Arrival and Departure With a variable location, no airport and a poorly guarded harbor, arriving on this island can be difficult. During the dry season, it is tethered by an intricate mass of brown kelp to the sea floor, typically within a 100 kilometer radius of Nauru, itself an isolated island nation far southeast of Micronesia . Once or twice a year, depending on wildly inaccurate estimates of the lacca nut harvest , men set out in dug-out canoe from Nauru, and after a lengthy search, often taking two to three weeks, the Nauruans occasionally make landfall on this perplexing island, pile their canoes dangerously high with lacca nuts, and quickly return home. In exchange for transit, tourists have been known to help paddle. People and History Six hundred aborigines , whose ancestry dates back 5,000 years, and the remnants of a Swiss debtors colony , abandoned in 1879, give this island a curious cultural mix.
Residents have small ears, colorful hats and speak slowly, with intermittent giggling.
Literacy rates approach 100 percent. Looking skyward, natives take twenty minutes to give directions. The island's main industry is based on the lacca, a bland and versatile nut whose fibers can be eaten, woven, and alloyed with the heavy metals and radioactive isotopes scattered just about everywhere. One half of the island is still administered by the Swiss, although poorly. Getting Around The island is about 67 square miles, mostly rock.