The long road
Water on both sides.
Mark Uriona — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade — CC BY 2.0 · Erin Magee/DFAT — CC BY 2.0 · mrlins — CC BY 2.0 · mrlins — CC BY 2.0
Majuro is a coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean and the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. A long, narrow strip of land curves around a wide lagoon, so you see calm lagoon water on one side and open ocean on the other, with a road, houses and coconut palms between them. Majuro has 64 islets, with just 9.7 km² of land around a 295 km² lagoon. Its highest point, at Laura village, is under 3 m above the sea. People have lived here for at least 2,000 years, and old earth ovens at Laura point to settlement around the 1st century AD. It became the country's capital in place of Jaluit after the Marshall Islands formed their own republic in 1978. The main town, Delap-Uliga-Djarrit, is three joined islets with the port, shops and hotels. A single road runs about 50 km along the atoll to Laura in the west, so you drive it with water on both sides and stop to swim or fish from the shore. The centre of the atoll is about 13 km in a straight line west of Delap-Uliga-Djarrit. It is hot and humid all year, with September to November the rainiest months. Dress modestly away from the beach.
Water on both sides.
Calm water.
From the shore.
Ratak Chain, Marshall Islands
By taxi or rental car on the single road.
Year-round; most rain falls September to November.