N 06° 57.634
E 158° 12.059

On the 15th, after a noisy night beside the 24/7 generator running Lady Pohnpei, the officials of bio-security, customs, port authorities, and immigration came to clear is in.

Then we moved with MaRe towards the end of the bay where we dropped the hook in a green and quiet surrounding.

The Navionics map didn’t show any of the markes, which were well placed. We even found a difference between the chart plotter and tablet PC version. After all the years in using now the Navionics maps, I’m convinced the the only updates ever made are the “piss marks” of sailors where they describe things not well or which are useless in general.

Sitting in the cockpit and having our after-breakfast talk, contemplated about walking up to the top of caldera. However, first I wanted to inspect the top part of the furler. The furling difficulty we had last time worried me. I walked up the mast. To make the story short, a bearing inside the furler is broken. I used several times from my whole heart the famous 4-letter word.

Without a functioning furler, we can’t sail to Japan!

Without a mailing address I can’t get a spare parts shipped.

I believe that for every problem there is a solution.

Tobi found in NoForeiignLand the hint, that shipments can be made to the local post office.

So we prepared a long to-do list of what we wanted to do in Kolonia, the town where we are.

We docked MaRe’s tender in the tiny marina around the corner and walked.

Reaching the main road, the “Kaselehia” road, the “Welcome” road welcome us with friendly people. The typical friendliness of the islands around the equator, which I could enjoy for so long since I arrived in the Gambier islands in 2023.

But it was also a shock. I haven’t seen that many cars since I left NZ. Bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic. The “fragnance” of a big city. I felt being back in Tokyo.

We checked out all supermarkets we passed, especially for oats. We found them in the last one with a hint. ACE is a huge chain of hardware stores, foodstores, and office supply stores in the Pacific islands. In Kolonia, there are 3 just next to each other. An office supply, a hardware, and a food store. We went into the foodstore, where I didn’t find oats but asked the shop manager. “Try it across the street in the office supply store” he said. “In the office supply store?”, I asked back. “Yes”, he said, “They also have food”. “No need to understand island or ACE logic” I thought and went into the office supply store. There was even a good visible sign indicating in which row oats are to be found.
Success!!! They even had so natural oats beside the always chemically treated standard American oats, and for a reasonable price. On the package was written “NO artificial flavors. NO synthetic colors, and they buy wind energy credits to offset 100 the electricity they used for production. I’m inclined to believe thus company being located in Minnesota. We bought 4 paper cans of oats. Each 42 onces, which is 4.8 kg.
A cereal we had this morning tasted good.

Back to yesterday, we found the post office and the friendly employee gave us the address and all information needed for a shipment via USPS from the USA.

We also found the immigration office where we were supposed to the clearance fees. We had a conversation with the officer and he asked us to come back again the next day. We thanked thank him and will go back again.

At the custom office I learned that for outbound clearance we have to go back to the clearance dock and the Port Authorities will inform customs and immigration. Very good!

Strolling through the streets gave us the impression that we can’t get everything we might want but a lot of things.

For a late lunch we went into what’s called a “coffee shop”and it’s located in the ground floor of the building which contains the Japanese Embassy. The food was good. A mixture of Chinese and Japanese food. The very clean interior reminded me to a family restaurant in Japan. “Is this influenced by embassy staff or even requested?”, was a thought which went through my mind. Just when we wanted to leave, it started raining and it rained for the next 2-3 hours on and off.

On our way back we could buy fresh vegetables, and still found the propane gas refill station. We learned that only from Wednesday or Thursday on they will have gas again. That’s fine with us.

In the same building there is the guy who issues permits to go into the private Ant island about 30 NM away from Pohnpei. For the boat 45 and for each of us 10 USD. Sounds reasonable.

Exhausted we arrived at MaRe.

This was the better day of the last two days.

N 06° 58.702
E 158° 12.183

… on Pohnpei harbor at the clearance dock, alongside of MV Lady Pohnpei. We made the sail on 3 days and just had enough wind for it.

The wind was a bit on the weak side. I would have preferred something just above 20 KN. However this is sailing.

The sail was comfortable Seas rolled all the way onto MaRe from STB stern.

Fishing was a nightmare this time. We tried 3 times to gaff the fish at its gills. But this is very difficult to impossibly. So we lost two mahi-mahis and one nice big yellow fin tuna. Now we decided that next time we just get the gaff in the fish’s body front half and pull it on deck. No more theory, only the doable and effective way.

People on board of MV Lady Pohnpei are very friendly and helped with the lines. They are sailors and understand what’s needed.

