Enemonit (also known as Anemwanot) motu is a short 5 nautical miles away from the hustle and bustle of the main town of Majuro. It is located on the east side of the Majuro atoll and has 5 moorings provided by the local yacht club, Meico Beach Yacht Club.
This beautiful motu owned by the Kramer family (who also owns the largest construction business in Majuro, PII: Pacific International Inc.) They offer tours and day trips to their beautiful island for $25 per visitor booked in advance.
We happened to pick up the mooring right in front of the community center and main dock. The good thing about this location is that we get a nice breeze and are located right next to the artificial reef in the Enemonit lagoon. The bad news is we get a swell (coming from between the islands), we get all of the boat traffic from the visiting boats, and we get visitors from shore. But we make due as this is such a beautiful spot.
Artificial Reef
I am not sure who decided to make the lagoon in front of Enemonit an artificial reef but we are sure glad they did. Snorkelers and divers can find a DC-3 airplane, (2) Huey Helicopters, a large ferry ,and several mechanical parts strewn around the lagoon. The depths of these artifacts range from 5-60 meters.
These items provide a place for corals, anemones and fish to flourish.
Most of the artifacts are right next to our mooring (as you can tell from the image below). The 2nd Huey is behind our boat about 100-150 meters along the ridge. But you can easily partk your boat in the first mooring and snorkel to all of these sites including (2) Huey Helicopters, (1) DC-3 Airplane, and a large, double decker ferry.
These are shots taken from the boat looking down at both the airplane and the ferry – that is how close we are to them. The bottom photo has our swim ladder in the lower right corner.
The Douglas DC-3 Airplane
The DC-3 transport aircraft is the world’s first successful commercial airliner. It was easily adapted to military use during WWII. The DC-3 first flew in 1935 and was a low wing, twin engine monoplane that could carry between 21-28 passengers or carry 2,724kg (6,000lbs) of cargo.
The sunken DC-3 here in Enemonit was acquired by Sea Star in the early 1980’s (a Marshall Islands company that operated for a few years). The airline went defunct and the DC-3 sat at the airport for many years. It had no engines and was finally scrapped and sunk in the Enemonit lagoon (a short distance away from a Huey Helicopter).
The DC-3 is sunk in about 4-5 meters of water which is really shallow considering its size.
As you can see, Matt can easily free dive down to the plane. I am about 3 meters (12′) deep and he is maybe 6-7 meters. He is pointing out the name “Sea Star” which is partially missing. There are six windows on this plane but most are missing. The tail (top right) is completely missing. Check out our svSugarShack Instagram page for videos.
Huey Helicopter
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois, aka “Huey” is a utility military helicopter. It was the first turbine-powered helicopter in service with the U.S. military. This helicopter had a single turboshaft engine with two blade main and tail rotors.
The Huey helicopter sits in about 12 meters (40′) of water on Enemonit’s sea bed. Visitors can see the Huey from the water’s surface. Locals placed this helicopter here on purpose with a missing tail and propeller.
It provides a place for many corals and fish and sits next to the DC-3 (C-47) and a ferry boat.
Matt was able to swim down to the Huey and took a great video. These photos were from the video (you can see the video on the svSugarShack Instagram page. Pretty eerie to be honest.
There is a second Huey Helicopter with a little bit different design (you can see it only has one side door) and it was a little more intact. However it was much further down so the photos are a bit grainy and blurry. We hope to go back and dive this entire site and maybe we can get better photos.
Ferry Oleanda
The Oleanda Ferry was used as the main source of transportation at the Rongelap atoll (a Northern atoll). The ferry was decommissioned and moved to Majuro. Oleanda was eventually added to the artificial reef at Enemonit. The ship is about 10 meters deep and was located right under our boat! My photos (bottom two) are grainy because I could not get down close enough without my dive gear. However, I was able to snag a photo from Sailing Double Trouble’s YouTube video, top photo.
Future Coral Pieces
We found several pieces of debris around the reef as well. These are very large and could be used as a mooring.
The Reef
There are lots of vibrant bommies with tons of sea life including several beautiful Feather Duster worms. Feather Duster Worms (Corallimorphs) thrive on a specific amount of elevated iron concentration. The high number of WW2 wrecks provide the correct percentage.
There are also loads of little fish all around the bommies and small amounts of grouper swimming around.
So many schools of little fish around each coral bommie.
We were here during a King Tide which brings really big tides, about 2 meters (over 6′). You can see the dock before and after each tide.
Being at the first mooring gave us the best view to watch the beautiful full moon rise over the palm trees.
Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. We visited Enemonit toward the end of October. Don’t miss our adventures at Eneko which we shared in our last blog post.