South Pacific Islands

A huge low pressure system snuck up on Suva and disrupted schools and business. Princess Anne is in Papua New Guinea on a royal visit. Niue is now awaiting assay results from uranium drill cores. Palau shipping receives a major setback when a prominent operator decides to forsake the region. The forestry deparment in PNG is having trouble enforcing forestry regulation. There is escalating unrest in the Wallis and Futuna Islands.

Sep 29, 2005 - Larry Low

Few events in nature can surpass the thrill of spotting a Bird of Paradise in the wild. The photos done in zoos are technically superior but there is nothing like capturing the male Bird of Paradise on the wing.

Sep 27, 2005 - Larry Low

Pacific Plan debate at meeting in Papua New Guinea;regional police training program;Vanuatu dialing for dollars;Tokelau link trial;overseas aid;Cook Island diplomacy; kava ban; Amnesty Bill and Pacific trade issue sums up this week's news

Sep 26, 2005 - Larry Low

Emperor Gold Mines battling for survival; Australian military recruitment proposal; political tension in Wallis and Futuna; suspect bill tabled in PNG parliament, agricultural guest workers proposed for Australia,

Sep 25, 2005 - Larry Low

A hospital evacuation in the Marshall Islands,Maori political clout on the horizon in New Zealand,Pacific Islands Forum gets a new inspection, marine waste dumping becomes serious and the human development index leaves Fiji lagging. Meanwhile fund raising in Vanuatu raises complaints.

Sep 19, 2005 - Larry Low

There is a shortage of doctors in the Islands and especially in Guam; Brutality by PNG police reported; Guest work concept broached; Coconut power in the offing; Raratonga Flycatcher numbers increase; Fiji has plans for sugar money;Proposed Pacific Space launch a possibility.

Sep 15, 2005 - Larry Low

Papua New Guinea is eager to increase its tourism numbers dramatically by 2008. Guadalcanal suffers significant landslide damage due to torrential rains. PNG and Fiji discuss direct airline routes. Sumitomo will begin prospecting for nickel and cobalt on Santa Isabel. Tuvalu plans universal Internet access for all Tuvaluans.

Sep 9, 2005 - Larry Low

An improving economy in the Solomon Islands brings an embarrassment due to riches,Hawaiian educators are in trouble over the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the PNG stock exchange is maturing,Nauru's financial woes continue,a Blackbirding conference was held in Queensland,whaling controversy is still in the news, the United States may monitor human rights in the Indonesian province of West Papua,large anniversary celelbrations are being held in New Caledonia,and debt forgiveness is unlikely in Vanuatu.

Aug 24, 2005 - Larry Low

Fiji tourism appears to be at a crossroads. There is still tremendous development being carried out by both government and the private sector but there is also a large measure of uncertainty as to which direction the industry should be heading.

Aug 23, 2005 - Larry Low

Romance South Pacific is about Fiji and the romantic appeal that the people and the place engender.

Aug 22, 2005 - Larry Low

HIV-AIDS crisis in Papua New Guinea,potential uranium mining in Niue,China's offer to help rebuild PNG's Highlands Highway and The Pacific Flying School in Fiji comprise this week's news.

Aug 20, 2005 - Larry Low

Taveuni was lucky in the extreme that outside predators did not get the chance to destroy its magnificent bird life.

Aug 18, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens in the Pacific

Jul 29, 2005 - Larry Low

Major changes in Fiji education are on the horizon, the Australian police assistance in PNG has been temporarily suspended, an undersea volcano filled with never-before-witnessed undersea creatures awaits further exploration, and the aftermath of American nuclear testing in the Pacific still looms in the Marshall Islands.

Jun 22, 2005 - Larry Low

Australian police officers leave Papua New Guinea. HIV is of concern in PNG. Scientists claim that fish can hear. Nauru switches horses mid-stream. Large tourism project slated for Tahiti receives adamant opposition.

May 22, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens around the Pacific. This news break is about radioactive fallout in Guam,international adoptions,trade agreements,investment growth in Fiji,intriguing political ideas in Tahiti,gold mining in the Solomons and an old hand but a Young leader for Niue.

May 13, 2005 - Larry Low

Pacific Tourism is on the rise. Papua New Guinea pipeline is now in the design stage. There is friction between expatriate police officers and homeland police. Gold Mining difficulties crop up in Fiji and proposed forestry legislation in PNG comes under scrutiny of Greenpeace.

May 7, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens around the Pacific.

May 2, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens anywhere in the Pacific.

Apr 22, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News around the Pacific as it happens.

Apr 16, 2005 - Larry Low

Tourism infrastructure is on the rise in the Pacific. There are new flights to new places and new facilities just about everywhere and that's not all.

Apr 14, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens in the Pacific.

