Caroline Islands, The Ruins of Nan Madol

The high speed open-boat ride from the town of Kolonia to the ceremonial Centre of Nan Madol, was like the Jungle Ride at Disneyland, squared — this was for real! Built of basalt columns formed by volcanic activity, weighing up to five tons or more, and sometimes exceeding 15 feet in length, the columns are stacked horizontally, cord-wood style, to form outer walls. This is certainly a distinctive form of megalithic architecture.

If you go to the site of Devil's Postpile National Monument, you will see stones of a similar shape, so the stones at Nan Madol must have some connection with volcanic activity.

After we left the ruins, we continued through water channels in the reef, to the fascinating Kepirohi Waterfall in the Madolenihmw district, and took a dip in the soothing water of the pool. We looked on the Internet for a description of this waterfall, and all we found were the words “wonderful, fascinating, breathtaking, …” and on and on. While it is far from the largest we have seen, Kepirohi was indeed the most unusual and extraordinary waterfall of the dozens we have visited in Hawaii, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Niagara, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Plitvica National Park in Yugoslavia, and many other places. (And if I ever find my photo of that waterfall, I'll post it right here!)

The ride back to Kolonia and our ship, the MS Enna G, was fun, but uneventful.