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Sailing Between the Marshall Islands Atolls

Exploring the outer atolls of the Marshall Islands requires a bit of patience, a strong will, and a keen eye on the weather.  There are two parallel island chains:  The Ratak, or Sunrise island chain lies to the east and the Ralik, or Sunset island chain lies to the west. The chains lie about 125 miles (200 km) apart and extend some 800 miles northwest to southeast.  So, travelling between them requires some distance sailing.

The trade winds are typically east or north east and during the months of December-March average wind speeds of 18-25kts.   Sugar Shack typically likes winds in the 12-15kt range which may not seem like much of a difference.  However, you add a squall or gusts and then all of a sudden you are in uncomfortable conditions.

The seas average 2-3 meters (6-9′) and we prefer the seas to be flat to 1m. Of course it also is important to note the intervals between the waves and they can range from short to decent (3 to 9 second).  We will consider a passage with 2-2.5m seas if the intervals are 6-9 seconds.  It will mean a choppy passage, but “doable.”

Overall, these are not our “ideal” conditions.  But if we want to explore the outer atolls it is what we have to deal with to see these new places.

Our Marshall Islands Sailing Plan

We arrived in Majuro in late September and spent a month trying to obtain our permits, reprovisioning, and waiting for a good weather window to depart.  We had high hopes of visiting several atolls in a short 4 months. 

9 Island Cruising Permits were requested for the atolls listed below. We received permission to visit all of them except Kwaj.

  1. Maloelap:  Large collection of WWII remnants
  2. Wotje: More WWII remnants
  3. Ailuk: Known for its locals continued use of authentic canoes for transport
  4. Likiep: Rich history of European owners & tallest point in RMI
  5. Rongerik, Rongelap, Alinginae: Prettiest and most remote atolls
  6. Bikini Island:  Nuclear weapon testing site
  7. Wotho:  We would use this as an emergency weather stop
  8. Kwajalein (Kwaj): U.S. military base off limits except for formalities
  9. Namu: We would use this as an emergency weather stop

Our plan was to sail North East through the Ratak Island Chain stopping at Maloelap, Wotje, Ailuk, and Likiep.  Then we would cross over to the Ralik Island chain stopping first at Rongerik (uninhabited), then Rongelap, Alinginae and then Bikini. 

Unfortunately, our timing was off and we ended up not being able to make it to the Bikini atoll.  Which is probably for the best as it cost $250.00 USD per day.

Getting Back to Majuro

It is very difficult to find a weather window back to Majuro as it is east.  The tradewinds are coming from the east.  Sailboats don’t sail directly into the wind.  We had to come up with multiple plans to get back and the one we select will be based on weather at the time. 

Plan A:  Sail direct to Majuro from Alinginae.  Only if a rare weather window occurred.

Plan B: Sail from Alinginae to Likiep (110 miles), then to Majuro (206 miles), Unlikely as it is east.

The blue arrows indicate the typical trade winds. Sailboats don’t point into the wind.    

Sailing Conditions

As many of you know, I get terribly sea sick despite sailing over 60,000 nautical miles across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  So, we are constantly looking for good sailing conditions which include winds at 12-16kts and seas below 1 meter.  Usually, during season, the seas in RMI are 2.5-3 meters. On the “better days” they are 2 meters across long increments.

We tried to pick “low wind” days which caused us to have to motor more than we were used to but provided better conditions.  Often we got some pretty spectacular sailing conditions.

Sailing with the parasail

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events. 

If the conditions suited, we would troll with 3 lines and one teaser out.  We caught several small fish that we released and one pretty large sail fish (released).

A pair of beautiful yellow fin tuna hopped on our hooks during our passage from Likiep to Rongerik.

Sailing Back to Majuro

We were blessed with an incredible weather window.  We had to leave Alinginae a lot sooner than anticipated.  However, we had true NE winds, with more north than normal tradewinds.  In addition, we also had somewhat low seas at 2-2.5 meters.

The trip is about 400 miles from hook to hook and should take us 2.5 days.  We anticipated a beam reach and a nice sail. 

