BS274 Marshall Islands

7/28/2019 BS274 Marshall Islands

1/1010 b d s . . u k | J U N E 11

Forgotten and ar away rom everyone andeverything, the Marshall Islands may carry

a terrible past, but as Carine Camboulives,

Manu Bouvet, Levi Siver and Keith Teboul

discover, this cluster o atolls and islets

in the middle o the Pacifc may well be

the best windsurfng spot on Earth

Words: Carine Camboulives

Photos: Maxime Houyvet


2/10J U N E 11 | b d s . . u k


3/1012 b d s . . u k | J U N E 1 1

Happy as a clam, says the double-pagemagazine ad or a luxury hotel chain.I cant help but stare at it while we

take o rom Honolulu airport. A loving couple relax

side-by-side in their loungers in inches o water on asandy beach theyre supposed to be having the timeo their lives! Im not sure about you, but lying arounddoing nothing is the last thing Id like to see myseldoing. Manu and I have a good laugh about it, but hequickly gets back to his windsurng mag. It gets methinking though, as each time I take o or a trip I ndmysel asking the same questions: How are we goingto be eeling in that same plane on the way back? Whatvisions and souvenirs are we going to be carrying withus? How were the local people? and so on.

I love this mind game, and wonder i the othersdo the same. Kiki (Keith Teboul) seems absorbedby the in-fight movie. Our photographer, Max(Houyvet) is already sleeping, trying to recoverrom the jet-lag rom France. Levi (Siver) cant thinkabout anything because my daughter Lou is jumping

all over him and seems really excited. (I dont knowwho started it though) Our cameramen , Johnnyand Jace, are doing just ne in business class thats the producer liestyle! Happy as a clam!

Speaking o clams, Jace promised himsel to bringback a giant clam rom the Marshalls. His dad is adoctor and was sent to the islands by the US armyater the atomic bomb testing on Bikini Island thatstarted in the 50s. As a young kid Jace was captivatedby his dads story and the amazing shells he broughtback rom the tropical paradise.

MaJUro MotElWe land at Majuro, the capital o the Marshalls. It s along, narrow island, and although the population ojust 55,000 peop le is spread out over the Marshallstwo chains o atolls and 1,000 islets, Majuro is very

busy with people and buildings. Its where a lot oMarshallese come looking or work, ar away romtheir paradise islands, but unortunately many o themend up living in misery. Some, however, do manage to

make their way to Honolulu, the closest port o entryto the US.

We dont eel like wasting too much time in Majuro,so ater an uncomortable night in a noisy motel (on aladies night) where only Lou managed to grab somesleep, we head to a small island. But rst we have tohandle the gnarly and wet crossing on a motorboat. Itseems like a long journey, and Lou doesnt have timeto digest her breakast while Levi already regrets hiscoee. I cant wait to see land!

Finally a green line appears on the horizon, andwe make land. What a shock it is compared to thecapital! Here there are no modern conveniences noelectricity, no running water only beautiul jungleand a crystal-clear lagoon. What s more, the windsblowing strong. This place will be home or the next10 days. Lakwe!(Hello.)

Francis, our local contact, is waiting or us on thedock. We load his old truck then help him to push-start it to get on the only road, which splits the islanddown its centre. I look to my right, and see the ocean;I look to my let, and see the ocean. It comes as nosurprise to me to learn that these atolls are orecastto disappear within the next 20 years due to r ising sealevels. There isnt even a high point on the island nota single hill or a dune that could protect people andalready on some o the highest tides people have tobe evacuated. As a result o this tidal fooding the soiland water sources are becoming contaminated by salt,so some Marshallese are having to leave their homes.I dont see any crops or ruit trees growing, andFrancis explains that people here end up cultivatingplants in old petrol barrels to avoid the salty soil.


4/10J U N E 11 | b d s . . u k

What a wave! How perectis that? Unbelievable!

What i it gets bigger?


5/1014 b d s . . u k | J U N E 1 1

Its hard to fnd the words to describethe sessions we scored, but it was thebest windsurfng weve ever had


6/10J U N E 11 | b d s . . u k

local lifEFrancis shows us our home on the beach and what a beach it is!Looking at the endless sandy vista and the thousands o coconuttrees in the background, I cant believe my eyes. Theres not asingle building or miles. The suns high in the sky, so hot, and theequatorial light is strong as is the wind! The boys have alreadylet to check the waves, so Lou and I head o to explore the islandand meet the local children.

