Is there any place on Earth where you can visit a lush, unspoiled tropical paradise, where the outside world is an abstraction, where pious, honest people live happily on what they produce, and where strangers are always welcomed as friends?
Probably not, but if there is any destination that comes close to that kind of Elysium, it is this 42-square-mile dollop in the western Pacific, about halfway between Hawaii and Guam. It is one of four islands making up the Federated States of Micronesia.
No one has yet found the treasure buried here more than a century ago by the American pirate “Bully” Hayes. Nevertheless, some try every year. And in this diver’s paradise, many also descend to the wreck of Hayes’ ship, which sunk in the main harbor in 1874.
Today Kosrae’s population of 8,000 manages to enjoy life without benefit of television, cell phones or ATM machines. It does have electricity and a modicum of hard-wired telephones. As for bathrooms, facilities are at least flush, if not plush.
There are also few if any taxis, but that’s not a problem. Just begin walking and someone will stop to offer a lift.
“Even if you try to go jogging here, it’s hard to take two steps before someone wants to give you a ride,” said Bruce Brandt with a laugh. He and Katrina Adams are displaced Californians who now run the Kosrae Village Resort on the island.
Kosrae (vaguely pronounced as “kosher-rye”) is easy enough to reach, by flying west of Honolulu on the island-hopper jet service of Continental Air Micronesia, a subsidiary of Continental Airlines.
Over the vast watery distances southwest of Hawaii are collections of islands, one group of which is designated Micronesia. Many of these islands are flat, relatively mundane coral atolls — stepping stone anchorages such as Kawajalein and Johnston Islands, which have proven useful mainly as tiny U.S. military outposts.
Kosrae is the first “high island” to be encountered on such a route, a heavily foliaged and extremely fertile mountainous volcanic place, whose three harbors served as welcome havens to Pacific wanderers in the 19th Century.
It was known then as, and is still popularly called, the “Island of the Sleeping Lady” because of a mountainous ridge that seems to be a silhouette of a supine woman.
In modern times, Kosrae has been known mainly to dedicated divers, avid fishermen and the international community of wandering yachtsmen. It has also welcomed a few archeologists, anthropologists, naturalists and other academics who have found a culture and an eco-system worth studying and preserving.
Now the island movers and shakers are looking to promote tourism. The fact that this is still a nascent industry may mean that now is the best time to go.
Kosrae’s popularity with sailors goes back to the 19th Century, when members of the Pacific whaling fleet found the Sleeping Lady’s amiable population and pleasant topography a welcome destination for rest and relaxation.
Pirates and missionaries also found it fertile ground. More success was ultimately enjoyed by the latter. In a few short years, they managed to convert almost the entire population to Congregationalism, a church that remains dominant on the island. Kosraens speak their own language in daily life, but English is required in schools, and most of the population knows it reasonably well.
Don’t look for any nightlife on Kosrae — at least nothing beyond the Thursday night dinners at the Kosrae Village Resort. Children of the island often show up there to perform native songs and dances for the diners. Otherwise the best entertainment is provided at church, where islanders sing old hymns in wonderful multipart harmony on Sundays and holidays.
When the first western explorers visited Kosrae, they found it ruled by a king who was honored by devoted loyal subjects. But it was apparent that this was a relatively recent society, because there were some mysterious ruins giving evidence of a much more ancient and cultivated civilization.
These Ruins of Lelu are still in existence and are being carefully spruced up for the benefit of both scientists and casual romanticists who want to speculate on what life was like on the island centuries ago.
Another set of ruins, less delineated and less well maintained, can be found after a long trek in the mountains. Called the Menke Ruins, they were the center for the worship of the goddess Sinlaku, whose word was law before the missionaries came along.
Today those who enjoy hikes will like the trail through the rain forest to the Menke Ruins. But if you come expecting to find evidence of any sophisticated construction, better save your experience for the more well-preserved and better documented ruins of Lelu. The rough Menke route involves fording a meandering stream at least five times. On the other hand, the variety of tropical foliage and wild fruit found along the way will be more than enough compensation for the dedicated eco-tourist.
A natural experience all can enjoy is the outrigger canoe rides through the peaceful mangrove channels of Kosrae. These watery highways were cut through the forest of leaves and dense arial roots in ancient times, and they still can be safely navigated today.
Now part of the Kosrae Marine Park, the canals provide a guided experience through a world of seven different types of mangroves and other thick vegetation that grows along its edges. At low tide, one mangrove channel forms the ideal route to visit the isolated village of Walung. A charming throwback to an earlier age, Walung refuses to have streets or any road connecting it to other villages on Kosrae.
At one point on the trip, you’ll see a separate islet populated by hundreds of noddy terns. If your guide is Madison Nena, the park’s conservation officer, he will explain that the terns chose this place to lay their eggs because it is far enough away from land to keep the monitor lizards from eating their young.
The monitor lizards, introduced by the Japanese, can run up to six feet in length. Harmless to humans, the reptiles were originally imported in an attempt to eliminate rats but stayed to decimate several species of ground-nesting birds.
The Japanese occupied Kosrae for more than 20 years prior to World War II. During the war, the allies bombed and successfully thwarted an attempt to build a military airfield. And there was no usable runway at all on Kosrae until 1977, though seaplanes used to touch down occasionally in earlier days.
Allied invasion plans for Kosrae were eventually discarded. However, in one incident, a U.S. Navy frogman delivered by submarine managed to sneak ashore, blow up a fuel dump as a distraction and then photograph a Japanese code book at a military radio station. The frogman was depicted by James Garner in the 1959 film “Up Periscope,” now occasionally seen on TV.
The remains of the radio station are still on the beach, a topsy-turvy concrete curiosity available for casual exploration. Other evidence of Japanese occupation can be seen in several places throughout the island.
The civilian Japanese who occupied the island also fell under the amiable spell of the locals. Near the end of the war, and despite the shortage of food, most Japanese defied orders from Tokyo calling for the massacre of all the indigenous population.
On the designated day, which was supposed to be a special holiday for races and games, the local Japanese and some military men purposely mixed in with the crowds of Kosraens, frustrating the intent of machine gunners who ultimately gave up the plan.
This “massacre that didn’t happen” is still celebrated as an unofficial holiday in Kosrae.
IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE
Kosrae is reached three days per week from Honolulu on Continental Air Micronesia. Package rates and advance purchase fares are available from Honolulu ($1,300 roundtrip) and other cities served by Continental Airlines, the parent company to “Air Mike.” More information is available from Continental at 800-525-0280.
LODGING
There are six small hotels on the island, ranging from the more expensive Kosrae Village Resort (doubles $95) to the more economical Sandy Beach Hotel (doubles $72). Others are the Coconut Palm, the Kosrae Nautilus, the Pacific Tree Lodge and the Tradewinds. Package rates for diving and/or fishing are available from most properties.
INFORMATION
Day tours run from $5 (visit to the Lelu Ruins) to around $90 (two-tank boat diving).
Recommended reading includes “The Sleeping Lady,” by Harvey Gordon Segal. A copy can be secured from the Office of Tourism for $17, including postage.
Further information is available from the Kosrae Office of Tourism, P.O. Box 600, Kosrae, FSM 96944 (011-691-370-2228; e-mail: kosrae@mail.fm). Also the Kosrae Village Resort maintains a Web site that answers several general questions at www.kosraevillage.com.