We made the trip back to Majuro in 54 hours.  Read about this passage on our last blog post.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This particular blog reflects our time in the Marshall Islands over 4 months of cruising between October 2024-February 2025.

Living off the Grid

After living onboard Sugar Shack for the past 8 years you’d think that we’d be used to living off the grid. We certainly have stayed in very remote places like Gambier, Vanuatu, Tonga, Easter Island, and Juan Fernandez Island.  However, we have never lived “off the grid” for more than a month. 

The above remote locations would get supply ships every 3 months so there was some produce coming into the islands.  There was always a place to dispose of your trash. In addition, a few places had locals who had beautiful vegetable and fruit gardens.  So, we were “roughing it” but we were not totally off the grid.

So, what does it mean when I say we are “living off the grid?”  We left Majuro, the main island in the Marshall Islands in late October 2024 and did not return to civilization until mid-February 2025.  Four months “off the grid” with no where to dispose of trash or recycling. Three months without fresh produce, milk, and eggs.  And we spent 2 months without snacks.  Are you getting a clear picture of this?

Shopping

That is a word I’ve learned to envy.  I thought I had provisioned our boat for a four month journey, but boy was I wrong!  Eggs are super precious and hard to come by even in Majuro.  When you buy a dozen eggs you will most likely find between 5-6 of them are bad.  So even though we left with 36 eggs, we ran out after 2 months.  Probably my fault as I am a huge baker and most of my recipes call for eggs!  We also ran out of milk and all of our fresh produce (carrots, cabbage, bell peppers, onions, potatoes, and cheese) in our 2nd month.

We met a local who ran a small store out of his house on Likiep. Lucky for us, he just got a shipment from Majuro after being empty for the past 4 months.  He sold me a dozen eggs and powdered milk.  And our friends on Totem came direct from Majuro to spend Christmas with us and they brought us 2L milk, 2 dozen eggs, cabbage, carrots, and a little cheese.  A wonderful Christmas present for us!

Starting on our 3rd month, we ran out of snacks including (chips, crackers, cheeses, nuts, breakfast bars, etc…).  To be honest that sucked!

Now don’t go feeling sorry for us as we have plenty to eat!  We knew we would be living off the grid so we packed two freezers full of meats including chicken, pork, fish, burgers, ribs, and some frozen vegetables.  We also bake lots of items including pizzas, english muffins, bread, cookies, rolls, focaccia, and more.

What Was Left?

By the time we head back to Majuro we had shut down one freezer and our frigerator only had drinks (tea, water) and condiments. We were out of all fresh produce, eggs, milk, snacks, cheese, and butter.  Really limited as to what we could make and bake.

Disposing of Trash

As we explore the outer atolls of the Marshall Islands, we have to find new ways to stow garbage.  We visit Maloelap, Wotje, Ailuk, Likiep, Rongerik, Rongelap, and Alinginae. None of these atolls have processes to dispose of trash.

Living off the grid means you have to be very creative when it comes to your trash and recycling. Well, truth be told, there is no recycling in the Marshall Islands.  We divide our trash into paper and cardboard goods, cans and aluminum, glass, and plastic.

Now, please don’t freak out when I tell you what’s next.  Under any other circumstances we would dispose of everything properly.  However, the locals in the outer atolls do not have any way to dispose of their own trash let alone visitors rubbish.  And there just is not room on our boat for 4 months of trash.

We stuff large plastic containers (juice bottles or peanut butter containers) with smaller plastics (cheese wrappers, foil, etc…).  When I say we “stuff” the bottles, we really stuff them, using a stick to push it all the way down to fill it to the rim.  We had dozens of these containers packed full.

Burnable Items

On every island we found these beacon stands that are part of the FADs (fishing aggregating device).  We took a wide one and modified it.  Matt cut out holes toward the bottom to let oxygen in and we used them as fire stations.  All of the paper (toilet paper, paper towels, cardboard) is easily burned.  We placed the beacon near the water line and low tide.  This ensures that we leave no trace or ashes.

A close up shot of the personal incinerator.

