Lelu Island

At the mouth of the Skeena River, one of North America's main salmon superhighways, Lelu Island and the neighboring underwater zone known as Flora Bank are located. Flora Bank has the highest abundances of juvenile salmon (25 times higher) than any other habitat sampled in the Skeena River estuary. Its fertile eelgrass flats offer food and cover for up to a billion young Pacific salmon and steelhead as they acclimatize to the saltwater environment each year, making it the most important salmon-rearing habitat on Canada's west coast.

A magnificent walled city for Kosraean royalty was erected between the 13th and 14th centuries on Lelu Island, which is connected to the larger island of Kosrae by a causeway. The ruins of Lelu, which include burial mounds and homes, are concealed beneath deep tropical vegetation, in the kind of remote location you'd expect to find after hiking hours through the jungle. The high chiefs' residences, two royal burial mounds, a few religious compounds, and countless massive walls made of huge hexagonal basalt logs stacked like a log cabin may still be seen. The complete story is told on-site placards.

Location: North Pacific