Tag Archives: ferry

Enemonit & its Sunken Treasures

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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.

Big Travel Day

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We have a big travel day today and have to get up at the ungodly hour of 0430.  We leave Christchurch before 0500 barely awake.  Not too excited to be driving in the pitch black with low flying clouds and fog all around.  It makes for slow going. 

The drive is about 4.5 hours on a two lane windy road along the coast and up and over the mountains.  The beautiful moon is still out but the moving car makes it difficult to get a good clear shot of her.  I guess if you have to travel so early it is a blessing to be rewarded with the moon and sun rise.

Two hours into our journey the sun starts to come up.  What a beautiful site to see after traveling in the darkness.

I have yet to post photos of us in the car – probably because it is not too exciting, but here we are.

Lucky for us, we arrive with 20 minutes to spare.  We had to be at the ferry dock before 1000 which is the last time vehicles can check in and we arrived at 0940.

Picton Ferry Dock

We get in the que (NZders love their ques), get our pass and pull into the loading lines.  By 1000 we were slowly moving to our ship to board.  Somehow they load all the trailers, trains, campervans, cars, motorcycles, and passengers early.  Our boat the Aratere leaves 10 minutes early.

We are very lucky that our ship left today.  We had several friends booked on the Kaiarahi and their ferry transports were cancelled.  They each received an email stating their ride was cancelled and nothing else.  Evidently, the ship broke down and is out of service for a week!  We are so blessed!

Wellington

We arrive into Wellington just in time to check in to our hotel West Plaza Wellington.  After we drop off the car we walk down to the city center and hop on the cable car.  

The cable car celebrated 121 years this year.  It is 785 meters long and rises 199m up.  It goes through three tunnels and 4 viaducts.  The two cable cars are powered by a steam engine which powers a winding gear that drives a continuous wire rope / haulage cable.  This operates one line or track which can haul two cars in either direction.

Two of the three tunnels are lit up in a colorful design.  They can even custom design the light show for special occasions.

The 2023 cable car (top left) and the track (top right)

The top photo is the original winding house for the cable car system which operated this line from 1902 to 1978.  The cable car on the lower left is car #1 and the one on the right is cable car #3.  Both original, both restored to their former beauty.

Cool experience and interesting museum to explore.  It was a long travel day to get to Wellington, but worth the drive in the end.

  • Kilometers Traveled: by car: 361km by boat 67km
  • Hotel: West Plaza Hotel Wellington
  • Total travel time:  9 hours
  • Kilometers walked: 5.2km

Events from this blog post occurred in mid-March.  Because we have so many interesting and thrilling things to share with you, we created more blogs.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind live events.  We explore Christchurch and learn about the massive earthquake that destroyed 85% of the city in our last blog post.

Aremiti 2 Ferry

Fun, Ferry Adventure

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Typically, we are not too fond of ferries.  They cause huge wakes and can be a bit noisy disrupting the anchorage.  We’ve been watching a variety of different ferries come and go at an unusually high frequency during the last 5 weeks of confinement.  Then one day, we decided, let’s take the ferry to Tahiti.  We needed to run some errands and see a few friends who were departing in October.  Fun, a ferry adventure to change our opinion of ferries!

There are several companies that run between Tahiti and Mo’orea.  There is Aremiti which has 2 boats, Vodaphone, and Teravau. 

Vodaphone and Terevau ferries

Vodaphone and Terevau ferries

We wanted to go on the largest ferry, the Aremiti 2.

Aremiti 2 Ferry

Aremiti 2 Ferry

The tickets are normally $10 (1000xpf) each way / per person. But since we are considered residents, we got a little discount.  Sweet. 

The Aremiti 2 Ferry

You enter from the stern of the boat where the cars load.  It is massive space with multiple floors!  This enormous aluminum boat takes my breath away. 

Aremiti 2 Stern Entrance

Aremiti 2 Stern Entrance

We walk up 4 flights of stairs to get to the main passenger area.  And boy oh boy were we pleasantly surprised.  The first section is the “café” area where they serve snacks, hot and cold drinks, and sandwiches.  You can sit in comfortable seats while on your passage.  Once you pass through this area you go to the “front” of the boat where they have more seats.  Which by the way, I loved the seats as they slightly reclined and had great lumbar support!  None of this straight up and done like in the states (I mean really, who sits like that?).

Before we enjoyed a cold beverage and a seat, we decided to go upstairs to the viewing outdoor area.  Another expanse of seating.  How many people take this ferry?  Gesh!

The view out the front section was spectacular.  As the ferry runs smoothly across the turbulent waters, you can hardly feel a thing.

The ferry averaged 22-23nm per hour and arrived within 45 minutes of our departure.  This trip would have taken Sugar Shack several hours and would not have been nearly as pleasant.

Arrival in Tahiti

Many of you know we have two inflatable paddle boards that we bought used in Bonaire 5 years ago.  They are ok.  1) they are meant for kids so they are short (like 8’9″) and they only  work/float for about an hour before they deflate.  We have had to patch them numerous times.  In fact, Matt has patched the entire seam around each board at least once!  Needless to say it was time to replace them, especially when you consider the fact that Matt uses the board at least 3-4 times a week.  Matt had been watching the Facebook Marketplace for the area and found a hard board for sale.  On the ferry, we texted an offer and he accepted.  Wowza, we were not expecting that!  So, immediately when we disembarked, we found an ATM and met the seller downtown Papeete.

This is a 4-year-old paddle board and is made by Riviera, and designed by Jerry Lopez.  It stands at 11’3” and is 29” wide.  It is a HUGE board!  The seller met us promptly with the board tied to the top of his truck.  Matt had to carry it from there to our friend’s boat which was about ½ mile.  The bottom left photo is the board coming off the ferry in Mo’orea.  It is at the top extending beyond the front and the back – too funny!

Matt buys an 11' stand up paddle board

Matt buys an 11′ stand up paddle board

Errands and Friends

Matt and I run a few errands.  We go to both ACE mart stores, NautiSport, and Sing Tung Hing.  We end up separating as he continues on to Ocean 2000 and HyperBrico.  I had to go to a store in downtown Papeete and the post office before meeting my friends for lunch.

I meet up with my friend Jen from Slingshot and Wendy from Due South.  We did not take any photos as Wendy is in the middle of chemo treatments and was not feeling it.  But, we had a spectacular time with tasty food and a beautiful view!

It was a crazy busy and productive visit to Tahiti. It was time to head back to the ferry.  On the way back to Mo’orea on the ferry we enjoy seeing Sugar Shack at anchor!

Can you see Sugar Shack in the distance?

Can you see Sugar Shack in the distance?

Here is the route while underway in each direction on the ferry.  We though the ferry, Aremiti 2 hit speeds in the 30’s but we never saw anything above 22-23nm.

Faces of Tahiti

Being in Mo’orea gives us a great view of Tahiti.  We have seen many different faces of Tahiti over the last month.

Disaster strikes time and time again, read the gory details In the last blog.  Events from this blog post occurred the end of September.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.