Maloelap is known for its WWII artifacts but there is so much more to this beautiful atoll. We discover several stunning motus including Enibin, Airik, and Bwokwankin.
Enibin Island
We planned to stay on Taroa (the main island of Maloelap) longer than one day, but we had these weird westerly winds that forced us to leave. We motor sailed across the lagoon (about 14nm) to the western most motu called Enibin. There is no real “anchorage” and nobody living here. Looks like a good spot to hang out for a day or two until the weather shifts.
We enjoy a beautiful and leisurely walk around the island which took us about an hour (2nm). This was one of the rare opportunities where we could walk barefoot and or just in flip flops. Usually we need true “shoes” to traverse over the coral and rocks.
The weather shifted south so we decided to head to the southern motu of Airik.
Airik Island
Airik island is located in the far south end of the Maloelap Atoll. It has a few WWII artifacts as well (but not nearly as much as Taroa). We anchored off the reef between Airik Island and Makar island.
The image below shows Makar island and part of the reef that we are anchored in front of. Makar is “uninhabited” but it does have one small “hut/house” which we believe is more of a weekend getaway than a residence.
Airik has about 20 families living on the lagoon side. Supposedly there is a small clinic and a school here but we did not adventure inland. It was strange because nobody came out of their homes to greet us so we couldn’t ask permission to walk around the village. As we walked the 2 mile beach, one person was cleaning the stretch between his house and the beach and said hello to us. Totally different vibe than the previous Pacific island countries we have visited.
None the less, Airik is beautiful with a long beach dotted with beautiful palm trees. We did come across this huge piece of metal (see Matt below). We think it is part of the shipwreck “Danver”.
The Danver Shipwreck
The “Danver” shipwreck is a large iron hulled sailing vessel that is scattered across 30 square miles. It is 29.5 meters long, with a 5.8 meter beam and sits “upright” in a max depth of 5.1m in the stern.
You can see part of its iron mast below. Evidently the iron windlass, rudder, and anchor chain (still in the anchor locker) are still visible as well. However, we went to investigate at “low to mid-tide” and could not get close enough to the wreck to see it (too shallow).
The shipwreck has an unknown origin. Some think it is a Spanish merchant ship circa WWII that the Japanese scuttled. There is not much damage to the ship which leads historians to believe it was scuttled rather than sunk. The chunks or piles of metal in the bottom photos are the remnants of the Danver Shipwreck.
Behind the Danver is another ship that is 32 meters long, sits upright, and is in 21 meters of water. This ship can only be seen by diving (which we did not do). Supposedly, this ship still has an anti-aircraft gun mounted on the bow and intact portholes with glass in them. Would be cool to see.
There is also a Zero airplane (Mitsubishi A6M3 model 22A or zero) with one engine and bullet holes in the propeller somewhere out on the reef as well. We did not find it.
We had a beautiful rainbow sunset on our last night. It is so rare that we get to see the entire rainbow – such a special treat!
Bwokwankin Island
For such a funny name this is such a stunning motu. There are 19 “adult” palm trees, dozens of teenager palms, and dozens of infant palms. So, we call this palm tree island as it is easier to say than Bwokwankin. This island is located on the east side of Maloelap.
During low tide, you can actually walk the entire sandbar as it stretches from Egeriben Island to Eien island. A long narrow stretch of beach! The total walk being close to 4 miles each way!
We took “Sweetie” ashore and walked each direction over several days. Super pretty with a slight breeze. It was covered in rocks, coral, and pebbles – not the soft sand we had hoped for, but still beautiful. I found a skeleton of a puffer fish and of course I cropped out all of the trash that lands on the windward side. Lots of floats, shoes, and plastic bottles unfortunately (bottom left photo).
Walking in the other direction we circumnavigated two islands. The lagoon side had a wee bit of shade, sandy, but no breeze. The windward side had a nice breeze but you had to traverse over lots of rock, coral, and reef. Always a trade off.
Lots of birds on this island and several crabs wanted to take us on but we refrained from starting a fight with them.
We really enjoyed our solitude in these three islands within Maloelap Atoll and are so grateful we had the weather to visit each of them. But it was time to head back to the main island of Taroa to do our WWII remnant tour.
Taroa part II
We return to Taroa because we scheduled a tour of the WWII remnants on the island. There are lots of pigs running around (along with cats, dogs, and chickens). We enjoy some refreshing coconut milk and they tell us about their copra farming.
We mentioned earlier that the local policeman asked Matt to fix his outboard which he did. Then people started coming out of the woodwork asking Matt to fix their generators. At one point we had 2 on the boat and another 2 on shore waiting for him to repair. Lucky for us he was 5 for 5 in the repairs. We were rewarded with fresh caught lobster.
Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. We were in Maloelap during the the end of October 2024. We discover tons of WWII remnants that we shared in two different blog posts. Here is Part I and here is Part II.