Tochobei (Tobi) is located some 450 km southwest of
Angaur. These small outer islands are both physically and culturally distinct from the rest of Palau. The islands are miniature platforms of raised reef composed of coralline limestone. The islands have sandy soils covered with atoll-like vegetation. Tochobei Island is low with a depressed, swampy interior. At least a part of the depression is the result of
phosphate mining during the Japanese administration. Large stands of
coconut palms line the beaches forming the primary resource for the only industry on the islands:
copra production. Today, the islands are largely uninhabited as most of the native population lives in
Koror or on
Ngerekebesang Island. Even so, the natives retain a strong sense of cultural pride in their heritage and a firm commitment to their islands.
Islands The individual islands of Hatohobei, together with the islands of the state of
Sonsorol, form the
Southwest Islands of Palau.
Tobi Island Tobi (
Hatohobei or Kodgubi) Island was once the main island of the state (together with the permanently manned Marine Ranger Station on the second island, Helen Island). The land area is 0.85 km². Its highest point is 6 m, while most of the island is less than 3 m high. Most of the houses are situated in the abandoned village of Tobi (
Hatohobei) on the southwestern side of the island, the state
capital. The island is covered with coconut palms. A cultivated area was situated near the center of the island. The island is fringed by a reef that extends up to 800 m from the shore in the north.
rookery on Helen Island
Helen Reef Helen or Helens Reef (
Hotsarihie), about 70 km east of Tobi Island, is a largely submerged
atoll, with just one islet (Helen Island). The atoll is 25 km long and nearly 10 km wide, with a
lagoon area of 103 km² and a total area including reef flat of 163 km². A channel leads into the lagoon from near the middle of the western side of the reef. Immediately south of the channel is Round Rock, which dries. The lagoon has about 85 patch and pinnacle Reefs. When the tide is falling, the water flows out of the lagoon and over the reef in all directions until the reef is uncovered, and then flows out through the channel on the western side. On the rising tide, a reverse effect is noted. Only a few parts of the reef are completely dry.
Helen Island Helen Island was discovered by the Spanish naval officer
Felipe Tompson in 1773, who charted it as
San Felix shoal. The only island of the reef, it is located near its northern tip. It is tiny in comparison to Helen Reef, about 20 to 40 m wide and 400 m long, or about 0.03 km² of land area. The densely wooded island sits atop a sand dune, which is 0.25 km² in extent and which is moving southeast, falling into the lagoon, at a rate 3 to 4 m per year. The island is uninhabited except for a marine
ranger station of Hatohobei State, which was established in the early 1990s on the eastern side of the island, to guard the reef against foreign poachers. The station is permanently occupied by a staff of three. The island has been designated an
Important Bird Area (IBA) by
BirdLife International because it supports a
breeding colony of
black noddies, with some 25,000 birds estimated in 2004. There are also nesting populations of
sooty and
greater crested terns.
Transit Reef 50 km east of Helen Reef is Transit Reef (
Pieraurou), which appears on some maps and which is referenced as an island in the Hatohobei State constitution and constitutes the southernmost feature of Palau. Its
existence as island, however, is doubtful, as it is not listed in the current Sailing Directions. The literal translation of its
Tobian name
Pieraurou is "Sandy Navigation Point", referring to a submerged sand bar rather than a reef or island. == Traditional villages ==