Now it’s time to relax. From me a lot of tension gets off because the boat and her crew are safe in the harbor. I have this tension always and enjoy when it falls off.

…. and hammered on unbreakable cockpit floor that I was afraid he breaks today.

What happened?

We sat down for another delicious dinner. As we talked about fishing and the fish which got off of the hook a few hours before I said, “This is now the moment we always got a bite when crossing the Atlantic. Just when we started eating.” I hardly finished this sentence when the rrrrrrrrrrrrrr sound of the fish rod started. A fish was on the hook. We dropped fork and knife.

Tobi went to the rod and started fighting the fish. It was obvious he got another “whale”, our synonym for a big fish.

I got MaRe’s speed down to 2.5-3 KN, prepared the gaff and my harness. Tobi was fighting and assumed he got a big tuna. As there was still a long part of the line out, I continued with my dinner while Tobi was fighting the tuna. “Somebody should take video of us now” Tobi said and continued, “I’m fighting and you are eating”. We had a good laugh. It really was a funny scene. However, there was nothing to be done for me at that point in time.

Then Tobi got the big tuna, estimated to be about 40 kg, closer to the PRT stern and I went down for gaffing. As it appeared not easy, we changed positions in last moment. I took the rod and Tobi went down for gaffing.

The fish on the hook was really a big one.

The moment Tobi pulled it out on the line, the gaff was almost on its gills, the hook got off of the line and the fish disappeared in the depth of the Pacific Ocean.

‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”, Tobi yelled…

N 06° 35.283
E 159° 30.363

Wind is constant in direction but got a bit tired. So waves are down to a 2 m swell and windwaves are below 1.5 m.

MaRe consistently makes her double track directly to the next WPT, NW of Pohnpei.

If the wind doesn’t get more tired we will be around noon at the beginning of the channel to
Kolonia, the harbor of Pohnpei.

I was afraid that the various stratus type clouds could bring rain, but they disappeared almost completely. The rest of the clouds should keep the fair weather we have.

I worked again for hours an emails asking myself if I’m on board of MaRe in the middle of the NW pacific or at home at my desk.

So nothing exciting today.

On the day before our departure, we hitched to Tofol, on the other side of bay, where the waterline is fully covered with mangroves so we can’t go by tender. We needed to make outbound clearance with customs. From immigration we didn’t need anything because we have the stamps for Micronesia in our passports. That’s what I can understand, but the purpose of customs clearance I don’t get because it’s written that we will enter Pohnpei and we leave Micronesia. Sometimes there are things I don’t need to understand.

The car, a small lorry, which gave us a ride, passed a large property, where many people gathered and were busy with something. I could just see that there is a hole in the ground for a coffin. Somebody must have passed away.

On the way back, again a ride on the cargo bed of a small lorry, the driver stopped at the funeral. We got off as well and looked around. Many people, mostly women were very busy carrying things around and I’m sure there were more activities, which we could not see from the road side, where we stood and observed.

I started talking to a man who was standing close by, and yes, it’s a funeral. We talked a for a few minutes. When a young woman came with a tray and paper bowls offering a bowl to everyone along her way. When she came towards us, the man I talked to, indicated her to also give each of us a bowl.

It was a paper bowl of soup, with rice and two pieces of meat, which later turned out to be pork. No spoon was given and no spoon was needed. Just drinking from bowl.

I asked if we could sit over in the shade under several trees with some other men. “For sure”, was the answer and Tobi and I walked over to the 3-4 men sitting on the concrete cover of an older grave. “Can we sit down here?”, and the answer we got was a very friendly, “Yes”. We sat down and drank our rice soup. “Do you like it?”, we were asked. “It tastes excellent!”, was our very honest answer. The rice soup reminded me to the Japanese “okayuu”, but to the tasty version of Osaka. (The Tokyo version is tasteless and supposed be tasteless and i don’t like it. )

A guy with a Puerto Rico T-shirt
came by and a longer conversation developed. He came from Puerto Rico as a missionary to Kosrae, met his wife, and stayed.

Then suddenly boys walked around handing two different bags to people sitting around. When the came to us, we also got two of each bags for the two of us. Two of the bags we received contained eight frozen chicken legs, the other ones about two kilogram of rice.

But this was not the end of the distributed food. Another young woman came with tray of plastic boxes filled with rice and a small fried piece of chicken. Tobi and I got one as well.

We learned that this is the custom here when someone dies. Actually next morning all people will come again and get a breakfast. About the end of such treats I don’t know.

