The Marshall Islands – Pearl of the Pacific

,

Correspondent (Travel)

 

 This northern Pacific island country is one of the youngest nations in the world and one of only four atoll nations in the world. The Republic of Marshall Islands is a home to over 68,000 of Marshallese. Majuro is the capital city and the most populous atoll. The Marshall Islands and several island countries in the Pacific use US Dollar as their currency. During the history, British, Russian, German, Japanese, and American have set foot into this island country in the late 1700′s. Therefore, there are plentiful of Japanese, American, and German Marshallese.

Language

The official language of Marshallese people is Marshallese language or Kajin M̧ajeļ. Apart from that, English is also an official language. Around 54,000 of Marshallese speaker live not only in Marshall Islands, but also in other countries, such as Nauru and the United States.

Here is a list of several greetings in Marshallese language:

• aaet - Yes
• ej et am̧ mour – How are you?
• em̧m̧an – (It) is good
• enana - (It) is bad
• io̧kwe; yokwe - Hello, goodbye and love
• jaab - No
• kom̧m̧ool tata - Thank you very much
• kōn jouj - You’re welcome.

 

What to do

This island country provides you with various attractions, from fishing, diving, and surfing, to wave experiencing. It has some of the clearest water anywhere in the world with the visibility of over 200 feet beneath the surface. Marshall Islands being one of the most isolated nations in the world, the “playground” will be yours and only yours.

If you like diving around the atoll, there are three types of dives that you can enjoy – lagoon dives, channel dives, and ocean dives. You will experience the magnificent visibility as you are exploring the coral reefs regardless the diving type.

The United States Navy designated the Bikini Lagoon as a ship graveyard after World War II, prior to the first atomic bomb explosion on the island. Nowadays, Bikini Lagoon still contains plenty of vessels from the United States and other countries. Nevertheless, there are larger amount of sea life due to the lack of fishing, making it a diver’s adventure spot. Several shipwrecks in the lagoon are Japanese battleship Nagato, USS Pilotfish (SS-386), USS Lamson (DD-367), USS Giliam (APA-57), USS Arkansas (BB-33), USS Apogon (SS-308), and USS Saratoga (CV-3).

Talking about fishing, this is the paradise. You can join a fishing trip and catch sharks, sailfish, barracudas, mahi-mahi, wahoo, yellow fins, or marlins. Apart from that, you can also join deep-sea fishing, which will fish down to a 1,000 ft depth. There are even fishing tournaments, such as biggest tuna and total point, every month from August until July to win the President’s Cup.

Image Courtesy: NASA, Licensed under the public domain| Wiki Commons