A very enduring and well built path up the spine of the rock island
Just got back from Palau where I spent 4 days getting ready to haulout. Measured all the thru hulls, got an apartment to stay in, bought a share in an old cool diesel van, and lined up some helpers. Soon we will have the boat out on the hard – meaning on the ground with some construction jackstands holding the boat upright. Hmm. Im gonna make a model of that to make sure I understand how it will work. While there I cut out the sawhorses which took an amazing amount of wood. 4 18′ 2×4 s for just 5 saw horses. Since we need 7 more I have more cutting to do when I get back down to Palau next week. We’ll also be removing the mast on this trip and building a new mast base and repainting it. Replacing all the seacocks and thruhulls as well.
Of course a trip that is all work is no fun so I took two mornings to go exploring in the dinghy. First I took an hour jaunt south to Ngeruktabel where I tried to find the “milky way”. A bay with ultra fine sand or marl that people have fun splashing around in. Instead I found the kayak zone which is a mile long shallow mangrove kayak run, which is really nice and the tide was just high enough for the dinghy to transit with the motor tilted up. On my way in I was able to surf some waves in the dingy, and on the way back I had to be careful transiting the surf zone as the dingy was almost getting airborne and with an onshore wind it was at risk of flipping over. Lesson learned. dont let the dinghy get airborne into the wind! Unfortunately I forgot my camera that day, but I did bring the handheld VHF, ELT and cell phone as it was a long journey with part of it in the open ocean. It turned out many tour operators were passing me anyway, so it wasnt as remote as I expected. Theres also a beach there from the survivor show which has nice picnic tables and a bathroom.
A few days later I went to German Lighthouse, which is on the same island. An awesome trail leads up the rock island jungle to an old German lighthouse about 100 years old that has been turned into a cell phone tower. Along the way you see crabs, snakes, cool birds and tons of WWII Japanese guns, shells and old structures. The trail starts in a remote pristine bay and at the top you can climb the old lighthouse/cell tower. Its really cool. Check out the pictures.
-
- Ready to install the new Marelon thtu hulls
-
- Lots of sandpaper, sanders, respirators, sanding suits, 5200, epoxy, etc.
-
- …so we dont mix them up after haulout.
-
- As we cleaned the bottom, tons of fish came to feast on the shedded oysters. My friend Meno said a poisonous sea snake even showed up while I was hiking the Lighthouse.
-
- My 15hp 2 stroke pushes almost 20 kts. I love our dinghy!
-
- This is the island south of where Mowe is moored. About 1/2 hour dinghy ride away.
-
- Dinghy secured to an overhanging tree. Havent seen any crocs yet, but we stay very aware near mangroves!
-
- EOD has disarmed all the shells that are easily in view.
-
- Cool wildlife on the path including lots of crabs and snakes.
-
- This ladder up the lighthouse is still in reasonable shape after 100+ years.
-
- Now houses lead batteries for the solar power to the cell tower
-
- Now a cell tower
-
- Looking Southwest
-
- This gun facing east to guard the channel into the port
-
- These guns are about 20′ long and very impressive
-
- A very enduring and well built path through up the spine of the rock island
