If you like, I will try and arrange a visit to the caves where conservation officers are working. Over 20,000 men in uniform died fighting over these islands in WWII. The caves are being cleared out and bones returned to their home land. Read the book Tales of the South Pacific for a fictionalized account of the war.

Its a very quick sail from Palau to Yap. Yap is our port of entry into the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). We clear customs and begin heading to remote coral atolls. On some atolls the islanders wear traditional dress, and we will too. Don't worry guys, the traditional dress here is a cloth wrap, not a penis gourd. I obviously love FSM which is why we are spending so much time there. Look it up on the map. FSM is huge, it takes weeks to cover it from end to end and that assumes no stops. Adding in stops at places you will never forget takes time.

Never in your life time will you forget these islands. The children all come running with flowers in their hair. Each child is anxious to show you they learned the word “Hello”. At one island I visited last year, we were the first private yacht to visit in 3 years. Many of those kids had never seen a private sailing vessel. They depend on a government ship that arrives twice a year. This means people on these islands grow or catch the great majority of their food. They have no refrigeration to store unhealthy meats and fats. Unlike other places in the world, these people are unspoiled by tourists. They don't run after you begging for a handout. I stock the sailing vessel with a few items I know they love the most. The most appreciated items are sail cloth, extra rope, swim fins, swim masks, and notebooks to write in . For older islanders I like to give out magnifying glasses so they can read. Islanders in turn tend to share all they can offer, thistends to be nothing more then a meal, or perhaps a wooden carving.