You'll need your own boat or a chartered one to get to the Marine Conservation Area. Ask locals for directions. Evidence of their presence exists in the wrecks of several US landing craft and a B-24 bomber. With the consent of the pastor, you may also climb the tall German Gothic-style tower for a wonderful view of the atoll. Although two-thirds of the population were kidnapped by Peruvians in the middle of last century, the almost 400 people on the two dozen islets of Nukulaelae will welcome visitors.
Private boat is the only practicle way of getting there.
Recommended Reading Lonely Planet's Pacific guide is due to be released late in 1999. The best history of Tuvalu is H. Laracy's Tuvalu, A History . It was published in 1983. While focussing on more developed locales such as Fiji and Western Samoa, his bleak, jaded view of the 'decay' of the Pacific is fascinating in light of 'advances' in Tuvalu. In The Happy Isles of Oceania - Paddling the Pacific , the perpetually morose Paul Theroux vies with the above author for the title of Most Cynical Pacific Traveller.