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’