Pagan

Pagan lies far north of Saipan in the uninhabited stretch of the Marianas chain, two volcanoes joined by a narrow isthmus of black sand. Mount Pagan at the northern end erupts often enough that the village beneath it was evacuated and never properly resettled, and its lava flows reach the sea. A caretaker or two may be the only people on the island. Wrecks of Japanese aircraft lie in the scrub beside the old airstrip, and the beaches are volcanic black and empty. There is no scheduled transport, so a visit means a chartered boat or plane and flexible dates.