Category Archives: Daily Lime

Bombing of Funafuti Celebration

Leave a reply

We are invited to celebrate Te Aso o te Paula which translates to “The Day of the Bomb.”  This is a ceremonial day for Funafuti where they celebrate surviving the WWII bomb and the minimal loss of life.

The main atoll of Funafuti in Tuvalu received the U.S. Marines on October 2, 1942.  Funafuti became a significant army and navy base housing a total of 350 aircraft and a brand new airport.

The Japanese didn’t know the Americans built a base in Funafuti, Tuvalu.  They were looking for other bases to the North of Kiribati, not to the south.

The Japanese bombed Funafuti seven months after the airport was completed on April 23, 1943.

Even though one local and two servicemen lost their lives they still celebrate this day of survival.

Fun Fact about Funafuti

There are two main villages on the island.  To the south of the Presbyterian church is one village. The other village is located to the north of the church.  The church sits in the center of the island between both villages.  

There is one chief over the entire island and the priest is “over” the chief.

Celebrating in Funafuti

The two villages participate in games all week long to see who is the superior village.  On the celebration day, the compete in dance and song.

A group of men surround a platform that they use as a drum.  Singers surround the drummers and the dancers face the opposite village.

The celebrations start out with lunch and speeches.  The U.S. flag and special plaque are on display.

The villagers decorate the hall with beautiful, handwoven crafts.

The Dancers

Every song and dance tells a story.  Threaded through every story is the gratitude for the gift of life.

The women dancers delight with their beautiful smiles and gentle hand gestures.

The men show their fierce nature with strong movements and stomps.

A few of my favorite performers.

The 80th Anniversary Celebrated in NZ 

A beautiful video of the celebrations in New Zealand on April 23, 2023. 

A survivor recounts the Day of the Bomb. 

She remembered over 40 locals running to the church.  And shortly after an American soldier told them to evacuate as the church was an easy target. The church was later destroyed.

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events. 

We celebrated Te Aso o te Paula on 23 April 2025.

See more information on No Foreign Land 

In our last blog post I share the dramatic failures on Sugar Shack.

Tuvalu and its Charms

Leave a reply

Tuvalu is such a small country but it is rich in its charms and culture.  We’ve met so many lovely people who have welcomed us with big smiles and hardy waves!

Formation of Atolls – David’s Drill

An great attraction in Funafuti is “David’s Drill.”

Scientists from the Royal Society of London conducted experimental drilling in the late 1800s.  Their goal was to test Charles Darwin’s theory of atoll formation. Darwin, the famous formulator of evolution theory, believed that all coral atolls rest on a volcanic base. The deepest bore at David’s Drill reached over 1,000′ and proved Darwin’s theory. The boreholes can still be seen to this day in Fongafale village.

Funafuti has the oldest, most comprehensive geological map of any atoll globally.  This provides a unique dataset for on-going contributions to the geological sciences.

Tuvalu Stamps – Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau

The Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau is located at the southern end of the township of Funafuti. Stamps depicting facets of Tuvalu are printed overseas and are highly collectable.

Since 1975, collectors from more than 60 countries around the globe have eagerly sought new issues of Tuvalu stamps.

There are over one hundred stamps on display that you can purchase.  You tell the worker what stamp you want and she searches the boxes (2nd row, left photo) for your stamps).

The popularity of these unique and original stamps grew rapidly.

These are the stamps I purchased:

Public Gym – Fitness Area

Near the beach with a beautiful view is a fitness area donated fitness equipment.  It looks a bit old (2019) but it all works.

Amazing Garden

It is very difficult for the people living on atolls to have any type of garden.  The reason is because they do not have any soil or dirt. 

However, the clever people of Tuvalu have created and maintain a spectacular community garden.  With much thanx to the Taiwanese. 

The Taiwanese provide the seeds, tools, and soil.  The locals built an area above the coral, covered it, added enriched soil, and started planting. 

They have dozens of enormous rain water tanks to keep things hydrated..

The locals use pig and chicken manure to enrich the soil. 

