Puluwat was a lovely lagoon surrounded by the reef with two bigger low lying islands, Puluwat and Alet and two little islands. We were advised on our arrival to wait until the next day before we went to see the Chief as his family was in mourning as there had been a death in the family and next morning were given instructions to go and see him the next afternoon at 2pm. His residence was at the other end of Puluwat Island from where we were anchored so we duly went at the right time and did our bit, giving him rice, flour and sugar and paying $30 per boat to anchor. The family members were sitting around a coffin under a marquee type construction, seemed not too dissimilar to the Maori procedure. The Chief was also the Mayor but he did not speak any English so had a niece to interpret. While there Dave did a repair job on a local's fiberglass boat with the remaining resin etc. that we had left. He had a lovely sister and she bought us out our dinner one night - cooked fish and breadfruit which was lovely of her. She (Julie) came out to the boat and gleaned through some of my recipe books and wrote down recipes as she loves cooking. When we went to say good bye she gave both Fran & I a lava-lava to remember her by. Julie also had a bother in Chuuk who was an Immigration Officer so she gave us a letter to give him as well as a box of goodies for him (I think it was dried fish). The two Daves and I did a trip to Alet Island where there are heaps of WW11 relics from the Japanese time of occupation. Also a lighthouse which is no longer operational and lots of bunkers etc. We had tow local boys come with us as there is no way we would have found all the stuff in the tropical jungle without their help. There were the relics of trucks, bulldozers, machine guns, and airstrip, you name it and it was there. Dave C is really into looking at WW11 stuff but Fran did not come as she reckons she had had her fill when they were in the Solomons and New Guinea in 2008. Think I have seen enough of it too. The Japanese had control of all of Micronesia until the end of the War. At the various atolls they had an island to themselves and put all the locals on another island within the atoll. We left Puluwat at 9.30am on 11th September and headed for Chuuk and had an uneventful trip, mainly motor sailing, at times under bare poles arriving inside Truk Lagoon on 12th and dropping anchor at a small island called Ulalu. It looked as though there was very little life there but around midnight Dave C (Melric 11) called us to say that he had locals hanging off the end of his boat; they were trying to remove his outboard which was padlocked on. Dave always puts his fishing rod away at night but didn't that night, so they had done us first while asleep and the rod was gone. Our dinghy motor wasn't locked on but guess as it is only 2hp they weren't interested - Melric has both 8HP and 2HP motors so was after the bigger one. Lesson learned. Next morning we motored around to Weno, the capital of Chuuk and were told to tie up at the wharf where we were to do Customs. Immigration, Quarantine, and Port Authority. We were there at 10.45am but it was amazing how the first two conveniently made it to come during their lunch hour so they could charge overtime - Customs (the guy felt sorry for us) $15, Immigration $35, Quarantine $25 and then when we went to leave the Port Authority was $70 - $25 to tie up at the wharf, $35 anchoring fee for 48hrs and thereafter $10 per day while in Chuuk. While tied up at the wharf the two Daves did the fuel run and we took on 200 litres and Melric 300 so that was a good job done and then we moved off the wharf and anchored; for the night further down in the lagoon and then the next morning we went further down a couple of miles and anchored off the Blue Lagoon resort which was a nice spot. Chuuk really is an awful place and would not recommend it as a destination unless on a package tour to dive the many ship wrecks in the lagoon and which has to be done with dive guides. The roads are shocking, just mud and slush, rubbish everywhere on the streets but it did have two reasonable supermarkets where we were able to replenish a few supplies. The day after we got to the resort we had one of their staff take us in a mini van back up to Weno to track down Julie's brother in Immigration as he did not come to check us in and give him the letter and parcel. It was a good contact to have for when we were checking out. Getting back to the resort was going to be a bit tricky as taxis don't go there as the road is so bad; however we managed to get a ride on a local boat for $5 per couple and took no time at all compared to going by road. The two nights we were anchored off the resort we went in for dinner and drinks and prices were not too bad. Also was able to use their Wi-Fi and get my Gmail emails - 210 in all and Skype call the family. We had organized with the various authorities to clear out at 9.30am on 16th September but Island time prevailed and Phil from Immigration was the first to arrive at 10.10am - Immigration had kept our passports (won't do that again), Port Authority did not arrive to pen until about 10.30am and Customs did not appear at all so Fran and I dinghied back to our boats and the men ended up going to Customs. We finally left Chuuk at mid day for Lukunoch which will be in the next installment. We will actually be arriving in Kosrae early tomorrow morning (29th Sept).