The Marshall Islands are a group of atolls and reefs in the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between Hawaii and Australia .

Understand

After almost four decades under US administration as the easternmost part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands attained independence in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association. Compensation claims continue as a result of US nuclear testing on some of the atolls between 1947 and 1962. The Marshall Islands have been home to the US Army Post Kwajalein (USAKA) since 1964. A number of islands are off-limits to tourism (and even to locals) due to US military presence or the residue of nuclear testing.

Climate

Wet season from May to November; hot and humid; islands border typhoon belt.

Landscape

The Marshall Islands consist of two island chains of 30 atolls and 1,152 islands, of low coral limestone and sand. Bikini and Enewetak are former US nuclear test sites; Kwajalein, the famous World War II battleground, is now used as a US missile test range.

Climate

Wet season from May to November; hot and humid; islands border typhoon belt.

Cities

• Majuro

• Kwajalein

Getting there

By plane

Air Marshall Islands (CW) provides regular scheduled internal flights to 10 of the atolls in the Marshall Islands and has planes available for charter. Flights are available between Honolulu and the Marshall Islands and to Fiji via Kiribati and Tuvalu. Continental Micronesia (CS) stops in Majuro and Kwajalein on its island-hopper service between Guam and Honolulu.
Continental Airlines (CO) also offers weekly flights to and from Guam and Honolulu.

Approximate flight times: From New York to Majuro is 14 hours; from Tokyo it is 11, from Guam it is eight hours to Majuro and five hours from Honolulu.

International airports: Majuro International Airport (MAJ). There are taxis and hotel transport from the airport to the town.

Traveling around

By plane
Air travel between the islands is provided by Air Marshall Islands. However, the company is fraught with financial and technical problems, so one or both of the two planes in the fleet are often downed for days, weeks, or months at a time.

By Boat
Transportation by ship is also available. Field trip ships travel throughout the islands, typically to pick up copra and deliver supplies; they usually provide passenger service as well.

To give a sense of scale, the ride from Majuro to Jaluit is approximately 40 minutes by plane and 24 hours by boat.

On Majuro
There is a plethora of taxis available on the main road that travels the length of Majuro Atoll. Seventy-five cents will buy a trip to anywhere in the Majuro city area. To get to Laura, on the other end of the island, there is a bus that leaves about once an hour from Robert Reimers Hotel.

Eat

sea food,cassava and coconut

Talk

Most Marshallese speak Marshallese and English. One important word in Marshallese is "yokwe" which is similar to the Hawaiian "aloha" and means "hello", "goodbye" and "love".

Work

It is possible for Americans to get work on either Kwajalein or Roi-Namur Islands in Kwajalein Atoll. Only citizens of the Marshall Islands and US Military personnel are allowed to disembark at Kwajalein atoll.