I knew Todd and Megan Ropella from work back at home: Todd was in my department, and Megan and I had offices near each other, maybe even next door to each other, if I remember correctly. They must have been loosely following our journey, because Todd at some point ended up contacting me via Facebook messenger to let me know that they had moved to Kwajalein, and so if we ever wanted to visit there and wanted a sponsor they could look into that for us. At the time we were still in Tonga or maybe New Zealand, and since our plan was to press from Fiji to Australia during the following cruising season I politely declined. Fast forward six months and we were sitting in Savusavu, Fiji with our friends from True Blue V strategizing on how to extend our island cruising experience before calling it quits, and the strategy we cooked up would take us right up to Todd and Megan’s neck of the woods.
So, I texted Todd, and asked him if he was still open to the idea of sponsoring us and then almost 9 months later, we were pulling up to the dock in Kwajalein and there were Todd and Megan waiting to welcome us. And sponsoring us was not necessarily without sacrifice. They get a limited number of days each year to sponsor guests which includes their own friends and family from back home coming to visit them. So, we were grateful for their tremendous generosity for sponsoring us and for their amazing hospitality during our visit.
Because we were like kids in a candy store. For 10 whole days we had access to all of the creature comforts of our life long forgotten. Laundry. Air conditioning. Internet. American grocery products. We were even able to make phone calls home at no extra expense! Everyone on the base was so nice and generous.
Hauling laundry from the Dock up to Todd and Megan’s house
The Kwajalein Yacht club was a very nice facility with a deck overlooking the lagoon. We went to their “Thirsty Thursday” happy hour social events twice and had a good time meeting some of the people. One of the guys was kind enough to loan us a Sailrite sewing machine and we used the space at the yacht club for a few days to do massive sail repair to both the genoa and genniker. If Tim had to do those repairs by hand without a sewing machine it would have been a nightmare! Ed and his wife were former cruisers, and they had sailed their boat to Kwajalein when they accepted jobs there. Unfortunately, their boat was the victim of the dreaded westerlies one year and ended up breaking free from its mooring and getting bashed against the rocks. It wasn’t totally destroyed but rather it can be found up on the hard still waiting to have some of its holes repaired. Ed also helped us with obtaining diesel before we left Kwajalein, and he also gave us five gallons of bottom paint for our upcoming planned haul out when we got back to Tonga.
Massive sail repair at Kwajalein Yacht Club
There was another former cruiser who lived there who helped us with propane. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to fill our propane tanks in Ebeye, and we definitely needed to fill up before heading south. When we were preparing to leave Mexico two years ago, we kept hearing about how filling US style propane tanks would be difficult in the South Pacific and that we had better equip ourselves with fittings to be able to gravity fill our tanks. As it turned out, we made it all the way to Kwajalein before this became an issue, and the cruising community came through for us once again! We bought propane tank intended for BBQ’s and borrowed the setup from a former cruiser in order to gravity fill our tanks.
I forgot to mention above that while at the base we didn’t have to anchor. The guy who ran the dive shop let us use his mooring, and I tried to pay him but he wouldn’t hear of it. And our last night there before heading to Ebeye, we tied up to the dock at the small boat marina.
Gresham Family Exodus 