Tag Archives: republic of marshall islands

The Amazing Critters of Rongelap

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Rongelap has a large lagoon of about 1,000 square miles and over 61 islands around the atoll.  Since it is uninhabited it makes for a great animal habitat both on shore and in the lagoon.

Giant Clams

Several other cruisers talked about finding giant clams.  However, since we have not been in the water much we had not seen any — until we got to Rongelap.

Many locals harvest small clams to sell to aquarium providers in the States (Likiep and Ailuk). The clams are a mere 3″ long by the time they are sold.

The giant clams we encounter in Rongelap are close to 4′ long!  At Tufa Island in the southern end of Rongelap, we find these giant clams in 10-40′ of water.

The largest clam we found was about 4′ long and the the others were between 1-2.5′.  Super cool and very beautiful.  Matt was able to free dive down to the larger clams which were in 30′-40′ of water and I checked out the smaller clams (1′-2’5″) in 10-12′ of water.

Matt said the clam expelled a lot of water and tried to close when he approached the large clam. Lucky for Matt he did not put his hand inside.  In our video (which you can see on sv Sugar Shack Instagram’s page from 1.22.25) you can clearly see the clam breathing and closing.  Pretty darn cool.

We ended up finding two really large clams and maybe 4-5 smaller ones (1′-3′)

Nurse Shark

We found the perfect place to leave the dinghy during our stay at Tufa island.  One morning, we spotted a rather large nurse shark hanging out.

We drove the dinghy right behind him and anchored. I got out, walked by the shark, and took some photos.  The shark did not budge during all of this activity.  He was a good 5′ long and just enjoyed the shallow waters.

Bird Sanctuary

Birds are thriving with no humans living in 99% of the Rongelap atoll.  Very similar to Rongerik, we find dozens of bird species, nests and babies all over the northern islands. 

We encountered the strangest nest we have ever seen.  Maybe you have seen or read something about this?  We saw about a dozen birds sitting in a circle on top of broken coral and rocks – strange.  We did not approach, but as we kept walking near the waters edge the birds flew away.  To our surprise, they were each sitting on either eggs or newborn baby birds, in a circle!

There are 7 speckled eggs and 3 baby birds in the photo below – can you find them all?

The boobie babies are covered in white fuzz. They are so cute and I’d love to see if they are as soft as they look!

The white terns lay their eggs on the branches (with no nest see bottom right photo) and their babies grow on the same branch (top right photo).

Portuguese Man-O-Wars

Not so pleasant are the Portuguese man-o-wars that line the shoreline.  Not sure why but they are everywhere.  Matt makes a game out of popping them, but I just try to avoid the poisonous buggers.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events.  I wrote this blog post during the first part of January 2025.  Check out our last blog post with more of Rongelap’s beauty.

Maloelap’s WWII History

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Our first outer atoll in the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) is Maloelap.  We are so excited to get out Majuro to experience true Marshallese life and culture.  Our passage was relatively easy with very light winds, no swell, and a half moon up at 12:30am. We were able to sail the first 13 hours (66 miles) and then we lost the wind at 2:30am.  We turned on one engine and continued our slow trip for a safe arrival at the pass well after sunrise.  From anchor to anchor it was 106nm and it took 21 hours.

This coral atoll consists of 71 motus or small islands and lies in the Ratak Island Chain.  If you were to add up the total land area you will find that it is only 9.8 square kilometers (3.8 square miles).  However, the enclosed lagoon is 972 square kilometers (375 square miles).  The total population across 5 islands and several villages is said to be just over 400 people.

The main village and the administrative center is located on Taroa Island.  This is where we head to first to pay our respects to the mayor and/or his representative.   You might recall that we had to get permits from each mayor of every atoll we wanted to visit.  We provided our estimated dates, length of stay and reason for visiting.  All but one permit was approved.

We were blessed with a beautiful rainbow as we entered the pass and as soon as we dropped the hook the local policeman, Arry greeted us.  He asked for our permit and then promptly asked if we could help him fix his outboard.

