Monthly Archives: February 2019

       During my hike around the Island the previous day I had come across the Rongerik Yacht Club that was comprised of a small picnic table made out of flotsam from the beach set back in on a sandy patch that was surrounded by shrubbery and coconut trees. The decor was a broken surfboard with the initials in black RYC and seven fishing floats hung about the place with the name of the boats and crew that hung them there. I had decided that Sailors Run should join this exclusive yacht club and had my own float that I had marked up for the Sailors Run and it’s current crew of but one. This morning I would return to the beach and hang my float.

  Today the conditions for the beach landing looked much like yesterday and I decided to boogie board in once again from the dinghy only this time I would anchor much closer to the beach shortening my swim from 100-yards to about half of that. Once near the yacht club in the dinghy I set out the fortress anchor and slipped over the side with my fins on and buoy on the boogie board. I had swam just 30-feet when suddenly I remembered the Go-Pro Camera that I was carrying in my pocket, and reached down to feel for it.”Holy Shit” its not there in either pocket and I immediately spin around and head back to the dinghy praying that it had some how fell out in there.

   Once at the dinghy I pulled myself up on the side and my eyes scoured the interior of the dinghy but no camera!  I grab my mask and snorkel and dive down to the bottom under the dinghy and start my search. Much to my surprise the visibility in by the beach is about one foot as there is sand floating everywhere from the waves crashing on shore. I spend the next half hour going up and down in this murky 15 feet of water and on several occasions nearly rammed my head into an out cropping on a reef. After a very long half hour I decide I will return to the beach and hang the buoy becoming the 8th member of the Rongerik Yacht Club and I have to admit at what should be a fun experience I was feeling pretty down as now I had no camera to film the event and I had lost all the great photos from the Island with all the birds not to mention being out about 300-dollars.

  Once back at the dinghy I dove for another half hour and possibly all in vain as possibly the camera floated and had been on the surface all the time drifting away with the wind and current.

  Returning to the boat I looked around just in case I had forgot to put it in my pocket, but no such luck. I had triangulated on lots of reefs and land marks so I can return in the morning early and hope for better visibility and give it one last shot.

  Next morning I gather up my mask snorkel and fins and head back over there. Arriving at the spot where the dinghy was I drop the anchor so I can do a search grid around the anchor and the visibility is much improved. I search for an hour with no luck, maybe the camera fell into one of the giant clams down there and is in the process of being digested. Oh well, shit happens and maybe after all it was time to update and up grade my camera.

  I returned to Sailors Run to load up the Dinghy and prepare for the short 30-mile passage to my next atoll Rongelap that I will make tomorrow.

  Rongelap was inhabited when the US set of the Hydrogen Bomb just 60 nm to the west of it and the people there were severely sickened by the radiation from the explosion something the US Government has been paying for every since.

  Now, I don’t know for sure if that witch had anything to do with the disappearance of my camera and filmed evidence of her habits and where she hangs out, but one just has to wonder a little bit. Hmmmm!

                              Hoodoo,Voodoo and all kinds of shit going on out here.

                                    Cheers Amigos El Jefe’.

PS. My Rongolap adventure will be coming your way in about 10 days as now the Jefe’ will be very busy sailing back to Majuro and provisioning for a non stop 6-7 thousand mile sail back to Mazatlan, Mexico. I will sail north out of Majuro up to 35* north then west to the 130* west longitude then swoop down into Mazatlan. The voyage should take about 50-days so fasten your seat belts as El Jefe’ takes on the Northern Pacific in March-April.

    

     I awaken to a beautiful sunny morning here at Rongerik Atoll. After breakfast I launch the dinghy and anxiously set off to explore a few of the Islands at this NE-corner of the atoll. Suddenly, I realize something is very much different from just the day before, there is this 5-foot swell running about in the atoll and upon approach to any of the Islands there are 5-foot breaking waves on the beaches. What makes this so strange is the winds are out of the east and these waves will come in from the west or the south,hmmmm!

