I was at Rongelap atoll & Taka atoll se of me
The 308-foot Chinese-flagged commercial fish carrier sits aground on Taka Atoll
I walked a little further down the beach and out of curiosity picked up another packet hefting it up and down trying to estimate the weight and it seems to weigh between 4-5 lbs, I estimate the dimensions to be 12″ by 6″ by 3″ thick. I dropped the packet back onto the beach and continued my walk which somehow now seemed so uninteresting, and all I could think about is where did that stuff come from. Suddenly something sparked way down deep in my mind.
It was about one month prior to my arrival at this beach that a Taiwanese or Chinese ship had gone hard aground on Taka Atoll here in the Marshall Islands. I remember hearing that the ship was some kind of fish processing ship but not licensed to be working in these waters and was under investigation.
Now say for instance that ship was smuggling drugs to Hawaii or the US/Canada and as captain and crew you were going to be rescued and attempts made to get the ship off the coral atoll, there might be less explaining to do if you had no drugs aboard. I believe it is possible they pitched them off the stern into the sea. Hmmmmmm!
Once back aboard Sailors Run I pulled out my pilot charts as well as the charts of the area. Taka Atoll is located 160 nm. due East of Rongelap and the winds have been predominately trade winds from the ENE. I noticed that the currents on the pilot charts for this time of year appear to be from the SE. So it is possible that something could float from the grounding site to Rongelap, of course on the other hand they could have come from much further away but then would you find 13-square grouper all laying within 100 yards of one another.
My next question was what was the street value of 50-60 lbs. of cocaine? I myself have never taken or used any illegal drug other than that what was prescribed by a doctor. OK! I might have drank a SPLASH of alcohol over a period of time. Now,Debbie was quick to write back that the street value was 1.5 million dollars. Wow! that’s almost better than finding lobster.
I personally hate the damage drugs do to people and their family’s the world over.
Later that night I find myself tossing and turning in my bunk and unable to sleep. I begin to think who should I tell about my discovery, as here at this atoll there are but 29-people and I suspect the structure for law and order is pretty weak. I can just imagine me walking into the village and say “GEE” guys you have 1.5 million in cocaine laying on the beach up there. No, that would not do. I could contact Majuro or Kwajalein and maybe the military would get involved but then I might also get detained as a witness or who knows what? So that didn’t sound good either. OK, how about I just go cut them all open and let it vanish into the sea. Hmmmm! Now that sounded good,but would I be destroying evidence and somehow be covering things up? Hmmmm!
I remained in this anchorage for two more days never seeing another boat anywhere. My curiosity got the best of me and I hiked around the Island once again, because I wanted to know if more cocaine had washed upon the beach. Once again I counted the “Bricks and this time there was only 12 and I guess that made sense as the one I had slit open had bled out and washed away to somewhere.
In the end I decided that few people seldom visit this atoll and fewer less would make the two hour walk to get there and back, so I left it there hoping nature will take these “Square Grouper” back into the insatiable sea.
Just a little “Freeked out” in Paradise! Your Amigo El Jefe’.