Iolea
FollowWe are an Australian couple (Paul Duncan & Kate Owen) who bought Iolea in Annapolis USA in 2010. Our cruising adventure started with a couple of years cruising the Caribbean. In 2013 we transited the Panama Canal and crossed the Pacific to NZ. For the past 3 years we have been cruising NZ (north and top of the south), Fiji and Vanuatu. We arrived in the Solomon Islands early April following 6 months sailing through Kiribati, The Marshall Islands and a short stop in Kosrae. This year we are heading back to Vanuatu and then on to New Caledonia before returning to NZ and preparing to head back across the Pacific in 2018.
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Kosrae. A pleasant stop with easy bureaucracy. Tree House Hotel and its river side restaurant are great value.
<p>Just south of Ebeye is some excellent snorkelling. We wish we had found this earlier. We left for Kosrae the next day.</p>
Nell island pass. Fabulous drift snorkelling and walks across the islands and passes to the west. ( mum's birthday)
Bigij on Kwajalein. Nice getaway spot.
Ebeye island on Kwajalein Atoll. Much maligned but a pleasant surprise. Poor people but happy and basic foodstuffs available. Note: no ATM and bank will not change currency so bring what you need.
Roi-Namur on Kwajalein Atoll is a US military base for tracking satellites etc. no entry beyond the dock without permission.
Enyu on Bikini. Abandoned buildings and construction equipment. Nice reef off the airstrip
Bikini island, Bikini Atoll. Nothing out of the ordinary but still a sense of a cloud overhead.
Tufa island, Rongelap. Good staging spot for Bikini but a bit rolly in northerly winds.
Eniaetok or Long Island which was formed by a rock hitting a bird in flight and breaking its left wing. Great anchorage with protection from northeast to east. Good beachcombing.
Rongelap island and the potential township
Rongerlap, fabulous snorkelling in the pass to our south
Eniwetak in south Rongerik, large turtle and pretty bommies
Rongerik and into the wilderness. Wonderful!
Xmas at Enemanet and Eneko to the north. The Meiko moorings make life easy and the locations are lovely.
Majuro. No more grass huts. Now it's cinder block and cars
Back to Tarawa with a stand of bananas and a huge pumpkin to clear out for Majuro
Butaritari, a layback garden of Eden and the most northern Atoll in this part of Kiribati.
Abiang Atoll, just north of Tarawa
Arrived in Tarawa. On anchor west of the wharf and next to some impressive wrecks and almost wrecks. Tarawa seems quite industrial from this vew point but water colour classic tropics blue-green.