Shared over more than 1,000 tiny islets and cays in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, the Marshall Islands are a curious place. Indelibly beautiful, sparsely populated and largely unexplored, they sit washed over by the breezy ocean winds and salty currents of the sea, encompassed on all sides by vast swathes of water. No wonder then that the people here are seafarers by nature; their colonial routes (this section of Micronesia was settled by Spaniards, Germans, Japanese and Americans to name just four!) transmogrified over the centuries into salt-sprayed fishing traditions. Majuro Atoll is the busiest (though still hardly busy), combining the capital with a clutch of tropical cays where secluded beaches still beckon. The city itself is pretty – if a tad polluted – and a great place to hit the markets for papaya, cassava, sweet potato curries and coconut juices. For a real taste of this far-flung archipelago though, Marshal Island tour guides recommend a trip to the distant atolls, away from the US military hubs and missile test sites, to where sparkling shores and shipwrecks adorn the coasts.