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Click for more information about Swains Island
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2008 Aug by Charles A Veley |
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Swains Island is one of the furthest outposts of the United States. Roughly 200 nautical miles north of Apia, Samoa, Swains is a single coral island containing a relatively large freshwater lagoon. Swains has been run since the 19th century by the Jennings Family, who send a representative to sit in the American Samoan Territorial Legislature. On the M/V Bounty Bay's August 2008 Central Pacific Expedition, we met Alexander Jennings, the current representative, on the beach at Swains Island for all of about 5 minutes. This was because, as we arrived (bringing 2 passengers to caretake on Swains), the entire population of the island was evacuating! A pregnant woman was being moved to hospital, and all of the others (only 9 people at the time) decided they would come too. Swains was hurt badly by Cyclone Percy in 2005, and the population has decreased since then. Alexander Jennings spoke to us of his plans for expansion and tourism on the island, which did not look promising given his rapid departure! A simple church was the only building left standing in the main village following Percy's passage, although other buildings including at least 2 residences have been repaired, and two new buildings constructed. A communications building with high surrounding wall was under construction at the time of our visit (Currently, the only outside communication capability on the island is a single-sideband radio left behind by a ham radio expedition). All of these buildings are positioned around a wide grassy clearing 100M from the beach. Prior to his departure, Alex Jennings gave us the keys to the island's only vehicle, a white pickup truck, so that we could more easily reach the other side of the island. Four of us drove through the island's sole jungle trail to the opposite beach, site of the former copra plantation manager's family house, which was now falling down. We also visited the freshwater lagoon, and wondered at Alex's claim that a seaplane could land there and bring tourists. We thought the lagoon a bit small for that. During the time we were exploring ashore, our two caretaker friends were boiling coconut crabs, which had been caught and saved for our visit. We ate them later onboard, as we made our way towards Nukunonu, Tokelau. Although the Tokelau government considers Swains part of their country, Alex Jennings said nothing about the issue except that he hoped for increased trade with Tokelau. It is interesting to note that, while it took the Bounty Bay 36 hours to cross from Apia to Swains, the charter transport for the islanders covered the same distance in 9 hours, or 4 times our speed. This was one of our first indications that we were in for a long and tiring voyage across the Central Pacific! | |
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2007 Jul by Ray Woods |
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Six of us dedicated Traveler's Century Club members rented the boat "Bounty Bay" to go from Samoa to Tokelau in July of 2008. A definite highlight of this six day trip was spending three hours on remote Swains Island. Today only six people live there. They are paid caretakers for the island. Their two dogs heard our boat and alerted the family to our presence. Once on shore we went to the fresh water lake in the middle of the atoll, drank coconut juice and had a very pleasant visit. The most amazing thing to us was how remote Swains is. But yet it had a good population years ago.
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