Two days before we were to leave Ebye for the Solomon Islands Paul sent an email to Kosrae to enquire about stopping there on our way to the Solomons. There had been much confusion and controversy over cruising permits in The Federated States of Micronesia with some boats reporting difficult bureaucrats and exorbitant cruising permit fees. Paul received a reply almost immediately saying that we could stop on our way to the Solomons and we were emailed a cruising permit for up to 30 days. State of Mind were also issued a permit and we headed off hoping that the experience on the ground would be as pleasant as this email exchange, it was.

Kosrae is situated 350nm south west of Kwajalein and makes a pleasant break in the journey to the Solomons which would otherwise be 8 days or so. Kosrae itself is relatively small and mountainous with deep mangrove swamps that are perfect for kayaking and for us a total contrast to the months of low-lying atolls. Its population is around 6,600 and mostly scattered along the eastern side of the island.

Kosrae is also known as 'The Land of the Sleeping Lady' because the mountain range when viewed from Lelu looks like a woman sleeping. There seem to be different versions of the story around the Sleeping Lady but I rather like this one. Link Here

The head of the sleeping lady. There are better photos on the net if you are interested


We anchored off a large church near Lelu island village and out of the main current. Checking-in was a breeze if elongated process. The Port Authority officials drove down to the dock and flashed their headlights to get our attention to come to shore. As we completed their paperwork we mentioned that we had run out of USD. No problem, they drove us around to the nearest ATM so we could withdraw cash and pay the 50USD fee. We were allowed ashore as soon as we had paid the Port Authority fees and over the next couple of days we were gradually greeted by the rest of the officials - customs, immigration, quarantine - all very polite and helpful.

Lelu has a small but well stocked supermarket, and an excellent Ace Hardware, a number of laundries, and a small fruit and vegetable vendor. The main town is Tofol and you need to take a taxi or hitch or hire a car to get there - the mangroves make it impossible to use a dinghy.

The church is well attended here as can be seen by the carpark

Our first stop was Bully's restaurant. We hadn't eaten off the boat for almost 3 months and the thought of a decent meal cooked by someone else was all we could think of. Bully's is reached by road or by dinghy via the waterways through the mangroves - the tide needs to be near high. Five of us piled into our dinghy and set off in the early evening. The setting is really lovely and the food was good as well.



On Thursday nights they have pizza and a movie which is popular with guests and locals. Bully's is part of the Pacific Treelodge which has a very attractive raised walkway through the mangroves to Bully's.



The other active resort is Kosrae Nautilus Resort which is run by Joshua who WON it when the previous owners conducted a worldwide raffle for the resort in 2016.

On the passage down from Kwajalein, State of Mind ripped their genoa. Brenda and I spent one morning experimenting to see whether we could sew through layers of dacron with our solid old sewing machines. Unfortunately it was mostly unsuccessful and Brenda and Rod had to revert to hand sewing.



Lelu has the remains of an ancient civilisation dating back to early AD. The first European explorers estimated the size of the city at around 20ha of canals and compounds that were surrounded by walls of basalt. It is not known how they managed to transport and manoeuvre these massive blocks into place. The city also holds burial tombs built from coral. Apparently, these were temporary resting places and the bones of chiefs and kings were later exhumed and buried in a blue hole in the Lelu reef (link).

We hired a car through Pacific Treelodge resort the next day and set off first to the northwest to see Okat harbour. The Koreans had just helped Kosrae update the infrastructure around the airport island and part this is an elaborately decorated bridge.



From there we headed inland along a forest road that eventually petered out at a pretty river. Many of these rivers can be canoed through the mangroves to sea.



Unfortunately, not everywhere is pristine. Note the sign.




We had heard of a bird cave that was meant to be worth visiting and eventually found it with the help of an 8 year old girl who pointed us to a back road and a small sign.





Green Banana Paper is making paper from natural fibres like banana trees and taro stems. They took us through their process.



Kosrae is surrounded by reefs. We didn't snorkel or dive because a weather window to The Solomons emerged but it sounded interesting and others have spent some time diving here.