Apr 5, 2005 - Larry Low

Solar Power could make quite a difference in the lives of islanders living on remote atolls.

Apr 2, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens around the Pacific.

Mar 27, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens in the Pacific.

Mar 26, 2005 - Larry Low

Some people come to New Guinea and stay for a week, others come for a week and stay for a lifetime. Papua New Guinea is eternally fascinating and frustrating. Home to the world's largest butterfly, the bird of paradise,orchids galore, and the world's best coffee, it offers natural beauty in abundance.

Mar 25, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens.

Mar 15, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens in and around the Pacific.

Mar 6, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens around the Pacific.

Mar 5, 2005 - Larry Low

Breaking News as it happens around the Pacific.

Mar 4, 2005 - Larry Low

Easter Island contains an ancient mystery, which hopefully will be unravelled some day.

Feb 1, 2005 - Larry Low

This article is for those who are in peril on the high seas.

Jan 26, 2005 - Larry Low

Niue's future is tied up with the paramaters of economic geography.

Jan 24, 2005 - Larry Low

Norfolk Island is a comfortable and beautiful place to visit. It is full of history going back to Australia's first penal colonies and to the arrival of Pitcairners whose dynasty was foreordained on the Bounty.

Jan 10, 2005 - Larry Low

Adventure Cruises are just the thing for those who sneer at the rigors of shuffleboard.

Jan 8, 2005 - Larry Low

The Reef Check report of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, released on December 6, 2004 highlights threats to future health of the ocean's coral reefs and the consequences caused by pollution, deforestation, over-fishing and destructive fishing practices will have on reef environments.

Jan 7, 2005 - Larry Low

The Pacific Ocean provides many great dive locales. This article is about the sites that I would rather dive if I had my druthers.

Dec 31, 2004 - Larry Low

Captain Cook was the first European to make telling contact with the Polynesian people of the Pacific.

Dec 20, 2004 - Larry Low

A village homestay, I can assure you, is the closest that you will ever come to absorbing the culture and lifestyle of the Solomon Islands, unless of course you would to undergo tribal initiation. I wouldn't recommend it.

Dec 20, 2004 - Larry Low

The development of the Boeing 7E7 Sonic Cruiser concept, scheduled to enter airline service about 2007, will have a significant effect on international travel. Due to a combination of factors, Pacific island tourism is likely to grow unbelievably fast during the next decade.

Dec 6, 2004 - Larry Low

We know more about the back side of the moon than we do of the ocean floor. A group of Japanese and New Zealand oceanographic scientists are attempting to rectify this oversight.

Nov 26, 2004 - Larry Low

Papua New Guinea lacks the capital necessary to provide badly needed infrastructure such as roads.

Nov 8, 2004 - Larry Low

Some of the darndest acts of stupidity make one wonder.

Oct 31, 2004 - Larry Low

Pacific development has a new partner. The peoples of the Pacific cannot fail to notice the presence of a new entity in their midst.

Oct 29, 2004 - Larry Low

An alphabetized table of contents makes life much easier for surfers and editors alike.

Oct 26, 2004 - Larry Low

Third World Pacific island nations often have poor returns because of high operating costs and a small local market, are overshadowed by larger nations such as Australia or New Zealand and to boot are undercapitalized.

Oct 23, 2004 - Larry Low

The most newsworthy items in the Pacific Islands as of October 12,2004. Stay tuned.

Oct 14, 2004 - Larry Low

Happenings in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and elsewhere are the basis of this article.

Oct 8, 2004 - Larry Low

The Pitcairn Island community faces a new challenge to its survival.

Sep 27, 2004 - Larry Low

In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl and a small crew spent 101 days on a balsa raft and sailed approximately 4,000 miles to a remote island in the Tuamotus, part of French Polynesia.

Sep 14, 2004 - Larry Low

Getting down to the nitty gritty of what is really happening in the Pacifc.

Sep 12, 2004 - Larry Low

Black pearl cultivation is becoming endemic in the South Pacific.

Sep 10, 2004 - Larry Low

This article provides an historical sketch of the development of Fiji's tourism industry and a look at its future.

Aug 30, 2004 - Larry Low

Thor Heyerdahl developed a theory that the Polynesian people of the Pacific had come from Peru in South America by raft and from the coast of British Columbia in large canoes.

Jul 30, 2004 - Larry Low

There's lots happening around the Pacific on big islands and small, even on atolls.

Jul 12, 2004 - Larry Low

A group of Honolulu firefighters have started a surfing school. They tell me if you can lie face down on the floor and get to your feet within five seconds you can stand on the board during your first lesson.

Jun 25, 2004 - Larry Low

The Pacific Ocean is not only vast it also has great geographic diversity, which accounts for cultural diversity.

