March 2024
As soon as Daniel returned to Imagination on the 1st, we moved Imagination to Nepukos ( the main town area) so that we could meet up with Elaine and Kevin who had flown in from the Philippines that morning. They bought their luggage on board and had a quick orientation before we all went ashore to have lunch before provisioning. Of course, it wasn’t easy as not everything we wanted was available, but we made substitutions and we would again have to go without lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber, but at least this time we found eggs. On Saturday the 2nd, we finished the provisioning off at another store and we all treated ourselves to a couple of cakes, returning to Imagination to spend a relaxed afternoon onboard which meant Kevin and Elaine were able to recover a little from their journey here. Daniel was going to go to church on the 3rd, but didn’t hear the usual bell ringing an hour before the service starts so he remained onboard with the rest of us. Elaine and Kevin jumped in the water armed with a scraper each to take off the weed that had grown along the waterline since Ally, Shawn and Daniel did it last month. Shawn took one of the inverters apart that we had been having issues with and Elaine spent time with him replacing parts from another non functioning one. It was time to clear out on the 4th and so we were back on the horrid commercial dock by 09.45 ready and waiting to be visited by Customs and Immigration. It’s hard to sit and listen and feel as your yacht is moving about and banging into the massive hard rubber fenders fixed to the harbour wall meant for big metal cargo ships – the fenders we put out offered very little protection against them and Shawn made sure to let the Immigration officers know that it was unreasonable to expect private yachts to tie up here where there is potential for damage to the boats and equipment ( one of our ropes was chaffed through on the concrete dock when we cleared in). It is a government requirement that all boats go alongside but the Immigration Officer said that she would definitely pass on our concerns especially as we know for sure that they had a similar complaint a month or so ago when yachtie acquaintances refused to go alongside despite the threat of fines. Once Customs had been to us, we were away from the dock at around 11.30 and headed towards the edge of the atoll where we anchored near a pretty little island (Fenangat) for lunch before departing for a 20 hour overnight sail at 15.05.
The sail was a good one accompanied by a good sprinkling of stars overnight. On the morning of 5th, Kevin, who was using a handline to fish, managed to catch a small Grey shark ( we think) which luckily he was able to set free and then he also hooked into but lost 2 fish. Elaine did manage to bring in a Mahi Mahi a little later, but soon got out of the way when it was time to handle it haha. Our arrival at Onari Island in Namonuito Atoll was a cheerful one as several minutes after the anchor went down at 11.10, we had a call on the VHF radio welcoming us and asking if we were intending on going ashore. We told them we would love to go ashore and asked if that would be ok and were told they were looking forward to meeting us. We explained we had several things to do and needed to eat first, but we would come across as soon as we were able, and so after Imagination had been put “to bed”, we’d had coffee and consumed lunch, we headed into the beach where we were welcomed by a small group of children and the island Acting Chief (the first female chief we have come across). Her English wasn’t great but her uncle, Joshua, translated for her. We were given drinking coconuts and a form of banana bread and were told we were welcome to walk and swim and visit the nearby uninhabited smaller islands. After around 20 minutes, Joshua, having explained that the Priest was on the island for a Wedding and a baptism, asked us to walk with him for several minutes through the settlement to join in the festivities. We arrived to a large group of women and children sitting on the floor with food on banana and pandanus leaf plates, wafting sticks over the food to keep the flies off. We waved hi as we approached and much to our surprise, we were shown to a long table where 5 pandanus leaf plates full of food along with a coconut, were waiting for us. We were invited to sit down at the table where Joshua, the Priest and the former Mayor, Stephen sat and then various elders and the Priest said a few words and prayers before we were told to eat – noone else started eating until the men at the table and we had started our meal. We wish we had known we were going to be treated to such wonderful hospitality, because we wouldn’t have had lunch before going ashore! None of us could do the meal full justice ( reef fish, rice, sugarless donut style bread, taro, and banana bread), but we did make a good effort. Once the meal was over, a couple of the men were transported back to other small islands and we were told we could go for a walk and explore the small island which is home to around 200 people. It is a beautiful place – the land is narrow so for much of it the gorgeous blue waters are visible both sides and the cooling breeze blows through the grassy, palm tree dotted settlement. We had the usual entourage of children, but this time it was a small group of boys, who escorted us as we walked up and through onto the windward beach and followed it around back to where the dinghy was. The kids are not as exuberant here as in other places we have been, but they are happy and polite and were keen to help Elaine and Ally find shells.
