Nahkapw is the island directly across from Nan Madol, and if you want to stay overnight and explore the ruins over a couple of days, this is the place to camp. The island is composed of coral rubble and thickly forested. Sandy beaches lie around the north and northeast coasts and there’s a nice protected, shallow place to swim on the west coast inside the boulder break-wall. The latter is believed to have been constructed during the Nan Madol Period or perhaps even before. Legends speak of two ancient stone cities that pre-dated Nan Madol; one of these is said to lie beneath or beyond Nahkapw. Some archaeologists have proposed that the island itself is man-made, but though much of the western and northern coastlines are surrounded by gigantic basalt boulders that are certainly not natural to the area, there doesn’t seem to be any columnar basalt around Nahkapw. The island has an irregular shape. The best swimming is off the north end, where the beach drops straight off into the deeps of Pahn Nahkapw — a huge “blue hole”. The snorkeling and SCUBA diving around the west edge of the reef wall (next to the boulder line) and to the northeast is excellent.
- To obtain permission for overnight stays, call Hentrick Etse at +691.320.8782.
