Bikini Atoll is an island you may have heard of in history class, but you probably didn’t know you can actually visit it. Bikini Atoll is one of the island groups of the Marshall Islands and was used by the US military to test nuclear weapons in the 1940s and 1950s. For years, the island was strictly off-limits to visitors and even locals had to evacuate due to high levels of radiation. However, you can now visit the island, even though low levels of radiation still remain there.
There are a number of steps you have to take if you want to visit this place. It is not as straight-forward as just getting a visa and arriving. Visitors to the island must pay for a diver as well as two local government council representatives to accompany them. Additionally, they must stay on their boat for the majority of their trip and cannot sleep on the island, which to this day remains uninhabited by locals. The Bikini Council approved diving operations in 1996 to generate income for the displaced islanders and since then, tourism has grown slowly.
The islanders, of which there were over 160, were displaced to other islands in the area when the US began nuclear bomb testing. While there were plans to allow the locals to return to their home island after a certian amount of time, the fallout from these nuclear tests proved to be worse than initially anticiptaed.
After mutiple disatrous relocations of the island’s natives, which included starvation due to lack of resources on different islands, a number of them returned to Bikini Atoll in 1972. But later tests revealed that the island was far too radioactive to be inhabited and islanders experienced a number of difficulties.
Women were suffering miscarriages and stillbirths and children were born with genetic abnormalities. The island had to be evacuated a second time.
Today, Bikini Atoll, because of its significance in the emergence of the age of nuclear testing, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. People who want to visit the atoll must be self-sufficient as there are no services on the island.
While tourism to the island started in the late 90s, it hasn’t grown a huge amount since. Although for some, visiting this place is a fascinating experience.
Divers find this place particularly fascinating as there are many shipwrecks under the sea. There is also a significant shark population, a thrill for lovers of marine life. Diving expeditions take place here between the months of May and October.
While tourists cannot stay on the island overnight, they are allowed to land for brief stays and explore. Dive company Master Liveaboards added Bikini Atoll to its list of destinations in 2017, using their vessel Truk Master. Trips commenced in 2018 after approval was granted by the Bikini Council.
Divers on this expedition receive a history lesson, learning all about the island and the nuclear testing that happened here before getting into the water.
Sportsfishing is also a popular activity here. Because the coral reefs have largely recovered, there are fish that can be caught here including dogtooth tuna and barracuda.