Now, while writing about what we experienced, I recognized, I forgot to ask a few questions more about the custom. Is it only on Kosrae like this way or also on Pohnpei, Chuuk, or Yap? Maybe I get in Pohnpei a chance to asked.

Then the coffin was brought. A simple wooden coffin, white painted. A part was opened to see the person inside for a last time. Something I know from Japan and I like it. To protect it against an always possible squall, the coffin and the grave was covered by a simple tent as a makeshift roof. Outside on one side many women gathered sitting on chairs brought in before. The women all wore rather colorful traditional dresses. The man, except for 3-4, who were dressed in black suits and neckties, all just wore their normal daily clothes. T-shirts and short pants. The men stood spread out.

A lady in her fifties went to the coffin and cried. Obviously the wife. It’s hard when you suddenly loose your partner for so many years. Another lady came. She was a bit fragile so helped by others. I assume she was the mother who had to bury another son next to two of his brothers who are resting already next to the new grave.

Then a man in his fifties in a red T-shirt, black short pants, and flip-flops went to the coffin to bid farewell. When he finished, he came to where we stood and watched how things are done here.

We started talking. He was definitely in a very sad mood. He has lost a close friend. A friend, he visited just the night before. The friend started coughing around midnight, and then, suddenly got a heart attack and passed away by 0100, is the story he told us. His friend was put to rest only 12 h after passing away; in climate where the temperatures are all year long around 30 degC, there is no other choice.

May the man rest in peace close to other family members who are buried in the same area of the family property. There are no public cemeteries in Kosrae.

May all who were close to him enjoy the good memories they all have.

I used similar words when I bid farewell to the man with the red T-shirt, who lost his friend.

N 05° 45.305
E 161° 47.866

We are making good progress towards Pohnpei. Since lifting the hook we made 83 NM until 0500 today.

We set the genoa with the barber hauler at the NE corner of Kosrae and most likely we don’t need to change is until the N corner of Pohnpei.

The swell is in the 2-3 m range but unfortunately is it’s wavelength only less than 50 m. So MaRe’s bums swing around more than normal. Where is the swell with a wavelength of 100 or more meters?

During my second watch tonight, I’m working on my dough for fresh bread in the morning.

I’m also working on a blog about an interesting custom we experienced during our last hours on Kosrae.

N 05° 24.568
E 162° 59.154

Just before 1100 we lifted the hook and I turned MaRe into the old track of our arrival.

At the pass we had winds and waves fully on the nose. Am almost 2 swell rolls from ä almost E.

But since we passed the WPT “Kosrae NE”, the waves feel less intense because they roll onto MaRe from able 0400 to 0500 o’clock. We are on the almost direct course to WPT Pohnpei N.

Hopefully we get some 20 KN of wind later tonight to reach Pohnpei on 3 days.

Yesterday , was an in interesting day. I’ll write later about it.

Smith Sigrah, you are a synonym for welcome, support, help, hospitality, advise, friendliness, kindness, troubleshooter, water supplier, mailing address provider, walking encyclopedia about Kosrae and Micronesia, and well-known person among sailors.

Smith, please forgive me if I missed another description of you.

Quite a while before we arrived in Kosrae we exchanged already emails. You always wrote “Smith” under your emails. I really got confused. Wanting to be polite and friendly, I always addressed you with “Sigrah”.

I’m sorry for my mistake. Now I know your first name is “Smith” and your family name is “Sigrah”. Cultural differences.

Kosrae, your island, is a very green little paradise with the sleeping virgin on the western side of the bay we at anchor. She takes care of Kosrae. You have what we envy for. On the islands a lot of fruits and vegetables are growing, the reefs are full of fish and other pelagic life.

The people here are extremly friendly. Sometimes, when they saw us walking along the road side they stopped and offered us a ride without us trying to hitch a ride. What a wonderful welcome culture!

And now, for all we received in almost one month in Kosrae, from you and your family I want to thank you and your large family who we could meet as well. All are wonderful people.

All of you, will stay in our mind and hearts.

Reinhold and Tobi,
Sailing Cat MaRe

Yesterday, I needed to write emails and search for marinas in Japan, which are affordable.

Tobi, wanted to go spearfishing, so I brought him ashore at about 1400. He typically returns after 3 hours and we agreed he will contact me via Signal, when he is back. He can use an open wifi net ashore.

Although my OBM back home in Tokyo is searching for marinas already, I got additional information from sailors’ sources.

From Alan & Cindy I learned about the Suma Yacht Club in Suma-Ku of Kobe-Shi. “Shi” means “city” and “ku” means “district”. Quite away from Tokyo but maybe a good marina for keeping MaRe for a while.

