A US administered atoll in the northern Pacific Ocean where the southern and northern currents meet, Palmyra Atoll is owned and managed by the Nature conservancy. The atoll contains an extensive reef system with two shallow lagoons housing very healthy populations of white tip, black tip and grey sharks -- so much so that it is dangerous to venture into the waters. With no indigenous population, Palmyra is considered one of the only few undeveloped and unpopulated wet atolls left, although at one point it was a candidate to become a nuclear waste dump. Palmyra contains one of the most diverse reef systems worldwide, with three times the diversity found in the Caribbean. It hosts the second largest population of red-footed Booby, one of the largest remaining undisturbed stands of Pisonia beach forest and is home to the rare Coconut Crab (the largest land invertebrate in the world). On the folklore side, an unfortunate series of events surrounding the atoll, including a double murder and other inauspicious occurrences have led to the belief that the island may be haunted or cursed. In all, this is an isolated and pristine area of Pacific that will hopefully be preserved as such for years to come.
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