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| Day Four |
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 It's Saturday but on this occasion
the day of the week has no relevance. Weather forces us to
look for a better anchorage. The Oleanda is treating us well
and we would hardly notice that the water is a little rougher
if we weren't longing to jump into our next dive adventure.
The sky turns a dull shade of gray as we disappear into a mist
of rain. From the comfort of the Oleanda lounge, we look out
into a foggy view of the world. It's a good time to take
advantage of Chef Tomasi's talent. Eggs benedict with a
special twist, bacon, muffins and fresh fruit along with
steaming pots of fresh coffee keep us occupied.
We have a little time to clean up the cameras and record
some scribbles in our journals while we wait. Around 11 am we
arrive at Eniaetok and anchor safely out of the wind.
Our gear is ready to go on the dive deck as we plan our next
dive. |
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 From our previous years
trip, we recognize this site as a place we called the Bone
Jar. It's another bommie piled high with coral. Clams are all
over the place, buried in the coral, in the open sand and
under the layers of coral that looks like a huge pile of bones
from an ancient time. It doesn't meet the high standards we
have now set for Rongelap with the excursions on the outer
walls but the visibility is still virtually unlimited and
there is plenty to see.
The clams at this location are some of the biggest we have
ever seen and divers swimming beyond are dwarfed by these
giants. |
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| Once again, we are on the move further south on
a hunt for calm water. We settle for a dive on an unexplored bommi and depart from the Oleanda dive platform. The Oleanda
is quite large and swings a wide arc so we plan our entry (and
subsequent exit) carefully to minimize the swimming we will
have to do. This bommi is a nice surprise. In fact, it is like
a crowded city street with all of the sea life swarming over
every level. On this one small piece of our world we saw the
surrealistic Unicorn fish, Peacock and Honeycomb grouper,
Sweet Lips, Threadfin Butterfly fish, Emperor Angel fish,
Parrot fish and Barracuda cruising by. We were allowed to come
up with a name for this dive site and the result is that the Oleanda's GPS now has a coordinate in the lagoon called "Times
Square". |
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 Still looking for calm
water, we finally arrive at Tufa Island on the southern end of
the atoll. When you hear stories of paradise, they must be
describing this small cove nestled in coconut palms and
protected by a coral jetty that forms a barrier against the
rest of the lagoon. We're all feeling very lazy and
tropical so instead of a night dive, we settle for turning out
the lights on the deck of the Oleanda and stargazing into the
dark night sky of Rongelap. |
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Photo Credits
Top Left & Top right - Cherri Wood
Bottom Left & bottom right - Gary Wood |
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