When the Girl Guides go off to summer camp (at the end of the island) that's an occasion to get out the marching band and give them a good sendoff! Such is life on Penrhyn!

We made friends with several of the folks in the band (left). The music from this group was quite impressive especially considering that about half of the people were off island involved in athletic competitions. My friend, Eddie had to stay behind to feed the pigs (about two dozen of them).

You can almost hear the music playing when you look at a couple of these photos. In fact, we heard the music from our anchored boat and came in to see what was happening. The festivities occurred to send the Girl Guides off to summer camp. The band also shows up to welcome the occasional airplane with visitors to the island.

We were taken out by one of the few pickup trucks to visit the "airport." It consists of a very long air strip built by the US military in WWII.

On the way to the airport we visited the hospital - which is not a bad structure. The resident doctor is a young man from Burma doing his "residency"  with no supervising doctor present - I think it's called O.J.T. (on the job training!).

I tried to give him a twenty minute course in oral surgery as there was no other dental care on the island. There were very few dental instruments and no dental x-ray at the hospital either.

This is our friend, Tongaroa (left). He invited us over to his house (and small store) for coffee - consisting of instant coffee, powdered milk and lots of sugar). He helped us understand the local customs so as not to offend people. That can be quite a help in some of these out of the way places. People just don't know why you don't behave properly (It's because you don't know that wearing long pants to church is mandatory for men and a hat is also mandatory for women).

Tongaroa took us "diving" and I got to practice my underwater photography. I'm still learning!! These little guys are very common and not too hard to photograph. Their name: blue-green chromis (Chromis viridis). They are seen hovering above the branching coral in sheltered areas.

These big guys (blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus - left) are also quite common and not too hard to photograph. We were told not to worry bout them. Then there were three of them! And when there were five of them I got out of the water!

One the right are a couple of friendly guys and their pilot fish.

These little threadfin butterflyfish (Chaetodon auiga) flit round so much it's not easy to get a good focus, but as I said this is my second attempt! You see a giant clam and a massive coral also.

On the right we have a convict surgeonfish (Acanthurus triostegus).

The giant clams (Tridacna derasa)come in several different colors - quite pretty! They have a lacey appearance (left). I'm trying to get the exact name of the various corals, so bear with me!

Penrhyn is known for its hat making. A fancy hat and decorative band can go for over $200. All the women know how to make the hats and girls learn as soon as they are able (right).

Boys are also pressed into service to harvest the immature palm fronds (left). These are cut out of the center of a tree and undergo an extensive process to create the pliable white strands you see above.

This is a newer house being built. Many homes are in the process of construction as people move back and forth from New Zealand or Australia to ear money to continue their task. There are also quite a few abandoned homes where people just give up. Maybe their children will come back and resume building as descendants own the land into perpetuity. 

When the Girl Guides returned from their campout there was another larger parade with some very impressive floats! The "ship" with the Canadian flags was put together by the school.

The hospital had a float and the nurse was the "queen."

Here are the dancing girls from Penrhyn. Pretty cute!! We understand that many of the dances were learned while the girls were away at camp.

You can see that everyone has fun!

We visited "the other side" (right) of the reef and found a small community living there. Their life is even more minimal than you might imagine. There are about 50 people living there.

Welcome to the "Penrhyn Island Petting Zoo!" When you come to shore with your dinghy the pets of the island come to greet you, hoping to receive the castoffs from your "fishing" expedition. I'm sure these are blacktip reef sharks, but the brown color and more rounded snouts confused me.

The Churches on the islands are quite lovely (left). A reminder  of times when populations were in the thousands and travel to New Zealand and Australia was far less common.

We hope we repaired the Church bell while we were there. Though two men actually carried the bell, it tool a committee of about a dozen to get the job done. This is common throughout the islands! We repaired the clapper using marine epoxy and hope it will now ring for many years.

We had been in Penrhyn much longer than we expected and made some very lovely friends. Tongaroa and Rio were two of those friends. They were kind enough to see us off with gifts of cocoanuts and a necklace which we will certainly never forget. Our leaving of Penrhyn is a bit like this web page - it really must end sometime!