   This requires further thought and planning as when you are alone in a deserted atoll you must make sure you can some how make it back to your boat and get back on board. For, instance if one were to flip the dinghy trying to get to the beach and suddenly the engine no longer runs, these inflatable dinghy’s row very poorly in 20 kts. of breeze. I return to Sailors Run and decide to wait for what I hope are better conditions tomorrow.

  Overnight the wind has shifted from east to North east and the swell in the atoll has dropped to about two feet making prospects for getting ashore look much better. I decide to take my boogie board and fins as an alternate way to get back to the boat and hang a piece of line over the side that is secured in the cockpit that would enable me to tie a loop in it to place my foot to climb up on my wind vane hanging on the stern  enabling me to get back on board. I also take water and my GO-Pro water proof camera.

  Once near the beach I time the waves and make the beach landing with little problem but here the beaches are steep and soft course coral sand. The dinghy has large wheels on the back of it but all they can do is keep the prop off the bottom and the stern raised high so the breaking waves don’t fill the dinghy.       Me, pulling as hard as I can can’t begin to get the dinghy up the steep soft beach. My feet are sinking in 5-inches with each step I take. I grab the anchor and line that is attached to the front of the dinghy and just have enough line to get up on the Island and set the anchor in some roots of a large shrub growing there.

  The Island I have picked to explore first is somewhat of a bird sanctuary and since there is seldom anyone here the birds have little fear of people. They have built their nests down low where you can walk right up and look into a nest at eye level with baby chicks in it awaiting the return of mom with some breakfast. There are at least a half a dozen different species of bird like Booby Birds ,Frigates,Sea Terns,several different gulls and Birds of Paradise.

   I walk within 5-feet of a frigate sitting on a nest and it although keeping a watchful eye on me doesn’t move and there are fuzzy frigate birds walking about yet too young to take flight. This all amazing stuff and it makes one feel so fortunate to be so close to nature.

  I also got my first insight into the behavior of the “Witch” from Ujae atoll that haunts this atoll. It would appear she hangs out here among the birds as I came across several old camp fire sights and what was interesting is each one had several empty Jack Daniel’s Whisky bottles laying close by. Yes, you guessed it she is a “Jacks Girl” and hangs with the birds and one must assume also fly’s with them. I made it back to the boat with lots of amazing pictures and video not to mention the dinghy had survived it all quite well.

  After a few rum drinks and a nice dinner I crawl into my berth and await another day. It seems like no time and I’m awakened by golden sunshine filling the interior cabin of Sailors Run and a new day is about to begin.

  Soon the coffee is perking as is my brain with plans and ideas for the day. I decide today I will anchor the dinghy off shore of Rongerik Island and boogie board to the beach with teeny shoes go-pro camera and water.

    The winds are blowing 20+ knots and to make sure the dinghy stays anchored I use my light weight yet large fortress anchor designed to keep a 50-foot boat in place, Now how is that for “over kill”?

  Once on shore at the Island I start hiking the beach and decide to go all the way around as the tide is quite low. The weather sides of these islands are truly the most interesting as things have been piling up on these beaches for thousands of years and you just don’t know what you might discover. There are virtually hundreds, if not thousands of fishing floats that have broken loose from fishing nets etc. Of course, there are the not so attractive plastic water bottles by the thousands and pretty much the same thing with flip flops and I have yet to have found a pair the same size. I also found six locator beacons that are solar powered used on the ends of nets and long lines, now these things look expensive yet they do tear free. There was a raft constructed of bamboo and lashings that was about six by eight feet and appears to have had a bamboo mast in it that had snapped off several feet above the raft. I’m not sure if these are used by the fisherman to float a line down wind from the boat, because this one also had one of those locator devices attached to it.

  The hike took over one and a half hours and I was ready to get back to the boat and email Debbie who is at home in Albuquerque, New Mexico helping raising the grand kids and doing a great job of that. She has Jacob the seven year old starting to play the piano now and figuring out what she can get the other two interested in. I must admit I Love and miss her dearly out here yet I understand when you have a “Calling” you need to answer it!