Jun 18, 2004 - Larry Low

This article is about the Solomon Islands which are fascinating but require caution and anti malarial pills.

May 28, 2004 - Larry Low

The Arno atoll is an easy atoll to visit as it is only nine miles from Majuro the capital of the Marshall Islands. The people of the Arno atoll are entering a new era.

May 21, 2004 - Larry Low

The Komowai, a copra ship stops at every island in the Lau Group and offers simple but comfortable accommodation for eight passengers wishing to see the South Seas as it was when Somerset Maugham wrote about these particular pieces of paradise.

May 14, 2004 - Larry Low

Some of the loneliest dots on the ocean could play a pivotal role in our future.

May 7, 2004 - Larry Low

A booming cash economy, new immigration and the early stages of urbanization and environmental change have resulted from the visits of Norwegian Cruise Lines ships to Fanning Island. "It goes without saying that the impact on the atoll is tremendous," said Bill Paupe, the Republic of Kiribati's honorary counsel in Honolulu. "There was nothing there before," he told Mike Liedemann of the Honolulu Advertiser.

May 3, 2004 - Larry Low

Tonga faces an economic crisis occasioned by government policy.

Apr 30, 2004 - Larry Low

One of the reasons for Taveuni's abundant bird life is found in the history of introduced species. The failure of an attempt to bring the mongoose to Taveuni resulted in the island having much superior bird life, especially of the ground nesting birds than does Viti Levu, the main island where the mongoose was introduced to keep the sugar cane rats in check.

Apr 23, 2004 - Larry Low

This is about an exclusive resort in Fiji that not many people know about. It is snug in its own harbor in a northern bay of the second largest island of the Fiji Group - Vanua Levu. The only access is by float plane. Interested?

Apr 16, 2004 - Larry Low

Taveuni Planters can be a cranky lot. Producing copra on steep hillsides is not an enviable task. They are a tough bunch, these planters and use every trick in the book to keep their plantations going when everything suggests that they should pack it in.

Apr 9, 2004 - Larry Low

Kava is a part of Melanesian cultures such as those of Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands as well as being integral to Polynesian cultures from Hawaii south to Tahiti and Tonga.

Apr 2, 2004 - Larry Low

This article is about Yap. It is about how to get there, what not to do once you arrive, how to use love sticks if you are so inclined and even a few words about the diving,which is sensational especially with the mantas.

Mar 31, 2004 - Larry Low

In discovering what's new in Hawaii you will find out just how much the old is cherished.

Mar 29, 2004 - Larry Low

This article is about the pros and cons of getting married in Fiji.

Mar 26, 2004 - Larry Low

The best deals in Hawaii depend upon which city you reside in. These deals were up to the minute on March 23, 2004

Mar 23, 2004 - Larry Low

Sleeping Lady Divers is a unique diving operation in pristine waters that few divers have visited because it is somewhat off the beaten path. However that remains one of its attractions. The other islands of FSM are touched on, Yap only briefly because it is the venue for an article of its own. In addition the independent state of Palau receives a fair share of attention.

Mar 22, 2004 - Larry Low

Background to the development of Matangi Island and the discovery and development of some of the world's most unique dive sites especially Noel's Wall, which is a corner of a big reef that descends to the depths.

Mar 15, 2004 - Larry Low

There are some things that virtually everyone knows. On occasion, there is a strong possibility that everyone is wrong. This article is about an incident that took place in 1867. The story has been told over and over but some of the "facts" are just plain erroneous. It is true that the Reverend Thomas Baker did encounter opposition to his evangelical efforts; all the rest is hearsay.

Mar 1, 2004 - Larry Low

Highlights of events and activities in the Pacific Islands from devastating storms to good news via the Internet.

Feb 1, 2002 - Larry Low

Due to the political problems in Fiji coupled with the recent downturn in world travel due to terrorist activities, Fiji has been beset with problems. Although, they still suffer from political uncertainty they are learning to do with it and in the meantime have built a world class tourist promotion engine.

Jan 1, 2002 - Larry Low

Tuvalu is a coral atoll nation in the South Pacific that could be destroyed by global warming. If global warming proves to be a false alarm, it will probably be necessary for Tuvuluans to form an alliance with a larger political entity.

Dec 1, 2001 - Larry Low

This article is concerned with the history of a fragment of Micronesia leading to the present political situation in the islands of the Kirbati, especially with regard to the Banaban people and their future.

Nov 1, 2001 - Larry Low

Geography plays a greater role in isolating islands than does distance. Pitcairn Island and the Marquesas are isolated due to their lack of protective reefs. However, they have turned this isolation to their advantage.

Oct 1, 2001 - Larry Low

This article is an explanation of the colonial experience of the Fijian people, which led to the present poltical problems in the country.

Sep 18, 2001 - Larry Low