24th February

Lordy, it was all I anticipated and more, I’ll swear I’ve gone more grey, (is that possible)?

Through the narrow entrance, marked by beacons, however the reef extends to seaward from them, (how convenient, not).  We waited until daylight in order to be able to see the reefs and it was just as well.  The pilot-boat, (see photo )  😕 came out to us, he needed a boarding speed of 2 knots, for heaven’s sake.

Pilot boat

Pilot boat

In towards the entrance, an officer on each Bridge-wing, calling out distances, (I’m in the centre and therefore do not have a full view).  A Third officer tells me “he can see the wreck”, thank you very much,  (there’s the remains of one on the south side of the channel); then a series of ‘S’ curves, all the while one can see the reef to either side.  I didn’t even think about how pretty it was, instead concentrating on getting up to the turning area, here I had to stop, swing through 90° and then back in, being careful not to drop downwind too fast, the reef wasn’t going to make it that easy.

There is already an inter-island ferry berthed on the extreme end of the quay, so past that and then, when 5 metres clear, let the bow come down without going astern any further, as the pilot quaintly put it, “there’s a shallow patch there”.

I think you’ve got the picture?  An audible sigh of relief once alongside, 15 minutes later than scheduled, but what the heck…..

IMG_0050

Canoe house, stone money, (with holes) in the foreground

There are several factors which determine the value of stone money. The first is the number of human lives that were lost on the journey to bring the stone home. The second is the kind of workmanship. Some of the more modern stones look highly polished, which has been achieved with the help of modern metal tools but they are less valuable than the ones that look less highly polished. This is because the earlier stones were finished with shell tools, which makes them more valuable. Another factor is whether the stone was dedicated to the chief who sponsored the trip to Palau. Size is also a factor, but in some cases a small stone can be more valuable than a larger stone

Guests go off to wander, tour the island and, as Yap is in the top 5 of dive destinations in the world, snorkel and scuba on those pesky reefs,  some went swimming with Manta rays, (pleased someone enjoyed the reefs 🙄 )  I managed a 35-minute stroll for the photos, my photo with 2 dusky maidens kindly taken by one of the many guests who were queueing up for the opportunity.  A walk to the ‘living museum’, where ‘canoe houses’ were conveniently nearby.  Across the road, also part of the museum, gentlemen building canoes by hand and carving solid mahogany.  One of the canoes could be taken by guests for a paddle on the river and one of the locals proudly told me some had left a while ago, when I looked and asked him where they were, he looked perplexed, “well, they were here a minute ago, I don’t know where they are”, I beat a hasty retreat….IMG_0054

carving the canoe bow

carving the canoe bow

making his own rull money!

making his own rull money!

the finished product

the finished product

At 3 in the afternoon, rain squalls came through and the wind reached 25 kts, I had visions of having to stay the night, for the reef navigation is ‘daylight only’; the gods were looking down on me though and by sailing time it had eased to a manageable 15 or so.  I took her out on our joystick, it is easier than me trying to balance bow and stern and the JS does it for me.  The reefs didn’t look any more welcoming than they did on arrival, however Yap is now astern and we are making speed for Manila; across the north Pacific towards the San Bernardino Straits, between Luzon and Samar.

Yap dock

Yap dock. We are actually alongside, however the chart says ‘not’.

In this Transas chart, one can see the difference between the electronic chart and GPS.  The chart, (originally 1987), has errors from the original survey and these are now apparent with the advent of GPS.  The chart carries warnings about the discrepancy and as a result, our arrival and departure was carried out using ‘Mark 1 eyeball’ and what is called ‘parallel indexing’ on the radars. 

 

View from the Bridge

View from the Bridge

Berthed, inter-island ferry ahead

Berthed, inter-island ferry ahead, (notice our ‘bridge’ across the puddles….

Beacon and reef

Beacon and reef

The approach

The approach, reef to port and starboard

Reef to port

Reef to port

On the berth, from town

On the berth, from town

Canoe houses

Canoe houses

To the bank

To the bank

Think we problem??

Er, I think we have problem??

8 thoughts on “24th February”

  1. Good evening. Add me to your fans who can’t access Feb. 25th. My computer tries to connect and forward so many times and then times out. Hope you can fix the blog as I love reading your tales!

    Karen

    1. O dear, the internet onboard was doing strange ‘things’ the other day and the post looked OK from my end, however your comments don’t surprise me, thank you for letting me know. I hope I have fixed it by ‘updating’ it today, please let me know 🙂

  2. I, too, am unable to retrieve your file from February 25th. Hope you can see this so that you are aware that there is a problem.

  3. In trying to get to your Feb.25th entry my computer is warning that there is an SSL error and that I should not go to the site that I am being sent to which is NOT Captainjonathan.com . Hope the issue is rectified soon as I am just loving each and every entry.
    Continued fair seas!
    Sher Jones

  4. I was nervous for you just reading your post. Glad it all went well and the passengers we able to enjoy their time there. I will never again take for granted a positioning and docking of the ship. Great Job Captain!

  5. Captain, excellent description of your harrowing entrance to Yap. Congratulations on your skills to safely navigate this port stop. Looking forward to congratulating you personally when we board in Hong Kong.

  6. Jonathan another adventure. We remembered that Lisa was to be on board again this year and would celebrate her 100 th Birthday on Yap. If she is indeed aboard please give her our very warmest best wishes and a hug too! Your blog is part of our breakfast routine. Love J&B

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