                  Stay Tuned for more and see how the “Witch” rains down vengeance upon me. Your Amigo El Jefe’

Morning of my 4-th day out from Majuro in the Marshall Islands,I awaken after spending the night hove to outside the pass into Rongerik Atoll. The Breeze is up blowing 15-20 kts from the ENE and I seriously wonder how this will work out upon arrival at the pass now three hours away. Yes,the motor still will not turn over.

  I roll out the head sail and head for the pass entrance. Upon arrival I sheet in the sails and point just as high as I can seeing if I can sail above the course I need to get in through the reef. It is soon apparent to me that this will not work and unsafe as I’m just able to lay the course with no margin for error should there be adverse current or a slight wind shift in by the entrance. “Screw” this I tack through the wind roll in the Genoa and heave too once again as I might just have to wait another day to get in. Once again I’m drifting south at about 1/2 knot.

  Ok! something is different today from yesterday and that is I’m rested and decide at once that starter motor is coming off and I will have a look inside. It took little time to get it off but my hands and arms suffered many scrapes and bruises, pretty much what you might expect working on an engine with 6-8 ft waves running beneath your hull.

  Upon opening up the starter I was most pleased to discover a brush that was hung up and not making contact with the armature not to mention all the carbon dust that was all over the armature. I dug out some very fine emery cloth and cleaned the armature all up, then freed the stuck brush in its holder cleaning all four of them and spraying a little WD-40 on them so they moved smoothly and made good contact to the armature. Soon the starter was bolted back in place and wired up and I headed for the ignition key. One small twist of the key and the Yanmar Diesel roared to life. “Yahoo”!! I could now at last head for the pass and get inside the atoll off from the sea and into protected waters.

  Upon entering the pass my suspicions were confirmed as I had to motor sail up in to the wind just a touch to avoid the coral heads on my port side [left side]. From the pass it was another 7-nm. that I motor sailed dodging numerous coral heads along the way. This atoll is 150-feet deep in places but even at that the coral grows right up from the bottom and if you are not careful they will rip a whole in the bottom of your boat. Soon the anchor is down and I find myself in one of the most beautiful atolls I have yet to visit and I’m the only boat here and this atoll is uninhabited.

  Just a little History on this atoll, back in 1946 the US wanted to do a special project at Bikini Atoll so relocated its inhabitants here where they stayed for two years. The Islanders had a fire on Rongerik destroying many of the coconut trees and nearly starved to death haven been forgotten about by the US. Once this was discovered food was brought in and the population was relocated to a different Island in the Marshall’s. When the US tested the Hydrogen bomb at Bikini the winds blew from the west a rarity making this atoll down wind and the Island was contaminated with radiation along with Rongelap my next stop and has just recently been declared safe to visit after some 70-years.

  Rongerik atoll and it’s Islands are beautiful and they remain uninhabited for two reasons one of which is the radiation still in the ground and you can’t grow food plus it is believed by the locals that this atoll is haunted by a witch from  Ujae atoll.

  I figured since I’m here and unlikely to find any of the “lost tribes” I will try to run the “witch” to ground starting tomorrow.

                                Stay tuned for more your Amigo El Jefe’

My final two Atolls in the Marshall islands= Rongerik and Rongolap.

                                               Part-1-Rongerik.

  Sailors Run was pretty much ready to depart Majuro the morning of the 26th of January 2019. The previous day I had completed the provisioning for the next month and hauled 100-gallons of water no easy task in 89* heat using 5-gallon containers and wheeling them two at a time from the water store 3-blocks away, and that only gets you to the dinghy and then out to the boat to lift them up on deck and dump them into the water tanks.

  Departure day arrived bright an early at 5 am and time to jump out of the sack and get this adventure underway. Little did I know the start of this one was about to take on a very challenging twist.