Glass and Aluminum

Matt squishes all of the cans and aluminum using a heavy duty vice.  We stow the crushed cans until we return to Majuro.  I think we had well over 100 crushed cans.

For the most part, we stashed most of our glass containers on onboard.  However, once, we removed the lids, and shattered the bottles. This was done while we were out in the middle of the ocean (not in the lagoon).  This was a last resort as we ran out of room.  But we did return to Majuro with a giant bag of our remaining glass bottles.

Summary

Again, please be gentle on us as this was the first time we lived off the grid for this long. We truly had no other course of action. Normally, we live to protect the environment and do all that we can to keep her clean.

It can be easy to judge when you sit at home with a bi-weekly trash and recycling pickup.  But when you are out in the middle of the ocean on a small island with no way to dispose of your trash, you do the only thing available to you which is to either burn it or toss it in the ocean.  We’d prefer not to have our trash floating in the ocean which eventually ends up on the very islands we enjoy visiting.

Hopefully this gave you a little idea of what it is like to live off the grid.  Truth be told, I hope we don’t have to do this again – for this long.  I am good for a month, but four months seemed a bit too long to me.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events.  We were living off the grid from October 2024-February 2025.  Did you read about what we have to pay to have internet access in our last blog post?

Voyage Back to Civilization

It was time to make the voyage back to civilization.  We were running low on gasoline and provisions after being away for four months. 

The boat was anchored in Alinginae in the Ratak Island Chain.   To get back to Majuro wee have to sail east.  The tradewinds come from the east making this a challenging crossing.

Sugar Shack can sail pretty close to the wind.  We dropped our dagger boards and trimmed the sails.  This allowed us to point close to the wind (38-40 degrees).  Most boats can only point 45-60 degrees. 

In order to sail back to Majuro we needed the tradewinds to shift from East to North East.  

Photo below:

  • The green arrow shows the easterly tradewinds.
  • The blue arrow shows the NE winds.  We can use the NE winds to get back to Majuro. 
  • The black line shows our rumb line from Alinginae to Majuro.

Predicted Forecast and Route

Matt watched the weather forecast for several weeks.   A weather window appeared at the end of January. 

Predict Wind (source for weather) showed a 2.5 day passage with winds at 15-18kts from NE and swell at 2-2.5 meters.

The Passage

It took us two hours to motor-sail across the Alinginae lagoon.  

This beautiful rainbow came out as we left Alinginae.  …As if Alinginae was saying “thank you for your visit.”

Our first six hours at sea were extremely uncomfortable!  The swell wrapped around Alinginae and came from several directions.  The seas became more consistent once we cleared the atoll.

The sun provided a beautiful sunrise on day 2. The waves crashed all over the boat making it a salty mess. We had 2″ of salt all over the boat.

We set the sails, turned the engines off and settled into a groove.

The boat speed averaged 9kts during a 12-hour period.  This was incredible!

What Broke?

The lazy jacks broke in the middle of the night.   This line holds the sail bag which stows the main sail. 

We had one reef in the main sail.  The remaining portion of the main was tucked into the sail bag.  When the line broke, the sail bag fell down and the extra main sail tumbled out.

Matt tied the line to our flag halyard – as a temporary fix.  Then he stuffed the non-working main sail back into the bag.  This work was done in three meters (over 12′) seas and at night.<p>

The forecast showed a direct course from Alinginae to Majuro.  However, we made two tacks after the wind shifted. 

The top red, skinny line is our track back to Majuro. We tacked and headed away from our destination.  After two hours, we tacked again and had a direct path to Majuro. 

The wind direction is displayed on the wind instrument below.  As you can see, we were “pinching” tight into the wind to hold our course. 

Passage Details

  • Travel Time:  2 days and 6 hours
  • Distance Travelled:  412 nm
  • Average Speed: 7.2kts
  • Max Speed: 12.5kts
  • Engine Hours: 4 (inside both lagoons)

Overall, the passage was pretty decent.    The trip was fast, I did not get sea sick, and nothing major broke.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events.  We made this passage at the end of February 2025.

Did you check out the post on living off the grid for 4 months?