We did not need to notify Pohnpei officials we were arriving because Kosrae did this on our behalf when we cleared out from there. Although we are only heading from one state to another within the Federated States of Micronesia, it is no different to moving between totally different countries. We still need to do all of the paperwork.
We haven’t had any luck calling Port control when we have arrived in any recent countries so we didn’t try this time. But this was the one time we should have. It is a very busy port. It also has the added consideration of the airport runway being very close to the channel.
Once we had docked the Port Authrority staff were exceptionally friendly, welcoming and helpful. Basically we had to just stay on the boat and they would arrange for everyone to visit us, then they would sign off last on their paperwork. We arrived at about 3pm so they had to get cracking.
The first officer was from the Environmental Protection Authority. This was new, haven’t had to do that before. Dean had to sign a document that said we would follow the rules. Not sure what the rules are, but I think if we follow common sense we will be ok. No charge for that one. We will research that a bit though later.
Customs arrived next. They wanted our clearance from Kosrae and also a crew list. Dean was going to type one up and print it out. I said there are two of us, can I just write it down. Yep, not a problem. So Dean wrote our names, nationality and ship name down and signed it, and that was good. He did warn Immigration would need one as well, so while we waited we typed one up for them. No charge from customs and again helpful and nice.
Two Immigration Officers arrived next. They were all business as Immigration officers are, but still pleasant. They stamped our passports. No charge there.
Port control touched base to see how it was going and we said we haven’t heard from Quarantine. He went and called them again, and somehow we’d been missed/forgotten. So it was about 4.30pm, getting towards knock off time when the Quarantine Officer arrived. He wanted a list of all the food we had onboard. Eeeek, wasn’t prepared for that. So I just listed things off the top of my head that I could remember and made sure I noted everything fresh. It was all from Kosrae anyway so nothing was being confiscated, just needed listing.
We did need to pay Quarantine however since he was going home and not to the office he said he’d call us tomorrow to arrange payment. Not sure how much that will be, but so far we haven’t heard anything, so we may need to chase him up.
Finally Port Control completed their business. That was really just handing over our paperwork from Kosrae. We do need to make a payment but that is on exiting. We were good to leave. Allen from Port control assisted us in casting off. He had already given us a bit of a rundown of things around town, and where to anchor. We were really tired and eager to drop anchor before it got dark.
The channel down to our anchoring spot was well marked. We were headed to Mangrove Bay which sounds a little underwhelming, but it proved to be a lovely place, yes lined with mangrove trees, no bugs, clear water. Surrounded by trees on hills and there are many buildings we can see. Relatively speaking that is. Clearly much larger than Kosrae, probably similar to Port Vila. Also the mangroves have solar lights on poles at regular intervals lighting them up which is pretty. There are a few wrecks I can see. I can hear music coming from the waterside bar. Things are looking good.
We dropped anchor, near a ketch, the only other boat anchored. While Dean got the awnings up I made our beer based tempura batter for our Wahoo then he bbq’d it, after a downpour. I really liked it. Dean likes his fish a bit stronger tasting. We were fast asleep by 7pm. Safe at anchor.
This is looking back from where we are anchored towards the Port and the reef. You can see it is quite a large bay.
And this is looking from our boat towards shore where the bar and its associated hotel is. There is also a little marina tucked away behind there. You may be able to spot a couple of masts sticking up behind the hotel.
Run to Paradise 