Thursday 7th, everyone went for a snorkel in the morning, but not before we’d had a visit from Stephen. He had burnt his foot with hot water and had a big blister on his big toe and a couple of other toes. Ally gave him some advice ( taking into account the environment) and gave him some dressings and antibiotic cream in case it burst. He then told us his wife was in a great deal of pain having had one leg amputated below the knee several months ago. We gave him some paracetamol and Ibuprofen along with copies of information about how to take them and cautions etc and he was very grateful. Once he left, we headed to an area between Onari and a neighbouring island where there was a pretty strong current, but the water was clear and warm. Unfortunately the snorkelling wasn’t great with much of the reef dead and minimal fish life and so we swam en masse to a nearby small sandy island. The shell hunting was fantastic and we spent an hour or so wandering around collecting and relaxing before returning to Imagination for lunch. During the afternoon, we took in a box full of goodies, big bags of popcorn and a bag of clothes for the chief and the community which was unexpected and she was very grateful for. Word spreads quickly and Kevin and Elaine, who remained on the island for a while longer when Ally returned to Imagination and Shawn and Daniel went snorkelling in a different area, witnessed the kids come out of school at lunchtime and all rush to the Chiefs house to rummage through what we had given and to take a handful of popcorn. The 8th was a more chilled day with most of it spent onboard with another visit from Stephen who had bought us a big bunch of bananas. He came onboard for a while and his foot was looking much better and he told us his wife had had a very comfortable night. Throughout the rest of the day, we had 3 young boys coming and going on their small out rigger canoe. They enjoyed jumping into the water from the back of the yacht and exploring the front of the catamaran– they were very quiet and polite and they enjoyed the snacks and drinks they were given.
We were away by 07.00 the following morning and caught a small tuna before we even left the atoll. The 3 night sail was a variable one with the penultimate day and third night being the windiest and waviest, but at least we were expecting it to be like that having watched the forecasts for several days prior to departure. Our arrival into Garapan, Saipan, CNMI on the 12th was a another welcome one – we had telephoned the Port Authority on the 11th with our ETA and then contacted them on VHF as we approached the harbour area. We were instructed to go on dock at the Smiling Cove Marina where the authorities would come and clear us in. The channel to the Marina is very shallow ( around 6ft/ less than 2m) and only 50ft/15m wide ( Imagination is 23ft/7m wide) with a raised walkway/harbour wall to one side where many local guys were fishing from – we could have shaken their hands as we passed through and said hello to each other! There were 2 guys on the marina dock ready and waiting for us to throw them our lines and once we were tied up, they welcomed us and told us Customs and Immigration would be along soon. The Customs officers arrived very quickly and declined the offer to come onboard, choosing instead to do their paperwork on the dock. They were very friendly and were happy to tell us a little about themselves and their island. We had to wait longer for Immigration who only came after the dockmaster gave them a call to chase them up. Officer Palacious, who Shawn had liaised with a couple of weeks ago and two other female officers attended . Again, they declined to come onboard and took our passports and moved to a shady area to do the necessary. It soon became evident that there was an issue. As CNMI is a US Territory, their arrival procedures and policies are the same as the mainland, but a while back Ally had read on several websites that in January this year, Saipan had changed their Immigration requirements meaning that UK and Australian citizens no longer needed a visa or ESTA. In order to clarify and ensure this was the case, Shawn rang the Immigration office in Saipan and spoke to Officer Palacious and explained we were coming in by private yacht and the 5 crew were British, Australian and Danish. He confirmed what we had read, telling us that only Daniel would need an ESTA which he already had as he had flown through Guam. He asked us to call back before we left Chuuk to inform him of our ETA and to give crew details etc so that they could be ready for us when we arrived. Shawn duly rang him again and this time Officer Palacious passed him onto a supervisor, who again confirmed that only one crew member would need an ESTA before taking the details he needed. Both Officers were very friendly, polite and professional. However, now we had arrived, we were being told that because we had come in on a private vessel rather than a commercial flight/boat, the policies were different and we should have B2 visas, which normally involves a visit to a US Embassy well in advance of arrival. The officers remained professional and cheerful throughout and told us not to worry as they made several telephone calls to their superiors to come up with a solution. That solution involved us all going to the airport to fill out a form, have photographs taken and Shawn also had his fingerprints taken. Not sure why he was the only one that had to do that as we both had to do it when we went into the US Virgin Islands in 2013. Officer Palacious met us at the airport which was a 15 minute, $30us taxi ride away ( by this time it was around 15.30) and we were all given visitors passes by the airport Police before being taken through the International airport to the Arrivals Hall where we were handed over to another officer for processing. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming but it was a frustrating process as the computer system they needed to use kept crashing. After around 1hour and 15 mins, we were all granted our B2 visas and were freezing as the aircon was so cold – all the Immigration Officers were sitting there in their puffer jackets! Before we left, we explained that we had telephoned ahead twice and had spoken to 2 different people before leaving Chuuk and were misinformed both times. The trouble is, they get so few private yachts here (around 10 a year) and those that do come arrive from Guam which is also a US territory, and so immigration isn’t an issue, which means Immigration Officers are only really familiar with commercial international arrival policies. We were told the issuance of visas is discretionary and think that because we were an “unusual case” and went along with everything without a fuss, remaining light hearted and unflustered ( outwardly!) we had no problem in the end. As we said our goodbyes and thankyou’s to all in the arrivals hall which was now empty again having had a plane load of arriving passengers go through, we were told we could go to Guam without having to do Immigration again which is an added bonus as we thought we may have to bypass there due to them having different requirements. As the day hadn’t panned out as we imagined it would, we had our taxi driver, who had gone off to do another fare before returning to wait for us, drop us off in town so that we could find somewhere to have and early dinner. Thankfully, the walk back to Imagination was a very short one through the American Memorial Park and we had a well deserved early night.
