Tiny Nassau is the sister island of Pukapuka 88 kms (55 miles) north west, and it's the only one of the Northern Group without a lagoon. The island was bought by the Cook Islands Administration in 1945 for UK£200 and then sold to the Island Councillors and Chiefs of Pukapuka six years later for the same price. The government owns the only concrete house on the island...islanders live in thatched huts. And they say it's very practical because if there's a cyclone, they can rebuild in just a few days. And cyclones are a fact of life in this part of the world
. Population 75
1.3 sq mls/0.5 sq. kms
1.3 sq mls/0.5 sq. kms
Access: Very difficult.
and only via Pukapuka
and only via Pukapuka
NASSAU CALLING EARTH
This 21st century technology seems like an incongrous intrusion on the landscape, but to the Islanders, it's a lifeline to the outside world....a satellite earth station for telephone services, built in just four days by engineers from Telecom Cook Islands. And it's only been there since 2006
Photo: Telecom Cook Islands
This 21st century technology seems like an incongrous intrusion on the landscape, but to the Islanders, it's a lifeline to the outside world....a satellite earth station for telephone services, built in just four days by engineers from Telecom Cook Islands. And it's only been there since 2006
Photo: Telecom Cook Islands
A remote garden of Eden
Northern Group
673 miles/1083 kms
North West by North of Rarotonga
673 miles/1083 kms
North West by North of Rarotonga
The island is just 9 metres (28 feet) above sea level and surrounded by a reef flat which is 90 to 130 metres wide ( 98 to 142 yards) on all but the north side where it's narrower. But access is still incredibly difficult as there's no proper boat passage. Plans were announced in 2007 to build a new harbour to make the island easier and safer to get to...but construction still hasn't started.
Nearly half the population is children
Writing in 1994, Elliot Smith, in his "Cook Islands Companion" described
Nassau as "a small garden of Eden". The land is rich in taro and fruit groves, there's a freshwater spring and fish and shellfish are caught off the reef. Everyone helps out with the farming (above)
Nassau as "a small garden of Eden". The land is rich in taro and fruit groves, there's a freshwater spring and fish and shellfish are caught off the reef. Everyone helps out with the farming (above)
Nassau as seen from the space shuttle
Image Courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center
...and below, a bit closer up
Image Courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center
...and below, a bit closer up
Families live in thatched cottages called kikau (left).
The island is 11 degrees below the equator, and days and nights are almost exactly 12 hours long. The daytime temperature also stays at about 27 degrees celcius ( 83F) all year.
The island is 11 degrees below the equator, and days and nights are almost exactly 12 hours long. The daytime temperature also stays at about 27 degrees celcius ( 83F) all year.
The village (it doesn't seem to have a name) is on the northwest where the reef is narrow and small boats can land when the seas are kind. The island also has solar panels which supply electricity for refrigerators, freezers, lights, water pumps...and a washing machine.
Asian fishing boats visit occasionally...and illegally. They don't bother going through the official ports of entry and islanders never openly acknowledge the visits. But evidence of them is everywhere. Korean fishing floats, Japanese jewellery and canned goods are the signs. And David Stanley in his South Pacific Moon Handbook says "the children of these encounters also add an exotic element to the local population".
ISLAND CLOSED: COME BACK LATER!
Now this one I've never been able to confirm, but I have been assured it's true...Don't bother visiting Nassau in July. That's when a ship picks eveyone up, stops at Pupapuka to offload thosuands of taro plants and continues to Rarotonga for the annual constitution celebrations. All the buildings are boarded up and the island is deserted for two months.
BY ANY OTHER NAME!
Nassau orginally belonged to the islanders of Pukapuka and was called Te Nuku-o-Ngalewu which means LAND OF NAGELU after the Pukapukan who was put in charge of it. When the two islands fell out with each other, it was renamed DESERTED ISLAND (Te Motu Ngaongao) supposedly by the islanders of Manihiki who drifted to the island and found it deserted.
In 1803, it got yet another name - ADELE ISLAND - after the ship of the first discoverer. About 20 years later it was renamed LYDRA ISLAND by another explorer, then RANGER ISLAND after the London whale ship "Ranger". An American whaler May Mitchell decided in 1834 that it should bear his name and called it MITCHELL ISLAND.
But it wasn't until a year later it that it finally got the name it's known by today. Another American whaler, John D. Sampson named it after his vessel, the NASSAU. It's not known why that name finally stuck, especially as another whale ship which sighted the island the following year tried to rename it NEW-PORT ISLAND!
In 1803, it got yet another name - ADELE ISLAND - after the ship of the first discoverer. About 20 years later it was renamed LYDRA ISLAND by another explorer, then RANGER ISLAND after the London whale ship "Ranger". An American whaler May Mitchell decided in 1834 that it should bear his name and called it MITCHELL ISLAND.
But it wasn't until a year later it that it finally got the name it's known by today. Another American whaler, John D. Sampson named it after his vessel, the NASSAU. It's not known why that name finally stuck, especially as another whale ship which sighted the island the following year tried to rename it NEW-PORT ISLAND!
33 are taught in the school which opened in 1964
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POINTERS TO PARADISE:
PUKAPUKA RAROTONGA SITE MAP HOME SURPRISE ME!
OR FIND YOUR OWN PIECE OF PARADISE USING THE MENU AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE
PUKAPUKA RAROTONGA SITE MAP HOME SURPRISE ME!
OR FIND YOUR OWN PIECE OF PARADISE USING THE MENU AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE
Australian born author and internationally famous former comedienne, Pamela Stephenson is one of very few outsiders to have visited Nassau, and hers is the most recently published account (2004). In her fascinating and superbly written book "Treasure Islands" she says that most residents have never seen a white person, other than in pictures.
AN AUTHOR'S IMPRESSIONS
Her first impression was about the reticence with which she was greeted: "I was taken aback the people generally did not move towards me, but continued sitting, one group gathered under a palm-thatched boatshed, and the other around a man on a motor scooter who turned out to the be the chief".
'The people are shy,' said Poila (who guided her ashore). 'we don't get many visitors.'"
And she tells how she was "utterly thrilled" to see people carrying on life as they had for decades: "Here a man was shaving a coconut to make coconut cream, there a woman was weaving dry palm fronds to make thatch for her house".
'The people are shy,' said Poila (who guided her ashore). 'we don't get many visitors.'"
And she tells how she was "utterly thrilled" to see people carrying on life as they had for decades: "Here a man was shaving a coconut to make coconut cream, there a woman was weaving dry palm fronds to make thatch for her house".
"Treasure Islands" is published by Headline Book Publishing, London (ISBN 0 7553 1285)