Gresham Family Exodus

Provisioning at Kwajalein was like some sort of cruel joke. There was an American style grocery store with familiar brands and cheap prices. The only problem was that it wasn’t accessible to me. It’s a military base, and the provisions there are for the folks that live there, not for folks passing through, and they were very strict about it. The first evening Meagan took me with her, and there was someone at the door checking ID’s and I wasn’t even allowed in the store! Although apparently that was a bit of an anomaly. Perhaps they heard we were there. Meagan did take me a couple times to the store, and I did buy about a shopping cart’s worth of stuff, but it hardly made a dent in my provisioning list for a passage all the way back to Tuvalu, and I felt scrutinized the whole time. Like I said, it was a cruel joke. I was a kid in a candy store without any money!

In an effort to pay back some of the hospitality we had been receiving, we invited Todd and Meagan and the kids and some of their friends out for a day trip on Exodus. We piled on board in the early morning, and with no wind we motored up to Bigej island. Before leaving I filed a float plan with the marina, which was a requirement for safety reasons. Kind of funny to be back in the nanny state after all the remote cruising we had done in so many countries up to that point.

Bigej Island (Red arrow = approximate anchor location)

It was a great day that included lots of water play, food, drinks, and unfortunately sunburns. Alex even busted out his guitar and gave us a mini- sing-along concert which included a lot of Green Day. One of the highlights of the day had to be when we were motoring up there and came across a pod of dolphins. Through everyone else’s excitement, I was transported back to the very first time we experienced dolphins swimming around the bow of the boat when we used to charter boats from Long Beach to Catalina Island.

At little dinghy surfing at Bigej (No, this photo has not been enhanced. The water really was that blue!)

Dolphin show on the way to Bigej

Sing along with Alex

Apparently, the teenage population on Kwaj is skewed more girls than boys, so Alex and Brenden ended up getting a bit of attention. They hung out with Todd and Megan’s kids who were similar ages, and they even got to go to school for a day. Alex really enjoyed it, surprisingly he enjoyed learning about WWII in history class. Of course, when we were in Tarawa and I taught them about the famous WWII battle there, he was interested in the slightest.

Going to regular school for a day

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.

Kwajalein is one of the largest atolls in the world, and as part of the Compact of Association that was established in 1986 between the U.S. and RMI, the U.S. Military has permission to use the lagoon and several islands of the atoll as a missile test range facility. Eleven of the 97 islands are leased by the U.S. I can’t find a corroborating source for this now, but when we were there, we were told that local residents of those islands were pretty much forcibly relocated to the island of Ebeye without any say in the matter.

The main island used by U.S. personnel is the island of Kwajalein, which of course shares its name with the atoll itself. Something like 1800 people live and work there, including civilians and military personnel. Cruisers can’t just sail up to the U.S. installations without permission, and you have to have a sponsor on the base in order to be able to visit. This is not the case for the rest of the atoll, like Ebeye for example. The rules for visiting Kwajalein atoll are just the same as visiting any other atoll as long as you avoid the U.S. leased islands.

Checking in was pretty straightforward. Upon approach to the Bigej Pass we hailed “Kwajalein Harbor Control” on VHF channel 12 (they monitor channel 16 and channel 12). We requested permission to enter the atoll (not really needed since the U.S. is not the entry/exit authority for the atoll) and we also requested permission to enter the harbor at Kwajalein (this is definitely needed, since the U.S. is indeed the authority for the base on the island of Kwajalein). The radio operator notified base security of our ETA and gave us instructions on where to tie up in the harbor. You can see the relative locations of Bigej pass and Kwajalein on the satellite image below. (As we passed the island of Ebeye on our way down we noticed a boat called “Cloud 9” at anchor there. Stay tuned for more on that…)

Southern End of Kwajalein

As instructed, we tied up at one of the docks at the small boat marina inside the harbor, and we were greeted by a guy from base security and our sponsors, Todd and Megan Ropella. Once we were securely tied up and ready to go, the security officer escorted us to officially check in. The only thing we needed for this was our passports, and they gave us guest ID cards to carry around with us on the base. We did not need to be escorted all the time, and we were never once asked for these IDs while we were there (although we did carry them with us.) After we checked in, they brought a security boarding party, including a dog, onto Exodus, presumably looking for things like contraband or drugs. Luckily, we passed the inspection and they let us stay.

