We finally get away from the main anchorage of Majuro and head 6 miles away to the beautiful motu of Eneko (also known as Enigtu).  It is a short one hour motor before we pick up one of the Mieco Beach Yacht Club moorings.  Since we are members, yes, we joined the local yacht club, we get to stay on the moorings for free.

To give you an idea of the difference between the “town of Majuro” and the more elegant motus check out these photos.  Majuro is densely populated with almost every square inch covered in buildings, houses, trash, and facilities (shown in lower left image with white covering the island.  Then you come to the motus where there might be one or two houses (and they are mostly solid green).

The actual photos don’t do it justice, but I think you get the general idea…

Eneko

Eneko is owned by the Reimer family which own several business and a lot of land in the main island of Majuro.  They also own the Robert Reimers Enterprises Hotel (one of two hotels on the island).   The hotel offers its guests “get aways” for a small fee of $30USD return shuttle or a day out.  It is far more beautiful than Majruo.

This little motu is said to have one of the most beautiful beaches in atoll.  Since we can’t go ashore to most of the other motus It is hard to say if we agree with this statement. However, we are the only boat here and enjoy plenty of sunsets to ourselves.

There is a pretty shallow shoal close to the shore so they have rigged the funniest mode of transport.  About 100 yards from shore is a huge mooring.  On this mooring is an upside, small catamaran that they have deemed suitable transport to shore.  When boats come in they tie tup to the catamaran and pull the line attached to shore.  Their guests can transfer to the catamaran or they can use the catamaran to guide their boat to shore.

Exploring the Other Motus

We take the dinghy out to go for a ride and check out the other atolls.  Usually, we are able to go ashore and walk around (in other countries), but here in RMI they don’t allow that since they are all privately owned.

The water is so very beautiful as it shimmers a turquoise blue so clear you can see the tiny feeder fish on the bommies.

There are just some of the motus we found we houses on them.  Some have cement retaining walls, some are hidden amongst the trees and vegetation, and some are screaming for a Texas BBQ party.

This place just puts a smile to my face and literally makes my soul sing!

Getting to Work

We actually came out for a little work.  We had not had a chance to clean our water line or the bottom of the boat since we left Vanuatu (about 6 weeks ago).  There was muck growing and it needed to be gone like yesterday.  However, Matt could not get in the water because he decided he needed to tear off the toenail on his little toe.  It then got infected so he is on antibiotics and has to stay out of the water until it is healed.

So, it is up to me to do the cleaning, ugh!  Normally we do this together.  I clean the water line, the SSB plates, the refrigeration plates, the rudders, and the bulk of the hulls as far down as I can reach while holding my breath.  He then uses the hooka (type of diving apparatus) to clean the belly of the boat.  I really don’t like using the hooka because it is very hard to breathe.  So, I do everything else over the course of two days and over 5 hours.  It was exhausting.  

We had some soft growth (the green beard), some brown muck on the waterline, some small barnacles and a few wormy things.  Known the less, they all had to go. 

The next day I went snorkeling.  I came back to the boat I noticed soft growth had already started to stick to my clean hulls.  The nerve!

Snorkeling

We were told there is a sunken ship behind our mooring, but it’s 20-30 meters of water.  Since we are not diving, we will have to check it out the next time we come back to Eneko!  What did I see? Schools of fish, a school of squid, a dog face puffer, lots of queen angel fish and some worm fans.

We really enjoyed our time in Eneko and did not want to leave.  But I had to go back to Majuro to attend an appointment at the U.S. Embassy to renew my passport.  So, we say goodbye to Eneko for now…we will return.

Out blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  We spent our time in Eneko during the first few weeks of October 20024.  Read about Majuro, the “big city” of the Marshall Islands.