The MarShall Islands

October-November 2003

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Karl Fellenius, Lisa King, and Mark Stege

Warm water paddling at its best.

One of Majuro's fine hotels. photo's MIVA

Back in 1889, when Robert Louis Stevenson visited the Marshall Islands, he declared them “the Pearl of the Pacific”. Nestled in the northwest equatorial Pacific in Micronesia are the twenty-nine atolls and five islands that make up the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The RMI lies 3800 km southwest of Honolulu and 2800 km north of Fiji. Though the nation is tiny in terms of land area, it covers over 1.2 million sq. km of warm, blue ocean. Even though kayakers have yet to hear much about the RMI, almost all WWII buffs know about Kwajelein, Wake, Enewetak, or Bikini Atolls, located within the Marshall Islands group.

The Marshall Islands is one of four atoll nations on the globe. Thanks to the insight of Charles Darwin in the 19th century, we know that atolls form through the combined processes of sinking volcanoes and coral reef growth, resulting in a unique environment made up of a ring of islands surrounding a central lagoon. Atolls are roughly the shape of their ancient volcanic craters, although wider because coral grows out as well as up. It has taken some 45 million years for what were once high volcanic islands to become low islands, only a few meters above sea level.

Visitors to the Marshall Islands today come for world class scuba diving and sportsfishing. Soon it will be known for its unique kayaking opportunities.

The water visibility is normally very clear so kayakers can see an array of corals and animals. A healthy coral reef, like those of the Marshall Islands, is the most vibrant and biologically diverse place on earth. Its coral reefs have so far been spared the destruction associated with coral bleaching in other parts of the region. Here you can find several hundred kinds of colorful reef fish and dozens of corals in a variety of shapes and sizes. RMI corals have unusually spectacular growth forms, such as enormous table structures that are not present in other areas that have more storm activity. In addition, the reefs are particularly colorful in certain areas such as the blue Acropora of Likiep; the purple Acropora of Rongelap; the yellow lettuce coral of Kwajelein; and the bright green and purple mushroom corals of the capital, Majuro.

 

Snorkelling the reefs.MIVA photo

EXPLORING MAJURO ATOLL

A number of companies on Majuro Atoll (pronounced MA - ju - ro), including Marshall Islands Tours, Kidenen Island Kayakers, and Canoes of the Marshall Is-lands, provide plastic, sit-on-top kayaks and paddles for some really fun warm water paddling.

Our tour took off from a shady beach in Rita, the southernmost part of the main island. Several children watched attentively as we set up our kayaks and shoved off. Kayaking is still a new activity in the Marshalls and most locals have not yet had the opportunity to give it a try.

With the tradewinds at our backs, we leisurely paddled towards a string of small, green islands only minutes away. We had slathered ourselves with sunscreen earlier and were really pleased we had taken the time to do such a thorough job as the bright sun beat down on our legs and feet. We quickly found ourselves paddling along the rim of this sunken volcano through a chain of flat, idyllic islands filled with shady palms and sandy beaches. These islands are owned by individual Marshallese families and you can see dense coconut forests and small cabins on most of the islands as you glide past.

White fairy terns circled overhead as we took in the tropical scenery. Looking into the turquoise water we could see coral heads surrounded by colorful reef fish. Our guide led us between two islands towards the nearby outer reef area, where the waves were breaking so hard we could barely hear each other speak. We surfed our kayaks in the shallows and whooped as we caught a wave or laughed at each other when we missed it. When we headed back towards the lagoon, the tide was moving out and the water was so shallow that we spotted several baby black-tip reef sharks. Reef herons and ruddy turnstones were picking at uncovered delicacies as we paddled by.

Yellow and Violet Lace coral. Dean Jacobson photo

We had received permission to land on Denmeo island and visit a place our guide called ‘Heaven’. Imagine a white sandy beach guiding a river of saltwater into a warm, quiet lagoon surrounded with palm trees—it was definitely a piece of paradise. We had a couple of leisurely hours to explore the island after a lunch of local breadfruit chips (which were delicious), apple bananas, sandwiches and cold drinks. Some people took advantage of the downtime and snorkeled off the beach.

In the late afternoon, our guide gently rounded us up and we headed home. Along the way, he pointed out a flock of black noddies diving among a splashing school of skipjack tuna feasting on little silver bait fish. He also directed our attention to some beautiful cloud formations and frigatebirds soaring high overhead, and filled us with all sorts of stories about life in the islands. If you are interested in coming to the RMI and/or including kayaking in your itinerary, visit the Marshall Islands Visitors Authority website or phone them directly.

Descendants of early Micronesian explorers, the modern Marshallese offer a warm and friendly welcome. Remnants of their age-old culture are just below the surface. Perhaps because tourism is relatively new here, visitors instill a delightful curiousity and wonder on the part of the locals that transforms a nature holiday into one sprinkled with cultural experiences.

PATA Micronesia Chapter

Visitors should also expect that things move along here on ‘island time’, translation— at a very relaxed pace.

Leisurely warm water paddling in the Marshalls has yet to reach its full potential, with many ‘firsts’ still to be claimed. Exploring Majuro by kayak was a great way to spend a day and we fully intend to do it again soon.

Yellow Crinoid. Karl Fellenius photo

 

© Karl Fellenius teaches a number of marine science and resource management courses at the College of the Marshall Islands and works on marine resource assessments in the field and outreach activities with community groups. He is a recent import from Vancouver, Canada.

© Lisa King is an ecotourism and environmental education specialist at the University of Hawaii Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center. She developed and popularized kayaking in the Republic of Palau in the early 1990s and is active on many new Pacific projects.

© Mark Stege grew up in the Marshall Islands and works at the Marshall Islands Visitors Authority, the primary source for island visitor information: , wave@visitmarshallislands.comor call 692-625-6428.