Advertisement
Published: April 16th 2012
Edit Blog Post
not exactly the tin man
always on the lookout for WW2 artifacts, a few finds of mine. I left these on Palmyra for others to enjoy. After 3 months on Palmyra Atoll, it was time to pass the island and the work to another crew. Its been an amazing experience to live on an idylic tropical isle with only 4 other people, at least for a while. Undeveloped and now protected, Palmyra is an example of what nature can do after man has done his worst. Nearly leveled, contaminated and almost treeless during WW2, the Atoll is now covered in thick lush jungle, and many thousands of coconut palms. Birds nest by the thousands and marine life is in recovery. Still, if you look around, the war relics are ever present, jutting from the lagoon or embedded in the jungle, covered with vines. Its a reminder of a violent past history, and what could happen again if we are not carefull. Palmyra to me was also full of mystery, legends of pirates, ghost stories, curses, dissapearing boats and planes and the very real 'Sea Wind' killings in 1974, captured in the best selling book, 'And the Sea Will Tell.' So now we have left Palmyra on the horizon, on the way to Christmas Island-again-a 450 mile sea journey aboard the 50 ft Spartan Queen, and eventually I
will be back in Hawaii, ready to travel the Earth once again!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 25; dbt: 0.026s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
James Waters
non-member comment
WW2 relics on Palmyra
Hi thanks for the pictures, I have always been fascinated by this island ever since seeing Alby Mangels movie World Safari 1 as a kid, they where on Palmyra in the early seventy's and some reason the island had not been cleaned of all its WW2 relics if you haven't seen this footage its amazing they even got jeeps and trucks running, please see link and go 26min in to the movie, enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0nG67zO6eU