Maloelap’s History

The German Empire claimed Maloelap, along with the rest of RMI in 1885.  However, after WWI, the island came under the South Seas Mandate of the Empire of Japan.

The Japanese first started building on Maloelap around 1935 after her withdrawal from the League of Nations.  They established weather and lookout stations throughout RMI.  Taroa, the main island on Maloelap quickly became the center of the Japanese military.  They built a 4,800′ airstrip (originally called WWII Japanese Runway “A”).  A second 4,100′ airstrip was built on the neighboring motu called Kaven.

Back on Taroa, the Japanese command centers, ammunition depots, hospital, laundry facilities, water and fuel tanks, built bunkers, barracks, hangars, service shops, a large pier with a crane, two small work docks, a channel and anchorage pillars. In addition, they built a large power station on nearby Pigete island which supplied Taroa with power via a 3 mile long underwater submarine cable.

The Americans were surprised by the infrastructure that was secretly built by the Japanese.  It was a full-service Naval air base.

WWI in Maloelap

The U.S. captured and took control of Majuro and Kwajalein (the two main islands in RMI).  Then the war came to Maloelap on the morning of  Feb. 1, 1942 with two raids.

The first air raid totaled five Grumman F4F “Wildcat” aircraft with two 100-pound bombs each. Between Feb. 1942 and Aug. 1945, U.S. aircraft dropped 3543 tons of bombs and U.S. ships shot 453 tons of shells onto Taroa (a very small atoll, yet a fully functioning naval base for the Japanese).

The attacks became more regular and then the supply lines were cut off to Taroa and the Japanese soldiers were left to starve to death.

Only 34% of the garrison survived (1,772 of the 3,097 souls).  The survival rate in Maloelap was the worst of all bases in the Marshall Islands.  Air raids, diseases, accidents, suicides, and starvation killed most of the soldiers and many Marshallese.  

Since the war, many, if not most of the buildings, planes, guns, and still remain on the island.  However, the vegetation has completely taken over and time has had a severe impact on the remains.  

In the photo below you can see how much erosion has occurred on this island.  The entire island of Eoon-epje is now gone or submerged (even during low tide).

The WWII Remnants on the Southern End of Taroa

We start our WWII explorations on the Southern end of Taroa as it is right in front of the boat. Taroa was connected to Eoon-epj island by a 700′ long, 20′ wide causeway which had a narrow gauge railroad track ending at a terminal point.  This terminal point is still visible today by a lone pillar.

We also find (2) railway cars and some random pieces of the railway track.

On one of our adventures I even found an old Japanese glass fishing float.  Sweet As!

Bomb and Bullet Casings

I was disappointed that we had not found any bomb encasements or shells on our tours around Taroa.  And then we walked the Southern End of the island and hit the motherload!  We found several pieces and a few intact bomb encasements.

We also found a lot of ammunition shells.  These are actually pretty big.  We found tons of fragments and about two dozen empty intact casings on the reef.

This is a sample of my silly husband having fun exploring. Top left he is pretending to be part of the whack-o-mo game.

There is a lot of history, historical artifacts, and places to explore.  We will break up the Maloelap atoll in several different blog posts so stay tuned.

Coming up:  We explore Japanese bunkers, the sunken supply ship Terushima Maru, coastal guns, zero airplanes, pillboxes, water tanks, command center, radio buildings and more.

Interesting websites:

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. We arrived in Maloelap toward the end of October 2024.  Very cool sunken treasures in Enemonit: DC-3 plane, (2) Huey Helicopters, and a ferry – check out the blog post.

Majuro, the “Big City”

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The capital of the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) is the big city of Majuro which is located on the Majuro atoll in the Majuro motu.  So, there is no mistaking its name (me smiley face).  We can technically clear into the RMI at either Majuro or Ebeye which is located in Kwajalein (Kwaj).  However, it is far more convenient in Majuro as this is where the majority of the boats handle the formalities.

