Majuro first night-Majuro, Marshall Islands.
Storm brewing so delicious warm tropical breeze. Eating great food-fresh fish chowder to die for, raw and seared tuna, sushi and fried shrimp. Making new friends and hanging out with a very old mate. The locals are friendly, it’s a safe place with a negligible amount of crime. They use USD and everything is cheap: 75 cents per person for a taxi, $4 for a very large glass of chilled white wine, $3 for a cold imported beer. Laid-back tropical island feel which reminds me of Cayman although aesthetically much shabbier.
Majuro, Marshall Islands, Eneko Island day trip
Well, what a journey it was to get to our tour starting point in Majuro, Marshall Islands. After a crazy long film fest flight from Dubai to Brisbane and about 12 hours chilling in Brisbane, it then took about another 14 hours to get to the Marshall Islands.
I have technically now though, within the space of a day, visited all the four countries that we are supposed to be spending ten days visiting on our Least Visited Countries in the World tour. And that’s just to get to the starting point! It’s because the first flight, from Brisbane to Nauru, stopped over to refuel in Honiara in the Solomon Islands, and our connecting flight, from Nauru to the Marshall Islands, stopped over to refuel in Kiribati. So, actually, I have now been to each of these four countries, and could scrap the rest of this ten day tour and go to some different places, like Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, the Pitcairns etc. to tick off my U.N. List. Don’t think I’m not tempted. But that would be cheating. And I’m British. I have never counted a country as one I have “visited” if I didn’t leave the airport there. Even a one night stay is a rather tenuous unless you have time to get out and see, experience and appreciate some local life there. So I will do the tour as planned and am really looking forward to it and enjoying it thus far.
I didn’t see anything when we landed in Honiara. It was the middle of the night, so I glimpsed only a few lights coming closer from the middle of nowhere and then receding into inky blackness the minute we took off again.
In Nauru, we (Lilian and I, who left Brisbane together) were due to meet Gareth and some other group members, but didn’t see them in the transfer lounge. Wondering if G had some sort of key pass for the business lounge, I thought I’d go and look. So I walked down a corridor and tried the handle to the business lounge door. It was locked, but through a long glass panel at the side of the door, I saw several very large cascading brown bodies in underpants or sarongs hastily stirring themselves from the comfort of the lounge sofas and chairs. Some large women too got up in a panic at the unexpected rattle of the door knob and rushed to rouse the men and to come and open the door. But I turned on my heel and left them to their accustomed way of life. Free a/c, comfortable sofas. Why not? Island life. Make the most of what’s available. And I was glad I caught an unscheduled but amusing glimpse of it. G shambled in, in typical G style and state, shortly thereafter with Alistair and Siti.
As it was still an ungodly hour, I couldn’t see anything of the island of Nauru beyond the lights of some tropical homesteads beside the runway and the small airport building. We will be coming back for New Year though.
But as we headed for Kiribati, dawn broke, and what a spectacle it was. Blood orange and deepest crimson right across the horizon, as far as the eye could see. I cursed myself for having left my camera in a bag in the overhead locker. The sky was breathtaking.
Then it was early light as we flew into Kiribati. Wow. Just stunning. A true atoll, it is more water than land. Like a delicate green necklace cast upon the ocean. The internal waters of the lagoon were turquoise, the waters outside the slender jade string were deepest blue. As our plane swooped down low, I could see rock pools, shoals, sand spits, tiny scalloped turquoise, white-fringed coves and inlets, coconut palms. I wanted to leap straight out of the plane into the blue. I wanted to go paddling, losing myself looking for shells, poking in rock pools, meandering beneath the palms. Feeling the damp sand like sugar between my toes, and watching sea foam glisten and pop. I wanted to dive in the lagoon and to snorkel around the huge coral heads which, through the crystal waters, were clearly visible from the plane. I have never before felt such an urge to JUMP RIGHT INTO a country!
But then we were off again and on to The Marshall Islands. A stunning group of islands and atolls. The strip of land on which the runway rests is so narrow that, as we approached, I almost felt that if the wind sheared the wings could dip into the ocean on either side and flip us over. The airport building has barely thirty yards of land between it and the stunning blue. Tropical, balmy, blissful air. Breathing in the South Pacific air and way of life.
Tonight I met the remaining two of our small group. We are just seven, but, as on every YPT tour, we are all travel nuts and from very diverse backgrounds, which, of itself, makes for an interesting experience. We chilled today and had a great meal out tonight beside the ocean. Boat trip in the morning to another island for kayaking, snorkelling, relaxing and BBQing. Lucky or what??? I think we make our own luck.
Majuro departure
Sadly too little time spent in Majuro, Marshall Islands. I would have liked to stay and explore for longer. Main Island rather down at heel and shabby and accommodation basic. But safe and the people were mostly friendly. Lovely weather, beautiful outlying Islands, superb food, especially fish chowder to die for and fat, velvety slabs of raw tuna which melted in the mouth. Here we are at the airport (note proximity to the South Pacific Ocean of tiny strip of land on which airport and runway sit!), en route to our next destination-Nauru for New Year.
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