Monthly Archives: January 2025

Likiep’s Unique History

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The Likiep Atoll is the one and only atoll in the Marshall Islands that was owned by Europeans.  Its rich history dates back to 1876 when two enterprising European traders purchased the atoll by trading goods valued at $1,250.  They formed a business partnership called Capelle and deBrum with the intent of developing a copra plantation.

Likiep’s Unique History

Adolph Capelle (German) and Jose deBrum (Portuguese) were very successful for many years with its peak in 1910 producing 283,000 kilos of copra.  Through several generations, the Capelles and deBrums dominated the culture and community of the island of Likiep, running them as a company community.

The islands seem to have prospered during the peak years of copra production. Slowly the demand for copra declined. Today the RMI government subsidies are the only thing holding up the copra industry by artificially inflating the value of the product.

Likiep was a relatively popular stop for passing sea captains dating back to the Spanish explorers in the 1500’s.  Capelle and de Brum took extra efforts to make travelers, merchants, and explores feel at home on Likiep and thereby helped give a comparatively cosmopolitan feel to the remote area.

Immediately after our arrival we sense that this is a truly exceptional atoll.  As we round the southern end of the Likiep island we spy a rather large home surrounded by a white railing on a wrap around veranda!  Seriously, in Micronesia? See below for more information on this plantation house.

We then pull into the anchorage we see a beautiful yellow church, a sturdy new looking dock, and (3) brand new, long boats.  Seems like a pretty wealthy atoll comparatively.

Holy Rosary Catholic Church

This beautiful and bright yellow church was built in early 1900’s.  It has 14 stain glass windows that let the sun shine through illuminating  the floors with vibrant colors.  They have priest quarters with a sign dating 1902-2017 right next door.  Services are held Sundays at 10am.  There is also a Protestant church toward the center of town.  I attended service and did not understand a single word, but enjoyed the singing and community.

The de Brum House

Built in 1888 by Joachim de Brum, the de Brum house timber frame consisted of three large rooms. In addition, a 3 meter-wide verandah surrounded the house on all sides. The de Brum family lived in the house until 1947. The property was converted into a museum and then shut down because it was falling apart.  Today only the pillars remain standing.

However, Joachim’s great, great grandson built a beautiful plantation home at the southern end of the island for his bride to be (with the hopes of her wanting to visit more frequently).  This is the one and only plantation home that still exists in the Marshall Islands.  This is the photo shown above with the white railing around the wrap around veranda.

Antiques, Furniture, and Volumes of Books

The de Brum house held fine furniture imported from Southeast Asia.  Since the museum shut down, the remaining furniture has been stored in the last remaining direct relative’s home.  Bobo (grandmother) is 91 years young and she allowed us to take a peak at some of it.

Top left is a photo of the table and chairs in the museum and the other two photos are the chairs today.

The room divider captured my attention with its detailed and intricate carvings of dragons.

The Joachim de Brum house was known for its vast library with over 1,000 books covering a wide variety of topics from science to literature. In the lower left photo you can see the reflection of the bookcase and some books.  The other 3 photos were taken by me at Bobo’s house.  There are books dating back to 1823!  Treasure Island, The Pioneers 1823, The Hoop 1927, The Man Who Almost Lost 1935, The Country Beyond 1922, Mr. Crewe’s Career by Winston Churchill 1913!  These are just the ones I could zoom in on in my photo (as I could not get close enough to touch them).

The top left photo shows an old camera along with slides.  The bottom photo is that same camera that I saw sitting in storage.  

The “camera” is actually a “postcard machine” and we even found some old “postcards” or slides that still looked beautiful.  We also found a bell from 1832 and some beautiful vintage Villeroy & Roche plateware.

Lanterns and pottery just sitting there.  Makes you so sad to think of these just wasting away.

Beautiful plate ware and glass ware wrapped up and unused.  Bobo did manage to keep Joachim’s walking stick.  She used to use to when she could get up and around.

The de Brum Family

Bobo in the middle.  She is a beautiful, vibrant 91 year old woman. I sure wish I spoke Marshallese so I could hear her stories.  Junior is the man in the far right and was such an incredibly host.  He was super welcoming and kind to us during our stay.

The locals make two kinds of drinks from the palm tree.  One is a sweet treat that is similar to honey.  You add it to water and drink it as a special treat.  The other is fermented and consumed like alcohol.

The names de Brum and Capelle are still dominant in Likiep as well as spread throughout the Marshall Islands. 

Many other historically significant properties remain on Likiep. This particular atoll was spared the devastating bombardments suffered by other atolls during the Second World War. They include houses, many of which were built by Joachim de Brum, historically significant material attributed to the Spanish and Japanese, coral paths and Coconut Plantations.

This is truly a distinct community with a unique culture and beauty all around.

