Sailors Run’s Rongelap Adventure Part-1
The sail over to the Pearl Farm Anchorage on Rongelap was exhilarating, dodging and weaving between the last coral heads before exiting the West Pass.
The winds and seas were up and winds blowing in excess of 20 kts and 8-10 foot seas. I had just entered the pass and just 5 miles from the anchorage when I’m overtaken by a powerful squall packing 40-knots of wind and lots of rain. This is a very dangerous situation as there are coral heads lurking about and I’m being forced deep into the atoll at 8.5 kts. Visibility is zero so I quickly prepare to make a dangerous jibe, to alter course towards the anchorage. Finally, there is just a hint of a lull in the wind and I crash jibe on over, changing course. The main boom came over well with the prev enter I had left partly wrapped up on a cleat but the mizzen banged over real hard but some how didn’t break.
Once at the Pearl Farm the squall had passed and Sailors Run just glided in over the beautiful turquoise waters and the hook was dropped into white sand and we were now safely at rest.
It was all ready 4 pm and by the time the sails were all covered and things put away below it was dinner time. After dinner I took some time to do a little reading but tonight my bunk was calling and I washed up and crawled in just shortly after the sun set.
I awaken to lots of sunlight flooding into the cabin through the ports, and soon come to realize I had slept in past the time of the cruisers radio net, oh well I guess I needed the sleep and there is always tomorrow.
Today I’m off to explore the Island and the beach looks totally calm like you can just pull in there step out and pull the dinghy up the beach.
Soon I’m cheerily hiking along the beech in this new part of paradise and three white birds of paradise start following me. They are actually hovering just 5-feet in front of my face just totally curious about what I’m doing there. The Island is quite large and luckily I brought water along as it has to be 5-miles around this island. Once around the north end leaving the sheltered beach behind I get to the exposed shore of the island and to me this is always the most exciting because of all the flotsam that has ended up here from all over the Pacific from the American mainland and the fishing grounds that lay between the two.
I always look deep into the island hoping to find one of the old glass floats from fishing days long past. After making it half way around something on the beach catches my eye. Now, I have been a beach comber for the past 50-years and what I see laying in the sand is something different from all that I have seen before. I bend over and pick up this package and at first I think maybe it is some food rations as it seems to be well wrapped in plastic or possibly something out of a life raft or first aid kit. The packet is a yellowish brown color and I locate a shell that looks to have a pretty sharp edge and I cut through the first sealed layer of clear plastic and then the second layer and both of these have some water in them but the next two layers are dry. Suddenly! my package has turned black as this next sealed layer is black rubber. Once that is off I can see an all clear plastic that contains a white powder. I cut into that and there you have it what I assume to be “cocaine”.
I drop the package on the beach pretty much dumb founded and start looking around and counting and over an area of 100 yards of sandy beach there are 13-“bricks”. These bricks had bounced in over a 100 yards of coral beach to get here and I ask myself where did this “Crap” come from, and what is EL Jefe’ going to do about it?
Stay tuned as this adventure is just now getting “cranked up”.
Your Amigo on patrol in the Pacific.