Nanumea

Nanumea is the northernmost island of Tuvalu and the farthest from anywhere, a full day and a half by ship from Funafuti across open ocean. American forces cut an airstrip and a channel through the reef here in 1943 and the evidence is still lying about, including a landing craft rusting on the beach where it was abandoned. The island is known within Tuvalu for its church, the largest building in the country, and for a dialect and a set of songs that differ from the rest. Very few outsiders come, and those who do usually arrive with the ship and leave with it.