Tiny Nassau is the sister island of PUKAPUKA and is the only one of the Northern Group without a lagoon. There is just one concrete house which is owned by the Government. Families live in kikau thatched cottages. Access is by inter island boat from Pukapuka and it is only three years since the island was hooked up to the telephone system. Elliot Smith, in the invaluable "Cook Islands Companion describes it as "a small garden of Eden". The land is rich in taro and fruit groves, and fish and shellfish are caught off the reef.
In July, a ship picks eveyone up, stops at Papapuka to offload about 40,000 taro plants and continues to Rarotonga for the annual constitution celebrations. All the buildings are boarded up and the island is deserted for two months.
Population 99 0.5 sq mls
Nassau is the tiny speck at the centre of this picture from the space shuttle
Image Courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center
Mission roll frame number
10037921 http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
