N 06° 57.648
E 158° 12.071

Early in the morning we wanted to go to church to see how it is done here in Pohnpei. We got a the permission to dock our tender at a private terrace a bit more than a meter above sea level. When we finished docking another lady came and canceled the previous permission. OK. We left.

However, it started raining and rained heavily so the “church clothes” (long pants and normal shirts) got soaked. I felt the rain has even reached my underwear. Church visit was canceled and we went back to MaRe. There was laundry waiting and PC work. First I worked on an IT thing and then I tackled mails for finding an affordable marina with a sufficient long time to stay there.

In Japan most of the marinas – I checked already more than 50 between Tokyo and Himeji, and my OBM back home a few more – accept visiting boats only for a day or two, or a week or two weeks. Despite a very good change of Japanese inbound clearance regulations, and only one application to visit all closed harbors in Japan, Japan is not a country being ready for yachts cruising Japanese waters with the intention to keep the boat in a marina and travel across the very interesting country. Even maintenance repairs are not always possible and in at least one marina it’s not allowed to sleep on board.

Dropping the anchor and stay in bay like we do it always is not possible because of steep dropping coastline due to Japan’s volcanic origine.

But I also found so far two marinas and a boatyard were it could possibly keep MaRe for a few month and do maintenance and repairs. So I’ll see what comes up next in this matter.

On Saturday, after a bunch of urgent mails, forming and baking bread, we went ashore. I needed antibiotics and two spanners.

Already in the marina two friendly men gave us a lift directly to the Medical Center because the pharmacy on the way was closed.

The antibiotics I need to treat a skin infection. My old friend Vilma gave my by email the needed advice to get antibiotics. I’m grateful to her advice because I’m normally very reluctant to see a doctor as long as my head still sits on my neck.

For opening the turnbuckles of the shrouds, to exchange the furler, I need two spanners, which are just not in my good spanner collection. I know that loosening the shrouds is easy, but I also know that I have to get back to the tension before.

One way is to count the half turns I make with the turnbuckles. This is a relative measurement, but I also wanted to have an absolute measure to cross- check. This morning, when l wrote an email to my son, I got the right idea. I just checked this idea and it’s feasible. Prefect starting conditions. I’m curious which problems come uninvited when I start replacing the old for the new furler.

The ACE hardware store just closed when we passed by in the car to the Medical Center.

There a few people were waiting already for medical treatment and I had no idea how long it will take me. So, Tobi left and we set the meeting point to the marina, where the tender is docked.

I had to fill in a form with personal and medical information and could sit down to wait until it’s my turn. Beside me, two ladies, mother and daughter most likely, were greeting me friendly. A bit away from me, on my right side, there were some more people waiting.

When a nurse came, she called people so she could measure their weight, blood pressure, etc. It seemed to be the standard procedure for every new patient.

Then it was my turn. After delivering all physical and medical infirmation about me, I could sit down again. However, not for long, and I was called into a consultation room. Like with the nurse before, I got the impression that a lot of staff here comes from the Philippines. Here in Pohnpei are well paid jobs.

The doctor look quickly at the infection on my leg and wrote me a prescription. 7 days, every 6 hours, 1 pill. The pills I got in the pharmacy a bit further down the hallway.

When I arrived back at the marina, Tobi was talking with one of the members of the fishing club. His name is Gus, and talking with him was just fun. A real intellectual person with incredible knowledge about Pohnpei and Micronesia in general.

We could have talked longer but returned to MaRe in a break of two rain showers coming down on us.

Weather here proofs that Pohnpei is the world record holder in precipitation. Lots of rain, which is enough to keep our water tank full. Also I like sunlight a lot because it fills MaRe’s batteries, it is nice to watch the flat area surface when the raindrops let’s water drops jump up from the surface and creating tiny circular wavelets. I also like to see the shore and the green grown rampant on the remnants of the former volcanoes which formed the island. When it rains, this green becomes grey until it disappears completely behind the veil of the dense rain until the rain becomes less again.

Sunday evening, because it did not rain on the late afternoon, we decided to have dinner in the Hideaway Lodge close by but hidden in the mangroves, which cover the shoreline and protects from it from wind and wave erosion with their long and strong roots.