Tuvalu

It may seem strange to have a lead picture on my post being an airport runway. Not everywhere is a runway a public promenade. It is here. Evenings will find people socializing all along it's length (see the 2nd picture). Streets cross it at grade. There are only 3 flights in and out weekly. So it is a public space otherwise. When a flight is incoming, sirens sound, roads are blocked and guards stand at all the crossings. In the 3rd picture, the plane is entering the apron at the terminal, not 50 meters from my seat in the hotel dining room.
Tuvalu is a tiny, low lying island nation (highest elevation only 15 feet above sea level) in the Pacific with a population of only about 11,000 people. (Those are not a typos.) There are several islands and atolls included, but most of the population is on the main island. The 4th picture is a screenshot of a map thanks to Google. It shows the main atoll. The main island to the right. It gives a sense as to how small this country is.
Tuvalu, I'm told, is one of the 3 least visited country in the world. There is little tourism infrastructure, and few entertainment venues, which is probably obvious when flight arrivals are a social occasion.
The 5th picture is the site of David's Drill. Dr. David led one of the British scientific expeditions to drill down test Darwin's hypothesis as to how coral atolls formed. They drilled twice and didn't reach the bottom of the coral structure of the island. Later science proved Darwin's hypothesis as accurate.
The next 3 pictures are around the island, the 7th looking across the lagoon to a couple of the other islands.Read more