Enewetak Atoll has a several kilometer wide pass starting from the southern tip of Enewetak Island and stretching west and northwest to the first islands up the west reef. The reef in this wide pass is a good 15 to 20 meters below the surface, so when some storms well to the southwest sent a wave train of large swells at Enewetak in July of 1982, there wasn't much that deep reef could do to slow down the waves entering the lagoon and crashing on the lagoon shore.
Fortunately, we'd noticed an increase in the swell the evening before it all broke loose and decided to move our boats, usually moored next to the shallow pier, out and anchor them offshore in slightly deeper water, where they came through the storm in good shape. Just in case, though, we decided to swim out additional anchors to reduce the chances of chaffing lines and having the boats drift ashore.
Some contractors out there working on the upper atoll replanting project, however, decided to move their boats, which were in an even more precarious location, over to our pier instead. Unfortunately, that was not good enough.
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