Palmerston Island, A Tiny Paradise.

William Marsters and his brood. Photo credit

Want to get away from it all? I suggest Palmerston Island, a coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean that was discovered by James Cook in 1774. It consists of a number of sandy islets on a ring of coral reef enclosing a lagoon.

Photo Credit

The island was uninhabited when it was chanced upon in 1860 by William Marsters, a carpenter and barrel maker of a whaling ship that frequented the Bay of Islands. Three years later he returned with a wife, the daughter of the chief of another Cook island, and her two cousins with the intention of permanently settlement on the island. Marsters and the three women had 17 children whose descendants make up the present population of Palmerston. Today, Palmerston has 62 inhabitants, all but three are descended from William Marsters.

Photo credit

It looks like a little piece of paradise.

Read more at Amusing Planet  or find out about visiting Palmerston 

Thanks Bruce!