Island of Kwajalein

This was the passage we had been waiting for. After beating upwind for as long as we could remember, we enjoyed a glorious dead downwind sail under Genniker alone. (Genniker is our large headsail on a roller furler.) The passage was only a little over a day in duration, but we were comfortable and it was a good reminder that passage making really can be enjoyable! We also had some good luck fishing: On the first day we hooked two Mahi Mahis at the same time, and it was a bit exciting because a shark chased one of them while it was on the hook. We could see the shark as it rode the waves behind us coming closer to the fish, and then the fish would swim sideways and get away from the shark for just a little while. Eventually, between fighting the hook and avoiding the shark the fish tired and the shark had its meal. Luckily, we were able to reel in the second Mahi, so on that day it was Shark-1, Exodus-1.

On the second day we once again hooked two Mahi Mahis and this time we got both on board, but one of them was completely wrapped in jellyfish tentacles.

Passage from Ailuk to Kwajalein

Our glorious sail came abruptly to an end as we approached Bigej Pass on the southeast side of the very large atoll of Kwajalein. It’s a wide pass, and there weren’t any hazards, so it looked easily navigable, and Tim decided we would sail through. I suggested that since we’ve never been here before maybe we should be more conservative and motor through. Arguments like that always ring hollow to Tim, and I understand. I know that “we haven’t been here before” isn’t really a good reason and the pass *was* really wide, but I just tend to lean towards being uber-conservative, because what is there to lose? So, I suggested that maybe we at least switch headsails from the genniker to the genoa. That way, if something were to go south, we’d have a headsail up that is a little more robust and easier to furl quickly, if needed. Nope, we kept the Genniker up.

It ended up being a total debacle. As we entered the pass, we encountered a strong current that started to push our course over ground to go very close to the edge of the pass. So, to counter this Tim headed up into the wind a bit more in order to keep our track more centered in the pass. Of course, then we experienced a wind shift that caused the Genniker to stall, and Alex and I, try as we did, couldn’t get it furled before the leech (trailing edge) was totally shredded in the strong wind. Totally shredded. From the head of the sail (top) to the clew (back tip).

Passage Summary:

Hours underway – 1 day 6 hours 18 min

Distance Made Good (DMG) = 168 nmi

Average Velocity Made Good (VMG) = 5.5 kt

Engine hours: Port Only – 0:00, Starboard only 0:00, Both 1:22 hours

14 March – 3 April 2016

Our time in The Marshalls was winding down, but we made some stops in a couple more atolls, where we experienced the paradox of Kwajalein as well as a couple of days at the lesser visited atoll of Jaluit.

Route Recap

We sadly departed the beautiful atoll of Ailuk in the morning on Monday 14 March and had a pleasant downwind sail all the way to Kwajalein, arriving the next afternoon. We stayed at the U.S. Army Base on Kwajalein for 10 days, which was like transporting back to the U.S. and taking a short break from the cruising lifestyle. After that we anchored for 3 nights off the densely populated island of Ebeye (still in the Kwajalein atoll) where we did some light provisioning and officially cleared out of RMI (Republic of Marshall Islands). It was time to start making our way back south, but finding a weather window for departure became a bit challenging, and we ended up staying one more night anchored roadside on the outside of the atoll off of the island called Ennylabegan.

The Marshall Islands

We left Kwajalein in the afternoon on Wednesday 30 March without knowing exactly where we would stop. The passage was upwind in light to moderate winds, and we ended up stopping in Jaluit after two days at sea. At this point we were still in The Marshalls, and even though we had already cleared out we were able to stay under the radar and didn’t have any trouble. After two nights at Jaluit we had another departure without a destination cast in stone. Our tentative target was Tarawa, Kiribati, but we knew that if we could keep going we would. (Spoiler alert: we kept going.)

(Ailuk) –> Kwajalein –> Jaluit –> (Onotoa, Kiribati)

We were sad to say good-bye to Ailuk. We stayed longer than we had planned so that meant we’d have to skip Rongerik and head straight to Kwajalein, where it was like taking a short vacation to small town U.S.A. Stay tuned…

Tim’s friend Pimson helped us ready Exodus for the voyage to Kwajalein