It also gives them an opportunity to sell the eggs and pigs for additional income.

The result is a rich, thriving garden. 

They sell tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, eggplant, peppers, bananas, lettuce, bok choi, squash and more.

To purchase items from the garden you arrive at 6:00am on Tuesday or Saturday. There is no shopping cart or bag.  A list is passed around that you write your order on. Then you wait for your name to be called to collect your bag.

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.

Did you read about Tuvalu’s status as the 2nd smallest country in the world in our last blog post?

Tuvalu, the Smallest Country in the World?

2 Replies

Tuvalu is situated in the South Pacific.  Southeast of the Marshall Islands and Kiribati and North of Fiji and New Zealand.  It is barely a spec on the world map.

Tuvalu is a fully independent island nation within the Commonwealth. 

The country consists of 3 reef islands and 9 atolls. The population is 10,643 (consensus 2022).  This makes it the 2nd least populous country in the world (behind the Vatican City).

A Disappearing Country

Tuvalu is a low-lying island nation and is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise.  The highest point is a mere 15′ above sea level making it one of the countries most threatened by climate change.

Rising sea levels not only push back its shorelines, but the encroaching salt water also erodes the country’s limited farmland. The sea’s warming temperatures also threaten surrounding marine life.

The country made international headlines in 2021 when then-foreign minister Simon Kofe delivered a speech to the United Nations while standing knee-deep in water.

Because there is not a significant amount of soil the country has to rely heavily on imports and fishing for food.

During our visit we got to witness their attempt to save their island. 

Australia and New Zealand invested close to $100 million to add 40 acres of land. A massive amount of machinery. It starts with dredging the lagoon, then filtering sand, creating enormous sand mounds, then filling huge sand bags.  They then use the sand bags to create barriers between the shore and lagoon (bottom photo).

Income Sources

The local government has several income sources. However, two of them are their largest revenue stream.

The first is from fishing licenses.  Like many other Pacific Nations, Tuvalu sells fishing licenses to other countries.  This gives international companies the rights to fish in the Tuvalu waters.  

The second source of revenue is from a digital source. The government owns the suffix .tv.  So their email and web addresses end in .tv.  For example, christine.mitchell@tuvalu.tv.

As a brilliant move, the government sold its .tv internet suffix to a Californian company.  This brings in several million dollars a year in continuing revenue.  The California company then sells the suffix to television broadcasters.

Many locals harvest copra or work on cargo ships and send money back to their families

We arrived in Tuvalu a few days after they christened their very 1st ATM!  Can you believe it?  This cash only country had no ATM.

Funafuti Marine Conservation

20% of the lagoon in Funafuti is a marine conservation area covering 33sq kilometers (12.74 sq. miles). 

The conservation area consists of reef, lagoon, and motus on the western side of the atoll (gray area in image). 

Many species of fish, coral, algae, and invertebrates call this area home including the endangered green sea turtle.

Tuvalu Airport

For being such a small country it has a really nice airport. 

The landing strip has been newly paved making it the nicest we’ve seen in years. 

Fiji Link flies three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) to and from Fiji and Tuvalu.  It is a big event when the plane comes so we took the opportunity to watch it a few times.  

Children use the runway as a playground when in between flights.

WWII 

Thousands of U.S. troops were stationed in Tuvalu during WWII.  They used used Tuvalu as a launching place to attack the Japanese in Kiribati. 

It is not uncommon to find WWII remnants on the beaches and reefs in Funafuti the capital of Tuvalu.

Beginning in 1942, U.S. forces built airbases on the islands of Funafuti, Nanumea, and Nukufetau. The Funafuti airstrip is still in use.

The Navy built a sea port, a small hospital, PT boat base, a seaplane base and an airbase.

Interesting Websites

We managed to find the “town drunk” who was super jovial and willing to share his jug of vodka coke with Matt

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  We were in Tuvalu from April 18-25, 2025.

Check out Tuvalu on No Foreign Land: www.noforeignland.com/place/6056779874041856 

Can you believe we had a double steering failure on our passage from the Marshall Islands?