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Remember that colorful report in the December issue about an exploratory trip to Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific (report no. 3116 in our trip planning database)? It was written by Honor Roll subscriber Tim Welch, who apparently enjoyed that trip because he is in the midst of planning another trip to the South Pacific, this one to Kwajalein Atoll. This time he is the principal organizer of the trip. He writes:
“The trip to Kwajalein will be very similar to the trip to Bikini, only this atoll is even less fished these days than Bikini because of the military isolation of Kwajalein. You can tell fellow subscribers who want to come along that I will make nothing on this trip. I am doing it for the sheer joy of it. I will be paying my own way like everyone else. I have four of the ten seats available on this trip already sold, and I don’t think I will have any trouble finding six more guys. You never know, however, so I appreciate your mentioning this trip in the newsletter. The all-in cost is $4,000. That covers everything but the usual extras – tips, booze, hotels along the way, and flights to and from Kwajalein. By the way, United Airlines has direct flights from Honolulu to Kwajalein, so that part of the trip will pose no problem.”
In his note about the trip, Welch included the Web address for a site he has created about the trip: www.kwajatoll.com. The site indicates the trip will start on September 11 and run through September 19. All of that time, except the final night, will be spent onboard M/V Windward, a roughly 45-foot former trawler that functioned for a while as a pearling mothership before being reconditioned to serve as a tourist vessel. Besides reef and wreck diving and fly fishing, the activities available will include a tour of the World War II military sites on the island. As for the fly fishing, here is what Welch has to say about it: “We will be accompanied on our trip by local Marshallese fishing guides who will take the group out daily to fish reef flats throughout the atoll. This is for the most part new territory for fly fishing. I expect to catch a wide range of fish, including bonefish, giant trevally, several varieties of shark, goatfish, coral trout, sweetlips, bluefin trevally, snappers, red bass, dogtooth tuna, yellowfin tuna, grouper, triggerfish, and mackerel. This is principally a fly-fishing adventure, but blue-water trolling for larger species will be a possibility.” Postscript: Welch strongly recommends that booked anglers arrange for medical evacuation through Global Rescue (www.globalrescue.com).