The houses are colourul and basic, typically wooden with a tin rooand surrounded by a well-maintained garden, which will usuallyalso be home to the graves o ancestors. Some people are busymaintaining their homes, while others relax under giant tamanus,the sacred Polynesian tree. The atmosphere is extremely calm and

peaceul, and I eel like Im part o a Gauguin painting!We introduce ourselves. Some women speak English, whichmakes it easier or me, though the kids dont need to talk toget together they run to the beach or a shell hunting party.The young Marshallese know that shells are a real treasure orrubelas (meaning oreigners, literally dressed people). Morethan a century ago the dressed people thought they had toteach the local women that showing their knees or elbows wasinappropriate, and orced them to dress decently. Ironically,nowadays the locals are ully covered under a burning sun whilethe rubelas work on their tans, wearing shorts or bikinis

O course, Bikini is particularly relevant in the Marshall Islands,as the notorious atoll which gave its name to the revolutionarybathing suit is not too ar rom where we are. And the bikinisdesigner, Louis Reard, was hoping that his creation was going tohave an impact as strong as the atom bomb tested on the island.

To learn more about all this Id brought along several articles onthe subject, but beore getting into those I have to keep an eyeon all the kids that are now playing with Lou by our bungalowand building a huge shell mountain by the door. I invite themall to come in and watch Lous Princess DVD so I can star treading. Within two minutes there are 20 kids staring in awe atthe computer! I quickly get into one particular ar ticle written byFabienne Lips-Dumas, which tells the story o a young girl calledLijon Eknilang, who could almost t the description o a latter dayMarshallese Cinderella with a dark uture.

Her story certainly begins like a airytale: Once upon a timein the Marshalls, there was a paradise island called Rongelap.Lijon was born there on 1 March 1954 But the airytale endsthere. On Lijons 8th birthday the sun rose in the west. Betweenocean and sky a star exploded. It had a name: Castle Bravo. Itwas a thermonuclear bomb with 1,000 times the power o theHiroshima bomb, which killed 140,000 people.


7/1016 b d s . . u k | J U N E 11

That day Lijon was brutally woken rom her sleep:I opened my eyes to a blinding light. Outside Icould hear my grandmother yelling ater my cousinas she thought shed set the house on re. I ranoutside the house crying. I was scared o re.Outside the light was still extremely strong. ThenI saw that thing alling rom the sky. It was hugeand round like a sun, a ball o re. Then there wasa huge explosion The ground was shaking. The

wind blasted us all down onto the ground. We wereall scared to death. The wind died suddenly. Therewas not a sound to be heard; all was silent. Peoplethought we were being attacked and that we wereall going to die. We hid in the bush. I was thirst y,then we all got hungry. We did eat but all our oodwas covered by a white powder. The powder hadno taste; the ood was a s good as usual. In theaternoon we all got very sick, as i wed all got verybad heatstroke rom too much sun. Our stomachswere hurting so bad we all threw up. Parents weretoo sick to look ater their kids.

Nerja, Lijons sister, was 7 years-old at the time. Ithought that it was soap powder. It had no smell toit. I took some and washed my hair with it as i itwas shampoo. Her radioactive hair wash causedher to lose all her hair and she got badly burnt. Hertestimony goes on, and I start eeling uncomortable.Hal a century later women are still giving birth tobaby monsters or jellysh babies, as theyre calledhere. These babies are transparent, and only theirbrain reminds you theye human beings.

Castle Bravo remains the most powerul bomb evertested. In 1994 some documents became publicand showed that the army deliberately tested theeects o atomic radiation on the people. I stopreading to look at the kids. Coincidentally they arewatching the scene where Cinderella cant go to theball and cries in the arms o her airy godmother.They all try to hide their tears, and so do I

All o a sudden I hear the boys coming back allexcited rom their wave scouting mission. Theyre alltalking at the same time, cheerul and happy. This is

more like it! I have a hard time understanding whattheyre saying, and can only grab a word here andthere. What a wave! How perect is that?Unbelievable! What i it gets bigger? Okayguys, tomorrow Ill be coming with you, thats orsure! Lou had been invited to go to school, so shellbe looked ater.

