Nukufetau

Nukufetau is the first atoll north of the capital and the easiest of Tuvalu’s outer islands to reach, though easy here still means a night on the government ship, since Funafuti has the only airport in the country. The Americans built an airstrip on Motulalo islet in 1943 and left it behind along with fuel drums, seaplane ramps and a bomber that never took off again, all of it now overgrown at the edge of the coconut plantations. The lagoon is wide and clear, the two villages on Savave keep the old pattern of life, and visitors are rare enough to be an event.