Yesterday we travelled 40+ nm from Aur Atoll to its neighbour Maloelap Atoll anchoring with 3 other cruising boats from Britain, America and Canada in the bay by Taroa Village. It was blustery with showers. Mid afternoon we went ashore to find the Mayor, who it turns out was in Majuro but we had already paid there so it was not a problem. We were welcomed by school children, the class (I guess that is the term for a group of school children - most were still in uniform) gradually got bigger as we followed the village path to find adults to confirm there was no Mayor to visit. The adults were indifferent to us but the kids were great. We said "Yokwe" they said "Hello". They asked where we were from so Andy produced a rusty piece of steel to draw a world map in the sand and so a geography lesson happened. They loved it. They thought it very funny that we were from England but our boat is in Greenland where it is very cold! Andy's drawing stick was commandeered by a little girl who kept it. As each child joined the happy band they wanted to shake hands and say "Hello". This led us onto "what is your name" from both sides. They struggled with Janice until Andy drew it in the sand. Each child was then encouraged to draw their own name from the oldest of 12 years down to the youngest of about 4 years. It was very impressive. Our impromptu lesson was watched by their parents. Asking their ages resulted in a counting session. While Andy and I were doing this Bud had a little wander looking at the remains of Japanese WW II buildings followed 'pied piper' style by another band of children, interested in Bubba.

A large grey sow with her litter of black and white piglets had made her den under the remains of an air raid shelter. Other bits of buildings had been converted into people's homes, although most of the houses are free standing plyboard structures with tin roofs and open both sides to allow air flow. Again every house had a solar panel and battery ( Courtesy of Taiwan) with fresh water gathering tanks. December to May are the driest season. At the moment there are regular daily showers to re-fill the tanks.

Soon it was time to leave. Bud produced some individual boxes of raisins which were given to the kids, who shared the contents amongst themselves. Followed by our merry band we returned to the tender and said "Yahweh" they said "Bye" with giggles all round. What a great time we had with them all.

This morning with low tide we left Bubba onboard, doned snorkelling gear and took the tender over to the mast of a submerged 3110 ton Japanese freighter; Toroshima Maru where she lies half submerged after being sunk by US bombers in WWII. A mast can still be seen sticking out of the water, but it is pretty well stripped but still has some 'live' depth charges so the advice is not to disturb them as they will go off if moved slightly deeper! However we were there for the sea life. It was an interesting wreck to snorkell and shallow enough that Andy and I could dive down 15_20 feet, especially as we are now getting our ears to equallize (it has been a few years since we dived). We bought a great 'Reef Life' reference book by Brandon Cole with over a thousand excellent photos. So much fun is had trying to remember the individuals we have seen on our return to Reel Dreams. On this trip we saw our first sea anemones.

The island of Taroa was the main Japanese airbase in the eastern Marshalls during WW II. Among the relics on the beach was a large rusting gun, sitting up out of the shallows. After the end of the war, the island was not resettled by the Marshallese until the 1970s. Due to its airport, stores and copra cooperative it is the centre of atoll activity. Maloelap's population of over 800 occupies 4 of the atolls islands.

This afternoon we moved a few miles to anchor off Ollet where there are several more wrecks. Mid afternoon after baking the sourdough bread we went snorkelling again. Well... What a great 2 hours Andy and I had. Very different coral formations and lots more fish plus 3 rays (we think Spotted Eagle Ray), a meter long Whitetip Reef Shark which kept coming back to us but in a friendly way a couple of Turtles ( very wary of us humans- On the dinner list I expect,) a Leopard Flounder and many many more wonderful species too brilliant to mention as we are still working out which vibrantly colourful one it was we saw!! How we wish we'd bought a small underwater camera. We also swam to the North end of the island to investigate an object sticking out of the shallow reef. Well, it turned out to be a plane's propellor blade and under water were the rest with the engine attached. Another war relic ; A Japanese Zero fighter engine Cool :-)