Ironie's Pacific Adventures

Hello to you all from Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands!!May and I arrived here about a month and a half ago from Butaritari
in Kiribati.Our passage from butaritari was a short one,only 170 miles or so.We left Butaritari around mid-day with favorable winds in the 20- 25 kt range
blowing from the Southeast.We sailed out of the lee of the atoll and were in the channel between Butaritari and Milli Atoll in the Marshalls by nightfall.
we had a nice sail making a bit of easting to pass Milli on its Eastern side(the prefered route).As we started to round the Northeast corner of Milli,I heard a great racket outside the boat.I thought it was rain but
as I came up from down below,I saw the water all around Ironie TWisting and churning in mad confused current mayhem.I called May up to see the crazy currets then I looked at the gps and discovered we were making 1 knot speed over ground but my knot meter was reading 5 knots,so, we had 4 knots of current pushing the boat in the wrong direction.
We kept twisting and turning in the current until we finally sailed free of its grasp. We sailed the next night in the channel that runs between Milli and Majuro going slow as not to make the pass
for majuro too early.We met another boat in the night named "Panga".They were a motor yacht hanging around the bottom of Arno,majuro's near neighbor to the East.We chatted briefly on the vhf radio
and said we would meet up for a beer when we made port.
The wind had been blowing from the EastxSoutheast most of the trip but when it was time to sail North in between Arno and Milli,the wind gods decided to have a little fun with us and turned the wind to the Northeast putting us on very close hauled with a good bit of current running against us.
Now.it was blowing a stout 25 to 30 knots in our face so we took it and climbed upwind towards the Northeast end of majuro.I had planned the trip to arrive at the pass at mid morning but as our wind had changed direction we would'nt make the pass into the lagoon until mid afternoon...lol...oh well,so much for schedules at sea...
So we sailed bucking current and wind until we rounded the Northeast of Majuro.At this point we were able to turn to the WEst and watched Ironie fly on a nice 25 knot wind on the beam doing 7 knots.It was a great feeling after struggling
to weather for the past 6 hours.We could see the anchorage inside the lagoon as we passed on the ocean-side but we would have to go another 10 miles West to get to the pass and the sail the 10 miles back to the anchorage in the lagoon.We made the well marked pass without a problem.we hooked a mahi mahi as we we coming in but he was slppery and slid off our lure before we could get him
in the boat.We started back into the wind up the lagoon this time minus the ocean swell and were smoking it at 6 knots.We were in contact with the fleet in majuro who had helped us get set up with a mooring and contacted customs and immigration for us.Ted from Sequester and Spike form Holikai
guided us to our mooring and handed us our line.We were told to stay aboard until we wer cleared by C&I.We were anxious to get to shore for May to get some cigaretts but Spike was kind enough to hand us a pack incogneto as we were'nt suppose to have contact with anyone until we were checked in....thanks Spike!!!
It was a good move as we were not able to check in until the next morning anyway. Majuro is a pretty large atoll and the main administrative center of the Marshall Islands.Majuro is one the 37 atolls in the Marshalls.The population of Majuro is approximately
60,000 of the 80,000 living in all of the Marshalls.My first impression of Majuro was kind of a very low buget version of outter island Hawaii,with no mountains.
There are lots of cruiser friendly ammenities here that seems to keep the american cruising boats here for very long stays.The marshalls is a U.S. territory and so has the U.S. postal Service which is amazingly efficient.We recieve a Priority Mail Package in less than a week!!
There is relitively cheap and plentiful email access.Also,lots of American goodies in the food stores and restaraunts.The one big benifit to Americans is you can work and live in the Marshalls
as long as you wish.The wages are'nt great but if you're creative you can make it happen.
Our first days on the atoll were spent as usual getting the lay of the land,figureing out where things are etc....
it's kind of a busy place with a good bit of "traffic" on the main road(pretty much the only road),but everyone drives slow.You can take a taxi anywhere in "town" ( about a 2 mile strip)
for one U.S. dollar bill. a beer is $2.50 in the bar,and a decient meal will run you 8-10 bucks on the low side.A local meal about $3.00 for some chicken or reef fisk and rice and veg,not a bad deal.
The people are pleasent enough.Although,not as smiley or chatty as the kiribati people or polynesians.We saw many fimiliar crusing boats here :Hawkeye,Rublcon,Katey Lee,Ursa Minor,Hanoa And Creola.
We also made some new friends like Spike and Ted.The cruising Community here is very active.There is a local vhf cruisers net in the morning where everyone make contact,gets the weather du jour etc...and there is also a ssb net on 4030 usb.
There is a monthly friendly cruisers "race" with prizes for the first AND last places!The yachties even have a Tuesday Restaraunt shindig featuring a guest speaker each week.There have been lectures on WW2,coral deseases,Pacific weather...good stuff!Very social bunch here....Most ,if not all the cruisers are american boats.
Occasionally a yacht from another country will pass through(we met one named "tiare"with a french captain.I think the American officialdom keeps most of them away with visa requirements etc...I'd say at least half the yachts here are on the 1 year plus plan.It's not a bad place to hang out for awhile as long as you have something to do.Some of the yachties voulenteer
teach,one works for the N.G.O.s'.Some just have regular jobs like carpenter or store manager....HEY,I even found a job!I'm working at "the COOp school".It's a private school and I'm working as a substitute teacher/office admin.It's a great place to work but the pay rate here
in the islands leaves a little to be desired.What the heck ,I even get a free lunch!!
Shortly after we arrived here,May found out they have the G.E.D. diploma plan and wanted to get in so we signed her up and she has been doing well in it ever since.We willl have to do a little work to get her visa extended an extra month to complete the program.
So "ironie" is getting smarter everyday going to school!It's a fun break from sailing.
One eventful thing that has happened since weve been here...Spike and Ted were the heroes of the day for troubleshooting and fixing Ironies shortwave radio!Ironies SSB is an Icom M700 pro model radio
this is a very good model radio for long distance and emergency communication and it has'ent worked right since I've owed the boat.My trasmission could be heard but the signal was'nt strong or clear.
Spike came aboard one afternoon and found 3 seprate problems with the radio and tuner!!I was very impressed with spike's skills.It turns out he was a electronics expert in the airforce and also an inventor credited with some inverter technology....In a few Short hours spik had the ol' Icom singin across the ionosphere!!Forever thanks to Spike from Ironie!!
I've spent time here gathering things for the boat,fixing lots of neglected projects on ironie,having lots of great "care" packages sent from MOM AND rick in NEW jersey,eating too much ice cream....May has been a regular at the weekly "Baja Rummy" tournament some of the yachtie women have going on,we've been out to the lovely Motu island of Eneco.Lots of positive fun things going on here
for ironie. Right now it's all about school and work.we will keep you updated on our progress.Look for our next installment from the Majuro in the Marshall Islands. Captain Steve