Rongerik Atoll
12 February 2018 | Marshall Islands
Janice
THE PIGEON DID NOT MAKE IT WITH THIS POST WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN BEFORE OUR BIKINI VISIT SO WE ARE RESENDING IT
6 February : Our next passage is to Rongerik, some 140 NM to the west moving from the Sunrise Chain to the Sunset Chain. So we leave Utirik this afternoon to travel overnight and arrive mid morning Wednesday so we have daylight for the entrance and lagoon navigation. Rongerik is the first uninhabited atoll we've visited. Before leaving we went ashore and visited Jackson, a fisherman Andy and I had chatted with out on the next island. We watched his wife finish a shell necklace for me, very interesting and skillful. We traded a bag of rice for it.
Eventful passage. It was breezy leaving Utirik. Heading almost due west the waves were on our starboard quarter but it was still a lumpy, dark passage. Shortly after I relieved Andy at 6 am the starboard alternator bearing started making an aweful noise, so we shut off that engine and ran the rest of the passage on the port engine. At about the same time the control panel for the stabilisers failed so, at the present time we have no stabilisers! Oh joy :-( And are now out of action until Majuro at best.
We arrived in Rongerik and anchored near the Canadian sailing yacht Blowing Bubbles. We last saw Shelley and Kyle in Maloelap. They have been here 2 weeks and I can't blame them. Andy and I did a quick snorkell late afternoon and were greeted rather too closely by an inquisitive Grey Tip Reef Shark (approx 5 ft long). But today we explored the fabulous beaches, birds flying overhead (the first birds in quantity) and nesting. After today's snorkell (Thurs 8 Feb) we saw nice reefs, still with a lot of dead coral but signs of recovery, glorious fish of all sizes and oh awesome clams. Some dead clam shells I could climb in and go to sleep! Why. There is no one living here hence the abundant marine life.
Some scale. We are normally based in the Arctic, Destiny waits for us in Greenland. Greenland and the Marshall Islands have very similar populations of approximately 56,000 people. However the land area to house them is very different : Greenland 840,000 sq miles versus 70 sq miles for the Marshall Islands (made up of 1,225 islands and islets with only 5 being single islands. The rest are grouped into 29 coral atolls.). Although only 70 sq miles in land area, the Marshall Islands are scattered across 750,000 sq miles of ocean. ( To compare Heathrow airport is about 7 sq km so ten Heathrows is about the Marshalls - Tiny but way more beautiful and quieter! True atolls, the islands are low and narrow encircling large central lagoons. Wotje is the widest at less than a mile across, while the highest elevation at 34 feet (10.2m) is on Likiep. The southern islands have more vegetation than those in the north, who enjoy a drier climate. There are no rocks or hills just coral and sand.
As stated previously land is very important due to its limited availability. The Marshallese marry for land, have gone to war for land and have also used magic to get land. As a result of the widely scattered nature of the islands the Marshallese developed fine canoe-building and navigational skills in the Pacific, examples of which we have seen on these visits. Pandanas is an important food in the northern islands with breadfruit equally so in the south. Coconut production and fishing are important everywhere. Pandanas is either boiled or eaten raw by sucking the sweet flavour out of the fibrous fruit. Breadfruit is either boiled or roasted, using the coconut husks for the fires.
In their history the Marshall Islands have been overtaken many times by many nations including whalers, traders and missionaries. As a result there are many Protestant sects in the islands including Congregationalists, Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists and the Assembly of God. There are also churches for Catholics, a Baha'Ã centre, a Salvation Army mission and a growing Mormon presence. Every village seems to manage a nice church sometimes 2 or more.
PICTURE : Jackson's wife making shell necklaces, making twine using her toe to tension the material