CRUISE VIGNETTES 17, Enna G

ANCHOR CHAIN, ALMOST
On Ponape (and on other South Pacific islands) there are huge piles of anchor chain, old ships, war machines of many kinds, thousands of tons of it, just rusting away. I wanted some anchor chain, but could not find a short length of chain to take home with me. Near the harbor in Ponape I saw a man with an acetylene cutting torch, but he would not cut a link of the chain for me. He said that each tank of acetylene gas had to be imported from the US, and he wasn’t going to waste any of it on a tourist.

THE ISLAND OF TRUK (Renamed Chuuk in January 1990)
A couple of hundred miles later we arrived at the Island of Truk — shown on some maps as the Chuuk Lagoon. This lagoon was the scene of very intensive battles during WW II, and there are nearly 70 Japanese ships, and uncounted airplanes scattered across 77 square miles on the floor of the ocean. There are also over 300 varieties of hard and soft corals

The little town here (I have never been able to determine the name of the town.) is really a mess. The people have nothing to do, and don’t do it well. The road has only a few hundred yards of good road, the rest is pot-holes galore. We again rented a car to see as much of Truk as we could. A few miles from the town where the ship docked, we found a hotel that looked very nice, but did not see much that might interest a tourist, unless they were interested — as many people are — in diving to see the sunken ships, and the coral reef.

We found that first and second gear on our rented car made a lot of noise, while high gear was smooth and quiet. The reason? The roads were so bad no one ever got into high gear long enough to wear it out. You haven’t driven until you drive in Truk!

The street is filled with small pick-up trucks with bench seats in back, and for a quarter you can ride a few blocks, between this nothing and that nothing. There was a general store where Emmy bought some very nice shirts (at a very low price) that we both wore for many years. During one of the frequent rains, store clerks ran here and there with plastic sheets to try and protect the things on the shelves from the leaky ceiling.