Palmyra Atoll

Palmyra Atoll is a ring of low islets and lagoons in the central Pacific, about sixteen hundred kilometres south of Hawaii, protected as a national wildlife refuge and run together with a nature conservation group as a research station. Its forests of Pisonia trees and coconut palms hold huge colonies of seabirds, the reefs are among the most untouched in the Pacific, with sharks and manta rays in the channels, and coconut crabs climb the palms. The only buildings belong to the research station and a wartime airstrip. There is no public access. Only sailing yachts may anchor for a short stay with a permit.