Likiep Plantation Hotel & 1905 Gravesite

Right off the lagoon is the old Likiep Plantation Hotel which closed about 2014.  Now a family occupies the facility and it is closed to the public.

We were surprised to find the gravesite of German entrepreneur Adolph Capelle near the center of town in a super small grave yard.  There were only 5 other headstones here and they no longer had etchings or writing on them.

Clam Farming

Clam farming is rather large and important here in Likiep.  The 42 women living on the island are in charge of growing and selling the clams.  When we arrived they had just started a new round of baby clams (smaller than 1/4″).  It will take up to a year to grow them to 3″-5″ which is when they will be ready to ship and sell to Majuro clam farms.

There are several locals in Likiep that have been trained on how to raise clams (they study in Majuro for several days).  The clam farmers breed the clams and grow them in either the above cement pools.  The blue and green are the most valuable and can sell for $12 each.

The farmers have to be very careful when removing the clams from the bottom of the pool.  Many died, as you can see from the empty clam shells in the photos below. Which is super unfortunate for everyone around.  Matt is with Henckly one of the clam farmers. 

The claims are moved to the ocean box once they are about 3/4 – 1″ long.  The clams have to be large enough to adhere to the bottom without being swept away in the current. The 2 large clam shells (middle right photo) are about 3′ long!

Tallest Point in Marshall Islands

Likiep also holds another great honor in the Marshall Islands.  The tallest point in the entire country is on Likiep island.  On top of a sandhill is the highest point in RMI at a whopping 10 meters (33′).  We had our new friend Junior take us there in a truck as we could not find the location.  Evidently there was a tsunami that created a crater in the ground and the “peak” many many years ago.

There is another interesting story…during WWII there were many scouts in RMI.  Evidently, Japan bombed a ship leaving 2 crew alive.  One survived, built a bunker under ground and lived there for many months as a “scout.”  His grandson who is now a priest came from Australia to find this bunker.  None of the locals knew about it and could not help him.  But he had the coordinates and low and behold it was below at the tallest peak.  They dug and dug and found a cement foundation where the bunker used to exist.

Unique to Likiep

Likiep surprised us so many times!  Here is a list of the unique findings in Likiep:

  1. The only atoll owned by Europeans with a distinct European history and culture.
  2. Contains the highest point in all of the Marshall islands – a sand spit 10m tall.
  3. Copra Payments:  Likiep has a Copra warehouse where the locals deliver their dried copra and get paid immediately. Unlike other atolls where the locals have to wait months for the supply ship to come.  They sell it directly to the ship.
  4. Clam Farming:  They produce between 800-1200 clams every year
  5. Home to the oldest plantation house in RMI; de Brum’s home

For more information, visit:

Sugar Shack as she rounds the southern end of Likiep atoll.  Most of the islands are located on the eastern side of the atoll.  This is great for tradewinds, but bad for westerlies and even northerlies so it is a good thing it is rare to get wind from those directions.

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred over 3 weeks in December.  Did you read about the unique and super authentic canoes from Ailuk?  Super cool.

Ailuk’s Unique and Authentic Canoes

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Ailuk, also known as the “Island of Sails,” is famous for its daily use of traditional canoes.  Usually, you will see long boats powered by outboards.  You won’t see many, but most locals will use these long boats to get around rather than the “old or original” canoes.  Which is such a shame as the canoes are simply delightful to watch as they zoom around the lagoon.

Ailuk is an atoll with most of its 57 motus on the eastern side of the atoll.  Which is highly unusual and will make for a challenging stay if the easterly tradewinds shift to westerlies.  

The total land mass of Ailuk is only 5.4 square kilometers (2.1sq. miles) but its lagoon area is almost 178 square kilometers (68.51 sq. miles).  The population of 250 people is spread across 10 main motus but the majority of them live on the Ailuk island.

Conservation

Ailuk has decided to conserve two areas covering 209 marine acres and protecting the green turtle, hawksbill turtle, black tip/white tip/gray sharks, hump head wrasse and parrot fish.  In exchange for maintaining a “no-take” conservation in these areas for 10 years, the Seacology.org foundation is providing funding to complete the airport, guests lodging, and a solar system to power them.

Islet Walking

We enjoy lots of “island walks” around the motus or islets.  We explore Chiebeiku, Uriga, Anenkora, Kapen, Enijabro, Enejelae, Bigen, and (4) unnamed spits of land.  Usually, when are walking around we are scouting for sea treasures (sea shells) but you can’t help but look through all of the junk that washes up on the windward side of the island.

These are our tracks around 3 of the 9 islands we circumnavigated in the north area of Ailuk.

It is always best to walk around during low tide so you have more “land” to walk on and you are able to cross between islands.  Sometimes the little channel is really shallow and has little to no current.  Some times the channel is wide and deep and totally impassable on foot.

The islands surrounding the atoll can be lovely with sandy patches, palm trees, and shallow reefs. 

