From Aur to Maloelap

We woke on departure day to grey clouds and rain. Not the ideal conditions
when traveling across bommie (coral head)-filled lagoons and squeezing
between reefs to enter a new lagoon.

We need bright sunlight for the best visibility through the water in these
areas where coral grows up from the depths in random patterns and with no
warning. These coral heads are also not marked on our charts.
So...with the decline in weather, we decide to stay put and collect water
instead.

Within half an hour, blue appears through the clouds, and the sun is
visible. We change our minds again, and start the labourous chore of hauling
our rusty and heavy chain and anchor. We both comment several times on how
we can't wait to get rid of this chain. Give me nylon rode any day.

The wind is a good 25+ knots and we make our way across the lagoon and out
into the open ocean. The next atoll, Maloelap, is close. Only 30 miles. So a
day trip. But the winds shift, and we find that we are beating into the
strong winds. We end up motor sailing through the frequent squalls that
leave John drenched for most of the day!

We make it through the pass into Maloelap's lagoon early in the afternoon.
They waypoints we'd been given were perfect. It is slow going to cross the
lagoon and we finally make it to our anchorage at 5 pm, during a rain squall
of course.

At Anchor in Maloelap. Photo by SY Jennifer

There is one other boat here, a local fish supply boat, Ms Timur. They will take the fish caught by locals to Majuro for sale and export. From our location, we can see several war relics all around us. A couple of masts
from a wrecked Japanese schooner loom out of the water just south of us. There are guns and bunkers to the North.

This gun is visible from our anchorage

We can see rusted hulks of who-knows-what all over the beach. Looks like lots of exploring to do here.
If you check our position on google earth, you'll see 6 yachts were anchored at this location when the image was taken. Today, it is just us and a local boat. Our position is: 08 42N, 171 13E.