Category Archives: Daily Lime

Sunsets, Sunrises, and Beaches of Rongelap

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Rongelap provided us with some of the most spectacular sunsets and sunrises.   The colors were always stunning regardless of what side of the atoll we were anchored at.  I wanted to share some of the beauty we experienced during our visit to Rongelap.

We visited in January when the sun set around 7p-730p and rose around 645a-715a.

Tufa island is located in the southern end of the atoll.  The sun rose in front of the boat and set behind her.

I can’t decide if I like the golden hues, the red, the purples, or the blues better.  We always tried to watch the sun set but we did not always get the sun rises.

Beaches of Rongelap

My favorite spot to cool off is tucked into a corner of Tuff Island.  Soft sand, cool water and beautiful scenery.

The color of the beaches ranged between white to pink.  All of the beaches had beautiful crystal-clear turquoise waters lapping at the shoreline.

Some of the sand was soft and mushy while other parts had hard packed sand.  It was a king tide when we visited so the water covered the beach each night and left pristine sand.  We almost did not want to walk on it.

Some beaches had hard coral while others had small pieces of broken coral.  Coral and rocks always cover the windward side of each island.  

All of it adding to the pure beauty of the beautiful Rongelap atoll.

Our blog posts run 6-8 weeks behind actual events.  We visited Rongelap in January 2025. Did you read about the rare Japanese glass floats that we found in the Marshalls?

The Amazing Critters of Rongelap

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Rongelap has a large lagoon of about 1,000 square miles and over 61 islands around the atoll.  Since it is uninhabited it makes for a great animal habitat both on shore and in the lagoon.

Giant Clams

Several other cruisers talked about finding giant clams.  However, since we have not been in the water much we had not seen any — until we got to Rongelap.

Many locals harvest small clams to sell to aquarium providers in the States (Likiep and Ailuk). The clams are a mere 3″ long by the time they are sold.

The giant clams we encounter in Rongelap are close to 4′ long!  At Tufa Island in the southern end of Rongelap, we find these giant clams in 10-40′ of water.

The largest clam we found was about 4′ long and the the others were between 1-2.5′.  Super cool and very beautiful.  Matt was able to free dive down to the larger clams which were in 30′-40′ of water and I checked out the smaller clams (1′-2’5″) in 10-12′ of water.

Matt said the clam expelled a lot of water and tried to close when he approached the large clam. Lucky for Matt he did not put his hand inside.  In our video (which you can see on sv Sugar Shack Instagram’s page from 1.22.25) you can clearly see the clam breathing and closing.  Pretty darn cool.

We ended up finding two really large clams and maybe 4-5 smaller ones (1′-3′)

Nurse Shark

We found the perfect place to leave the dinghy during our stay at Tufa island.  One morning, we spotted a rather large nurse shark hanging out.

We drove the dinghy right behind him and anchored. I got out, walked by the shark, and took some photos.  The shark did not budge during all of this activity.  He was a good 5′ long and just enjoyed the shallow waters.

Bird Sanctuary

Birds are thriving with no humans living in 99% of the Rongelap atoll.  Very similar to Rongerik, we find dozens of bird species, nests and babies all over the northern islands. 

We encountered the strangest nest we have ever seen.  Maybe you have seen or read something about this?  We saw about a dozen birds sitting in a circle on top of broken coral and rocks – strange.  We did not approach, but as we kept walking near the waters edge the birds flew away.  To our surprise, they were each sitting on either eggs or newborn baby birds, in a circle!

There are 7 speckled eggs and 3 baby birds in the photo below – can you find them all?

The boobie babies are covered in white fuzz. They are so cute and I’d love to see if they are as soft as they look!

The white terns lay their eggs on the branches (with no nest see bottom right photo) and their babies grow on the same branch (top right photo).

Portuguese Man-O-Wars

Not so pleasant are the Portuguese man-o-wars that line the shoreline.  Not sure why but they are everywhere.  Matt makes a game out of popping them, but I just try to avoid the poisonous buggers.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events.  I wrote this blog post during the first part of January 2025.  Check out our last blog post with more of Rongelap’s beauty.

Rongelap

There is Beauty in Rongelap

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Rongelap is a truly a beautiful atoll with its crystal clear waters in a wide range of blue hues, towering palm trees, and white and pink sandy beaches.   We explore 16 islands in the Rongelap atoll and found them all to be stunning.

The waters are the most crazy clear shades of blue and the shores have pink sand and towering palm trees that sway in the breeze.  Eniaetok Island is located on the eastern side (in the middle) of the atoll.  We had excellent holding during the 30+ knots of wind.

Tufa Island is located in the very southern end of Rongelap.  It is “U” shape anchorage and is pretty protected from most winds.  We anchored in 3m of water and put out a stern anchor to keep us from moving over some shallow bommies.

The blue and green hues never cease to take my breath away!

Drone shot taken at sunrise.

Super Cool Finds

We find some giant clams snorkeling in the lagoon by the boat. Most of these are in 10-40′ of water.  The largest we found was about 4′ long and the the others were between 1-2.5′.  Super cool and very beautiful.

We find our first nurse shark.  We drove the dinghy right up to him, anchored the dinghy, I got out, walked by him, took my photos, and he did not budge.  He was a good 5′ long and just enjoyed the shallow waters.

Bird Sanctuary

Birds are thriving and breeding in Rongelap.  There are dozens of bird species, nests, and babies all over the northern islands. 

We encountered something that we have never seen before.   A dozen birds sat in a circle on top of broken coral and rocks.  We passed as far away from them as possible.  However, our movement caused them all to fly away. To our surprise, they were each sitting on either eggs or newborn baby birds!

There are 7 speckled eggs and 3 baby birds in the photo below – can you find them all?

The boobies make nests on the ground and their babies are covered in white fuzz. They are so cute and I’d love to see if they are as soft as they look!

The white terns do not make nests.  They simply lay their eggs on the branches. The babies grow up on the same branch (top right photo).

Just for Fun

What do you do when you’ve been walking uninhabited islands for months?  Silly things, like dressing up this rusted cylinder on the beach.

Matt found a piece of plastic and decided to carve and hang it.

Portuguese Man-O-Wars

We found lots of Portuguese man-o-wars (poisonous) along the shoreline.  They cannot live on land and are dead. Matt made a game out of popping them.  But I just avoided the poisonous buggers.

We had the most beautiful sunrises while staying at Eniaetok Island in Rongelap.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events. 

We were in Rongelap during the first part of January 2025. 

Did you catch our last blog on the Ghost Town of Rongelap?