Being alongside meant coming and going to/from Imagination was easy and so on the 13th, everyone did their own thing. Shawn and Ally had several things to look for ashore and ended up walking approx 8 miles over the course of the day and had McDonald’s for lunch ( what a treat that was!). Everything is very spread out here, but it was good exercise and being a US territory, the shopping is reasonable as is availability of groceries and stores. The only thing is, the marina isn’t set up for cruising yachts. They don’t allow boats to be lived on while on the docks, but thankfully, the manager gave us a concession for a few days as long as we used the toilet block/holding tanks. Towards the end of the afternoon, everyone was messaging on the group chat to arrange a meeting place for a beer before going back to the boat. We found a small bar where we had beer and then, having discovered it was happy hour, some went on to cocktails and others had more beer before the decision was made to order fries at the bar rather than eat onboard. Just a couple of doors down was another bar Godfather’s, where there was live music. The rest of the evening and well into the early hours was spent there boogieing the night away – the band, The Gigolo’s, were superb with a great repertoire. After the sail here and yesterdays shenanigans, the 14th was a slow and relaxed recovery day, but the 15th was more active. We hired a car and this time Kev was the driver. Saipan is only 12 miles long and just over 5.5 miles wide but despite it’s small size, it played a huge part in the fight against the Japanese in the Pacific during WWII and as such, there are poignant Japanese, American, Korean and Mariana Peace Memorials here along with other points of interest including a Japanese last command post built into the caves/rocks – it was a superb day that ended with another outing to Godfather’s Bar after dinner onboard, which meant another 3am bedtime!
Once again on Saturday 16th, we all did our own thing. Shawn and Ally visited the WWII museum in the Memorial Park and spent a good 1.5 hours in there. For a small space, it is exceptionally well thought out with a short film being shown before looking at the exhibits and listening to/reading about first hand experiences, whilst in the background are the sounds of gunfire, planes and bombs. Afterwards, we walked the short distance into town to take photos. There are some beautiful, huge hotels here, but one of them is so gaudy, it’s attractive. Building work commenced on the Imperial Palace Casino and Hotel in 2015 by the Chinese, however it was never fully opened or completed and the whole operation is surrounded by controversy involving corruption, money laundering, human trafficking, slave labour, injured/killed workers and unpaid creditors. The place is now up for sale with all of the top notch fixtures and fittings being sold at auction to repay some of the massive debts owed. Much of the place is marble with the figures, animals and highlights on the outside painted in gold ( not sure if it’s gold leaf). As Ally was taking photos, she noticed the front door was open so she and Shawn moved up the step towards the entrance. Shawn put his head in and entered, closely followed by Ally. There was a security guard writing at a desk just onside who just seemed to ignore the fact we were there while we marvelled in what we saw in the huge foyer – such opulence. There are 2 huge dragons weighing 40 tons hanging from the ceiling. They are spectacular with their 2.5 million crystals sparkling in the light as you walk beneath them – they’re also up for auction if you fancy one in your living room? With the permission of the security guard, we were allowed to cross the foyer and take a quick look into the casino, but there wasn’t too much to see there as most of the equipment had been removed or packed away. Such a shame the project ended so badly.