  I had previously cooked some chicken for tonight’s dinner making it a little easier on me this first day out. After eating a hearty breakfast of pancakes and eggs I was at last ready to climb out on deck. Scrambling up on deck I set about hoisting the mizzen sail and the main sail prior to slipping free of the mooring I was tied to. The plan was to sail out of the mooring field and considering that there were lots of boats close around I would start the motor just in case something went amiss. I reached down and turned the ignition switch and hear the engine turn over very slowly then grind to a stop.”Shit” You, have to be kidding me this thing started fine yesterday when I was checking everything out,”damn it”. What to do? Possibly the batteries are low because of light winds overnight and the wind generator had charged very little and here I’m ready to cast off with my remaining time in the Marshall’s growing short and I need to see more atolls and not be stuck waiting around for parts here in Majuro. I walked forward and untied the mooring lines and sailed to windward over Katy-G’s bow. Karen happened to be up on deck and bid me fair well and I waved like this was the plan rolling out the Genoa and sailing for the pass.

  Now, you must realize these atolls I’m headed for are 340 nm. away and uninhabited for the most part and I must sail through tight passages with coral all around, and if I can’t get that motor started this all must happen under sail. This is all very possible but you might have to wait for days to get the right winds.

  Oh well, I’m sailing in a great breeze of 15-20 knots close reaching “hauling ass” and pound out 171 nm. the first 24 hrs. I need one more big day like this and I will be at Rongerik and the projected winds look good for sailing in. On the second day when the sun goes down so does the wind and Sailors Run slows from seven knots+ to a mere 5-kts. and suddenly this does not look good for getting to the pass before dark. All of my attempts to start the engine fail, it just will not turn over. I get within 10-miles of the pass and have to heave to under main and mizzen and slowly drift overnight to the south another 10-miles from the pass. The good thing is I can sleep at last and get rested up for whatever comes next.

 

As you know by now I’m always looking for some place new and different,possibly the wanderlust in me has gone totally “wild”. I have made photos available on my facebook and hope to eventually get them up on the blog, please come and be a friend on Facebook as there is so much you can see. FB-JEFFREY R HARTJOY

  Last time you heard about much about boat problems and more than likely too much. Problems or not the journey is worth it and please do your best at seeing those videos and photos on Face book.

  You hear much about the Marshall Islands are soon to be under water, but I can tell you after talking to the local people and looking at all the local improvements that are happening on these atolls like apartment buildings and at Wotje a new concrete runway so larger planes can land here it becomes pretty obvious that they are comfortable being just 6- feet above the high tide mark, and one must consider the enormous reefs that protect these Islands from storm force winds when they do occur.

  Upon arrival at Wotje an atoll 160 nm NW of Majuro I was amazed at the population as nearly 1,200 people inhabit this remote atoll. The Island is neat and clean and they have three different churches you may attend, Protestant,Catholic,and Assembly of God. They also have a police department where some of the police ride bicycles. Alcohol is frowned upon on these islands except by those that drink it. A yachty is not to give islander’s alcohol and it is probably wise to follow this recommendation.

  Wotje, is a large Island for an atoll nearly one mile wide and two-miles long. Copra harvesting is their industry and fishing puts protein on the dinner plate. Not so many people speak English yet a few do. The Mayor is cordial and they have a very nice high school here, and Mr. Foster is the Principal. I had the pleasure of meeting him and donated a copy of my latest book “No Turning Back” to the school library.

  The Hiking on the island is ideal and there are many old WW-2 war relic’s to be seen. There are many “pill boxes” where the Japanese had 50-caliber machine guns mounted and many sites around the Island where much larger cannons once stood. I have seen at least 4-old airplane engines with bent up props that appear to have met with a not so good ending.

  The people seem a bit stand-offish at first until they realize you want nothing from them, then they seem to warm up pretty fast.

  The Island of Wotje is very lush and beautiful and large enough to accommodate the population. The beaches are very broad and covered with sand that is as fine as baby powder, the kind that sticks to your buns. If one needs a break from the main islands population you only need to go less than a mile to be on an uninhabited Island which there are more than thirty of these.

  I can say that paradise lurks about in this atoll as I know it does also in other atolls in the Marshall Islands. If 85* water and 200 ft visibility gets you excited then these atolls might be well suited for you.

  Stay tuned as this is just my first outing and there is much more for us to see.

                              Your Amigo El Jefe’- S/V Sailors Run.