We sailed from Hawaii to Gilligan’s Island (Palmyra Atoll) as part of a race. This provided us with the necessary permits to visit Palmyra. At one time privately owned, Palmyra had been gifted to the US government. Now an uninhabited wildlife sanctuary would-be visitors were allowed only with special permission.
Situated about 1000 miles south of Hawaii, Palmyra is a real-life Gilligan’s Island. The TV show was not filmed here. Low lying, Palmyra rises no more than 9 feet above sea level. The island is almost always surrounded by fog except for a crown of palm trees, all but invisible. Before the days of GPS, many sailors spent days trying to locate the island, only to give up in frustration. It is easy to imagine castaways trapped here for years.
We were lucky enough to have an early transit style GPS and sighted land 8 miles out at sun-rise after more than a week of squals and storms. Two other yachts were not so lucky. One searched for a week, and each day was confirmed by VHF radio to be within 15 miles. However, they were never able to sight land and finally were forced to give up and return to Hawaii. Another yacht disappeared before reaching Palmyra and was never heard from again.
Often described as the island furthest from civilization, Palmyra is located within the white dot in the center of the globe below.
For the half dozen yachts that made landfall at Palmyra, it was a wonderful experience. We could fill a book with tales ashore. In addition to the local flora and fauna, the island had been a US resupply base during WWII and had many hidden treasures. Including a half-million-gallon freshwater tank, ammunition bunker, small well-protected harbor, clubhouse, once paved airstrip, abandoned trucks, grader, and even an abandoned twin-engine aircraft.
In many ways, we were fortunate to gain permission to visit. Palmyra had been the site of piracy not long before. The owners of a boat were murdered and their boat was stolen. Eventually, the missing boat was identified in Hawaii and one of the culprits was sent to prison. The boat was rotting at anchor in Ke’ehi Lagoon when we last saw it.
When we visited Palmyra the only “residents” were 3 dogs that had been marooned on the Island. They were in pretty tough shape. Having no food source they had survived by hunting sharks in the shallows of the reef. At the same time, the sharks had made a dreadful mess of the dogs. One of the yachts adopted the dogs permanently and nursed them back to health.
I would have been happy to spend years exploring Palmyra. It had always been a dream of mine to live on a tropical desert island. Master of my own domain. There was no shortage of food, as fish and coconuts are a complete diet for humans. However, it was not to be. Small boats such as ours operate within a narrow weather window. As the sun moves between the hemispheres it creates immense storms at sea that have swallowed much larger vessels than ours. Passages can only be made safely in the correct season. Otherwise, you need to wait 6 months to a year. So it was after 3 months our time on Palmyra ran out and we again put to sea.