At 8.30am I drop her o, say komol tata (thank-you) to the teacher and run to the harbour where theboys are loading the boat. That will be our routineor the next 10 days or so. The wind blows every day,and the waves are pumping up to mast-and-a-halhigh! Way too much or me, and way too good orthe guys, who swear theyre having the time o theirlives on the water. Cameramen Jace and Johnnyand photographer Max cant believe the quality oshots theyre getting or the Windsurng Movie II!

Cameramen Jace and Johnny andphotographer Max cant believethe quality o shots theyre gettingor the Windsurfng Movie II


8/10J U N E 11 | b d s . . u k


9/1018 b d s . . u k | J U N E 11

SaUvagE tiMES

We start eeling like were at home onour little island. Happy as clams I wouldsay, even though the time has cometo resume the search, to move on withSophie and Didier, our guides or the next10 days. In the morning we get aboardSauvage, their 60t aluminium monohullthat will take us to the outer atolls.

Although were all really excited aboutgetting on the boat or a whole newexperience, were a bit worried abouthow well handle the rst crossing,which will take a good 24 hours. Varioustechniques are employed to avoid thedreaded sea sickness. Carine, Levi andJohnny are game on to try any producton the market, rom wearing anti sea-

sickness bracelets on both wrists topopping Dramamine tablets twice a day.Ater each dose they a ll have ull smileson their aces and head straight to theircabins or a long nap! Max is also a bitsick, but hes so happy to be part o thetrip that he tries the denial technique,which consists o saying Everythingsgreat all the time. Jace eels quite athome on the boat, but to saeguardagainst any unexpected reaction hedrinks several glasses o whisky beoreputting his light meter to rest or the day.Keith decides hes a Dramamine man too,but goes or the open air option, sleepingoutside in the cockpit. I do the same, asLou alls asleep on the outside bench.

Thus prepared, the crossing is great, andthe rhythm o lie slows down as the sea

slides past Sauvage.At dusk we enter a huge lagoon (one othe biggest in the world) by the southernpass. As the local customs require, weask the chie o the atoll or permissionto stay in the area and sur. Permissionis granted by an elderly man whose acedisplays all the warm-heartedness o thePolynesian people.

We wont see another boat or any othertraveller during our time in the outerislands. We cruise rom island to island,exploring passes and headlands that lookvery promising or waves. But or nowthe swell is playing shy, so we enjoy lieon board: the amazing surroundings, thedeserted islet, the colourul coral headsand the great shing. We all get someoutstanding fat-water sessions and SUPcruising by the ree.

The last two days we scored some othe best windsurng weve ever had maybe even better than what we had atthe beginning o the trip. But no matterhow hard I try I cant nd the words toadequately describe those sessions,and thankully there is no need to doso, because no words can tell the storybetter than Maxs amazing pictures.

We sailed or seven hours on the last day.Not one o us could remember the lasttime we did that! In act, no-one couldthink o a better trip altogether

Not one o uscould rememberthe last time wesailed or sevenhours straight


10/10

marshallactsThe Marshall Islands consist o two chains o coral atolls, together

with more than 1,000 islets, just north o the equator. The atolls are

coral deposits on the crater rims o submerged volcanoes.

The islands were occupied by the US or several decades ater World

War II, but are now a sovereign nation under a Compact o Free

Association with the US. The legacy o the post-war US occupation

is seen particularly starkly on Bikini and Enewetak, which were both

used or nuclear weapons testing between 1946 and 1958.

Gaining fnancial independence remains a major problem or theislands, as imports dwar expor ts, unemployment is high and many

islanders live by subsistence arming. Tourism, o course, is one

option. As you can see rom the stunning images on these pages,

unspoiled beaches abound and the islands are an ideal base or

windsurfng, surfng, SUP, scuba diving and sports fshing.

Full name: Republic o the Marshall Islands

Population: 54,400

Capital: Majuro

Main languages: Marshallese, English

Main religion: Christianity

Currency: US dollar

Main exports: Chilled and rozen fsh, coconut oil, copra, shark fns

For the trip of your life visitsauvageocean.com

Documents

BS274 Marshall Islands