The terrain varies from sand, to rocks, to broken coral, pebbles, and dirt.

Where napping and tree climbing are islands past times.

But then you have the unfortunate truth that smacks you in the face…all of the trash.

The Unfortunate Truth

Like all islands, in all countries, the windward (ocean) side of the islands are covered in trash. This is not trash from the locals of RMI.  This is trash from passing fishing boats and cargo ships.  What do we find???

We see lots of flip flips (like lots), rope, fishing floats of all shapes and sizes, plastic bottles, lighters, parts of chilly bins (refrigerators), freon tanks, toothbrushes, laundry baskets, buckets, hard hats, fishing boots, gloves, and more.

Some of the fishing floats, if still usable have been recycled by the locals.  Some use it as decorations (bottom left photo), some cut them half and use them as planters, and some reuse them for fishing.  But there are still hundreds all over the islands.

FADS: Fish Aggregating Devices are all over the islands.  These are made from bamboo or PVC pipes tied together forming a raft which bobs in the water using floats and is covered in fishing net.  These FADs have a beacon tied to them so the fisherman can locate them.  Small fish hide under the FADs which attracts larger fish which are then hunted by the fisherman.  So, pieces of the FADs can be found across the reef and beaches (rope, nets, beacons, bamboo, and floats).

We find lots and lots of rope or line.  Sometimes the locals can reuse the line but often it is more trouble to detangle it than its worth.

We stumble across several shipwrecks. These were either abandoned (drug boats) or crashed on the reef.  One particular boat still had its outboards on it — including beautiful stainless steel props.

But there are also loads of treasures including sea shells, drift wood, and occasionally, rarely, Japanese glass fish floats.

Who Lives on these Islands?

All of the locals live on the island of Ailuk which is in the southern end of the atoll.  However, many own property on other islands.  In the northern islands of the atoll, we found a dozen copra houses or compounds and a church.  The houses can be made of brick or wood and with metal container sheets for a roof.

We did meet two locals who were processing copra in the north island of Kapan.  They were so lovely that we donated our old spinnaker, a large tarp, and some fishing gear.  They were so happy as they can make 3 sails for their canoes with the spinnaker material and use the tarp as shade for their copra.

Ailuk atoll and all of its many fringing islands.  We walked 16-18 of the 57 islands.  Some were so small that we are not sure if they are considered islands or islets.

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  We visit the beautiful Ailuk atoll in late November 2024.  Did you read about our motu walks on the Wotje Atoll, check out our last blog post.

The Motus of Wotje

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Wotje is our second atoll that we have visited in the Marshall Islands.  We spent a large part of our time at the Wotje motu discovering their WWII remnants.  However, we also spent a lot of time exploring their beautiful motus.

A motu is a small, low-lying island or islet. It’s often used to describe islands made of coral and sand in tropical regions, especially in the Pacific Ocean.  

We start our explorations with the neighboring motus. There are 4 that we circumnavigate over several hours.  We have to work with the tides as it can be challenging to cross between motus.  So, we leave an hour before low tide which gives us about 3-3.5 hours of exploring.  Perfect for these 4 little spits of lands.

Normally Matt and I prefer to walk in flip flops, but with the terrain on the motus we have to resort to wearing shoes.  About 1/4 of the islet will be sand with small pebbles.  But at least 1/2 of the motu is made of sharp coral and reef which is difficult to traverse in anything but shoes.

The water is so clear it does not even look like it is there.  In the top photo, there is water from me all the way to the dinghy.  The 2nd left photo is one of our crossings between motus.  The water is about knee high with a current coming from the ocean to the lagoon.

We meet some new friends including a grasshopper, lizard and lots of crabs.

The Unfortunate Truth

We come across this recently beached boat from Ecuador.  Highly suspicious and probably a drug boat.  It is over 6,000 nautical miles from home.  Parts of fiberglass were strewn all over the beach.  Drugs are rampant in the Marshall Islands and some drug runners use this as a transition spot into Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii.

I would be remiss if I did not show all aspects of motu walking.  Unfortunately, across every country, every island has trash.  The windward side being a collective area for everything plastic including tons of flip flops.  Marshall Islands are no exception.  

One thing we have never seen before in any of the countries we’ve been to over the last 8 years is a half melted mannequin. Of course Matt could not just leave her on the rocks…he had to position her sitting up.

We also take the opportunity to burn some of our trash.  We have been away from civilization for about a month now with nowhere to dispose of our trash.  So we take our paper and cardboard trash and burn it in an old FAD beacon.  We leave no mark on the beach.

In the end, we walked about 15 motus within the Wotje atoll.  Not very many considering there are over 75 motus around the perimeter of Wotje.

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred around mid-November 2024.   In our previous two blog posts we showcase all of the WWII remnants we found on Wotje including more anti-aircraft guns, coastal guns, bunkers, and several sunken planes and ships.  Part I and Part II.