-3 meters. On the “better days” they are 2 meters across long increments.
We tried to pick “low wind” days which caused us to have to motor more than we were used to but provided better conditions. Often we got some pretty spectacular sailing conditions.
Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.
If the conditions suited, we would troll with 3 lines and one teaser out. We caught several small fish that we released and one pretty large sail fish (released).
A pair of beautiful yellow fin tuna hopped on our hooks during our passage from Likiep to Rongerik.
Sailing Back to Majuro
We were blessed with an incredible weather window. We had to leave Alinginae a lot sooner than anticipated. However, we had true NE winds, with more north than normal tradewinds. In addition, we also had somewhat low seas at 2-2.5 meters.
The trip is about 400 miles from hook to hook and should take us 2.5 days. We anticipated a beam reach and a nice sail.
We made the trip back to Majuro in 54 hours. Read about this passage on our last blog post.
Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. This particular blog reflects our time in the Marshall Islands over 4 months of cruising between October 2024-February 2025.
