Nanumea Island is the main and most populated of the atoll's two islands, a curving strip of coral and palm forest about seven kilometres long on the western rim of the lagoon. Almost everyone on the atoll lives here, in the village cluster of Lolua and the smaller settlements of Mataluafata, Matagi, Hauma, and Haumaefa strung along the lagoon shore.
The interior is dense pulaka pits, taro gardens, and coconut groves; the ocean side is dramatic, with breakers crashing onto a sharp reef. The lagoon side is calmer and shallower, with good wading and informal snorkelling around the wharf. Walking the length of the island is the obvious way to spend a morning — flat, shaded, and with someone at every other house ready to call you over for a coconut.