The anchorage is full of cargo ships, passenger ships and large fishing vessels giving it a very industrial feeling.  There are several private vessels spread across the two anchorages, but of those 3 are derelict, 3 are for sale and 11 permanent residents.

It is definitely a new experience for us.  It is not the ideal picture of paradise, but the water is clear, we are close to town, and we have a few friends in the anchorage.

We are on a mooring because this is a super deep anchorage.  Lucky for us several moorings are owned and maintained. 

Fueling the Boat

How does a super small country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean get fuel?  Twice a month, the fuel barge, Sophia comes for 1-2 days to re-supply the large Mobile fuel tanks with diesel and gasoline.  I am surprised she doesn’t come more frequently as there are a TON of cars on this very tiny atoll.

We used so much diesel to get here that we had to refill our tanks. We have (2) 400 liter tanks and we had used more than half to motor 5.5 days out of the 10 day passage from Vanuatu.  The problem is that there is no place safe to dock the big boat close to shore so we have to do this all by jerry cans.

We have (10) 20 liter jerry cans which means we will have to make multiple runs.  The other problem is that there is no gas station close to the dinghy dock.  Lucky for us, our friends on Uno Mas were able to borrow a truck and they let us tag along on their fuel run.

We go to PII (Pacific International Inc.) to pre-pay for the fuel, then we drive 2 miles down the road to the PII fuel station where they fill our jerry cans.  Any overages are paid in cash.  We then have to haul them back to the dinghy, then transport them up from the dinghy to the boat.  

Matt sets up the filter and pump and he pumps the diesel from each jerry can into the two tanks on the big boat.  Then we take our empty jerry cans and repeat the process.

Provisions

There are several good options for provisioning (shopping to my land-lubber friends).  Payless is the most convenient and closest to the anchorage. Plus the pricing is a little more reasonable.  I say a little more reasonable as prices are similar to Hawaii prices (expensive).  There is K&K Island Pride which offers a great variety, EZ Price Mart offers a lot of American brands and several Chinese stores.  

The problem is you have to watch out for weebles or bugs in your dry goods (flour, sugar, coffee, mixes).  I bought two items, opened the carton to store them and found them infested with weebles.  They both went straight overboard.

You can even find an Office Mart and Copymasters for school and office supplies too.

Around Town

Top left photo is the view from a new restaurant called Tide Table located on the 5th floor of a building.  The top right is a new basketball court built by the Taiwanese, bottom left and right are the public library and museum.

There is a fairly large cemetery, college, and lots of stores along the road. 

Handicrafts

A few of my friends join me for a day of handicraft  admiring and shopping.  There are a lot of woven items including: purses, wallets, floor mats, wall decor, Christmas ornaments, and jewelry.  I am lured toward the hand crafted canoes with woven sails that are simply divine.  However, they were way out of my price range so I just admired them.

In RMI, only Marshallese are allowed to be buried here.  Most locals bury their family members in their front yards.  However, for those who don’t have families or are from the outer atolls they are buried in the cemetery located in the center of town.

The U.S. Embassy

My passport expires in October 2025.  I can try to renew it during the short 2 week period I am in the states, or I can try to renew it from Fiji (but that would force us to go to Suva where the U.S. embassy is located and we don’t like that anchorage), or we can renew it here in the Marshall islands.

I contacted the good folks at the U.S. embassy and they were so responsive and very helpful!  They only have passport appointments two days a month and unfortunately I just missed it.  So, I had to wait almost 3.5 weeks for the next appointment.  But in the meantime, I filled out the application, took my horrible non-smiling passport photo, and got the exact amount of cash.

You cannot go inside the embassy building without an appointment. All very strict and formal.

As you can see, this is not the island paradise we are used to.  However, every country needs the necessities and Majuro provides just that for the many locals who call RMI home.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred in early October 2024.  Our last blog post shared a little history on the Republic of the Marshall Islands.