From Lamotrek Lagoon — Thursday, Feb 25, 2010
We love it here! Yesterday was an exciting day for the island, as the cargo ship came just after dawn and anchored right behind us. The ship from Yap arrives every two or three months.
Yesterday’s ship included a medical team that inoculated all 300 islanders against H1N1, a very good thing considering the horrible problems over the last century or so that all these Pacific islands have had with introduced diseases. From Dave: “It seems that the yachties are the only remaining inhabitants without virus protection.” The ship also brought an educational team that carried out all-day testing for the teachers! School was out as usual for “Ship Day” but evidently the teachers were hard at work. The ship crew unloaded the cargo that had been ordered in advance by families on Lamotrek, and some families were able to buy 50# sacks of rice etc. still on board.
There are 3 sailboats at anchor at Lamotrek, perhaps a record number? and all 3 asked if we could come aboard the cargo ship. Even tho Irish Melody has often shared an anchorage with a cargo ship, we had never asked permission to come aboard one.
After clambering up the side of the ship on a rope & plank ladder, we were allowed to go down into the hold where a few things were still waiting to be off-loaded at their last stop, and up flights of stairs to the “captain’s deck” at the top, to take photos. A quite nice boat.
Before that occurrence, all three sail boats had been boarded by a ship’s officer who asked to see our clearance papers from Pohnpei. And mentioned, very politely, that we were not allowed to stop at Lamotrek until we checked in at Yap. All three boats mentioned their various “emergency repair needs”, which were met with a sympathetic nod. When asked how long we would be staying, and we indicated a date almost two weeks in the future, it was duly recorded and the officer smiled cheerfully and departed. Love these islanders!! Even the officials are nice.
Then the official went on to arrange for our permission to see the cargo ship. By the way, Lamotrek would receive almost zero sailing visitors if we had to check into Yap first, as Yap is 5 days downwind. It would be a week’s journey against both the trade winds and the seas to get back here. As the islanders really like sailboat visitors, and have made us feel extremely welcome, the rule just isn’t enforced. But the official’s eyes must have bugged out to see three! “yachts” here. We are grateful that he didn’t ask us to depart, and was so nice about it.