Sunday 17th we moved out of the marina across to Managaha Island just 2nm away. From a distance it looked gorgeous and we were looking forward to going across to visit. It is a very popular day trip destination from the mainland, with snorkelling and Lifeguards in specific areas, BBQ areas, cafe/bar etc and so it was a bit of a culture shock after having had so many places more or less to ourselves for the past goodness knows how long and it was also expensive at $10US per person just to go ashore with extra over the top prices for rental of beach chairs or snorkelling gear. Saipan is a popular holiday destination for South Koreans and so the place was heaving and as it’s also used as a nesting site by flocks of Noddy’s, it was also very smelly in places. If you dare snorkel outside of the cordoned off area to see the good, healthy corals etc. you get whistled at very quickly by the lifeguards who happily turn a blind eye to everyone else standing up and trampling all over the tiny bit of reef within the permitted area. Insane and very frustrating. The following morning, we left for neighbouring island, Tinian. We anchored within the remains of the WWII Harbour at 13.30 and once we’d had lunch, we all went ashore to have a look around. It was a little like a ghost town, with very few people around and many derelict and disused buildings. There was another Peace Memorial a short walk away, and also the House of Taga – an archaeological site where there are huge prehistoric latte pillars ( aka taga stones), only one of which remains upright. They are named after the mythical chief, Taga, who is said to have used the pillars as foundation stones for his house. Tinian is far less developed and has a much smaller population than Saipan and far fewer tourists, but activities here played a pivotal role in ending WWII and so once again, we hired a car on the 19th. We didn’t think we’d be out for very long, but we made the most of our time and ended up exploring for about 6 hours. We visited beaches, an impressive blowhole and the now disused military airfield at the North of the Island where we saw Japanese air raid shelters, command posts and admin buildings. The most poignant part of the day for all of us, having just driven along the overgrown Runway Able from where the aircraft took off on their fateful missions, was when we stood on the airfield apron next to the two loading pits where the first and only 2 atomic bombs to be used in combat were stored. They ultimately bought an end to the War, but not before they had killed thousands of people, mostly civilians. The first one, “ Little Boy”, was loaded onto B-29 Bomber, Enola Gay, and dropped on Hiroshima, Japan at 08.15 on 6th August 1945. The second, “ Fat Man”, was loaded onto B-29 Bomber, Bockscar, and dropped on Nagasaki, Japan at 11.02 on 9th August 1945. We drove back to the main town, San Jose, passing through large areas of smouldering undergrowth where a bush fire had passed through yesterday afternoon and had a great meal in a little local restaurant before returning to Imagination. Another fabulous, emotional and eye opening day.
We spent much of the day on the 20th ashore again, but this time it was at the beach where there was an excellent area for a BBQ which included a toilet block, bins, covered picnic benches and a volleyball court ( that we used for petonque!). It was a lovely time together and the following day, everyone except Ally went back to do it again before going along the coast for some cliff jumping! We sailed back up to Saipan on Friday 22nd and had another windy, bumpy ride, but at least it was only for 6 hours this time.
We headed back to “our local” for one last time together after dinner onboard, for more drinks, dancing, singing and general silliness. It feels so good to have live music and dancing again after so long without…..we have to make the most while we can. The weekend was a quiet affair with Daniel spending much of the time ashore hashing and Bbqing with Keith and others who we had met at Godfathers, and Kev and Elaine spent time walking and shopping for the next part in their adventure, but on the evening of Sunday 24th, we were all invited out for a wonderful Thai meal by Keith ( aka by us as “red hat man”). It was another fun evening out with a couple of surprises, but that’s a story for another day haha. Once again, the 25th had crept up on us and it was time to clean Imagination, get laundry done at the laundrette (thanks to Elaine and Kev) and for Elaine and Kev to leave us for their outward flight. Daniel also left to spend time at the South of the Island before coming back to us next month. After everything we have done together over the last 25 days, Imagination was once again a very quiet place.
Tuesday ( 26th) was a fairly chilled one – Shawn fixed a fridge thermostat, serviced a winch and fixed a loo seat while Ally spent time doing online stuff and caught up with blog writing. She starts every month with good intentions, making notes each day, going through any photos etc, but then as time goes by things slide so it becomes a massive task that requires much brain power and looking through the log book and photos to jog the memory lol. On the 27th, we went into town early to get more credit for data before moving off dock at 09.30 in the pouring rain. We had overstayed our welcome alongside, mainly because the toilet block was out of order. The manager did say we could stay where we were if we hired a Portaloo for $200us, but we chose to moved outside. There is a huge reef system running down the length of the island on the West side which was potentially going to make anchoring tricky and whilst there’s not much protection from strong winds and choppy conditions outside of the marina, we found a good spot not very far away at all from the Marina channel. Once the rain stopped, the conditions were comfortable with a nice light breeze through the hatches. The 28th and 29th consisted of more maintenance and a trip ashore to pick up a few essentials ( plus a cheeky McDonalds) and to refill a cooking gas bottle, which proved to be far easier than anticipated, especially as a very kind gentleman gave us a ride back to the dinghy in the Marina. Shawn went diving with Daniel and new oncoming crew member, Crystal, at The Grotto and they enjoyed the dives with local guide, Yugo of Aqua Connections, who went above and beyond with great customer service, even providing free photos and video of their time with him. The 31st was Easter Sunday and after getting Imagination ready for the arrival of crew, Ally and Shawn enjoyed a big British roast dinner with a chocolate treat for desert.