I decided to draft a Japanese email to the “kaicho” of the club. (Kaichos of a yacht club are often called “commodore” in English). I send my draft to my OBM to check and correct my Japanese.

Then, at around 1800, the wind started to increase. “Nice!’, I thought, because batteries get charged by my SuperWind 350 turbine.

Just when the mail to my OBM was out, it really started blowing and raining. Wind speeds of 26-27 KN, so solid 6 Bft, were displayed. The rain became torrential. Tobi was not yet back.

I started the PRT engine to charge the service batteries. They were pretty depleted because all day long all kind of nimbus clouds covered the sky and solar charging was not possible. For charging only with my wind turbine, the wind was not strong enough for most of the day. A wind turbine can’t deliver more energy than the wind delivers.

The charging gave me enough power to keep Starlink running to have Signal permanently open for a message from Tobi.

During the startup of Starlink, which I almost always follow up using the Starlink app, I suddenly got an interesting message. It was mentioned that due to extrem weather conditions, the connection might not be good. The app seems to send pinging signals to satellites and measures the run time. That’s a way to detect rain cause signal losses. It also took a long time until I got the internet connection.

Then I got connected to Tobi. He was at pick-up point, but with the wind and rain situation we were in, it was impossible to pick him up immediately.

Finally, when wind and rain were sufficiently down, I took my heavy rain wear jacket and my strong flash light and went ashore. I saw the lights of the houses along the shore line, but which one is the one of Smith’s house, the one Tobi was waiting at? I followed the shore line and could recognize Smith’s boat in the beam of my flashlight. Next I saw Tobi. Soaked wet from the rain.

We went back and he quickly made a hot oxtail soup and a pasta sauce using canned tomato, and especially he felt warm again.

As he stayed up a bit longer he also harvested 100 l of rainwater. Prefect!

The day before yesterday, after having done quite some work, I proposed to take the tender and go to the lodge at the river. Tobi found an information on the lodge at noforeignland.

We decided to ask also Alan & Cindy is SV Amaris. They joined and with 2 tenders we took off.

When we came around the corner where a kind of very small boat marina is supposed to be, I saw a line shaped pattern of little waves across the water. It indicated to me there is an edge of a reef. Stop!.

The water is murky from the sediments the river carries and we could not see what it really is.

Cross checking with the downloaded map in foreign land we saw there’s a possible passage a bit to the left.

With the GPS position on the satellite map, we tried the possibility we saw. It looked good. When we reached the corner of the big sand bank or reef or most likely a combination of both at our left we took an almost 90 deg turn and kept driving slowly and always ready to lift the outboard engine immediately.
Another sharp turn, now to the right, and we reached the river. In the middle the current was strong thus the chance for a sand bank is low.

We had to pass under a bridge. The under passage was not high, but I saw we can make it by getting our heads down. I decided to take the side with the stronger current. Then both boats where on the upstream side of the bridge. Again we drove against the current we could see. At a small islet the current appeared to be split. Which side is the strongest current? When we came closer I had to make the decision. The current was strong, no sand bank.

A bit ahead we saw a building around the next corner. The noforeignland map showed a deeper river bed until the building, which was the lodge.

We docked our tenders at the floating platform, an extention of the restaurant floor.

The restaurant was simply and nicely ducked under the big trees. Mostly mangroves. The staff, 3 ladies were very friendly welcoming us.

It was our lucky day. On Sundays all pizzas for USD 10.- only. Pizzas, I don’t recall when I had the last one. We all ordered pizza. For drinks the selection was great, beer, coke, sprite, or fanta. A great selection. I went for the full American trash food, a pizza and a coke. The others chose sprite. What’s more trash, coke or sprite?

The pizzas turned out nice. They were not deep frozen supermarket pizza but the dough was really hand made.

So we had a good meal and even better talks.

I told my friends, already when we arrived at the restaurant, that I have to back at MaRe by 1900 because of my weekly call appointment with my daughter. So we took off on time. Also from the remaining daylight we needed to go back.

On the river, I still could see the current, which we followed with our tenders. After the bridge, GPS and the noforeignland maps helped again to navigate into the deep water of the bay.

Throttle open and we made it back to MaRe just in time. While I got out of the tender, Alan & Cindy passed and waved good night.

I started the regular call with my daughter after having reconnected all service batteries, which I had opened for a test for half a day.

I had a great “kopje koffie”, that’s how we call our regular daughter-father-calls.