The call of a conch shell roused the dolphin hunters from their beds. Under moonlight, the six men shuffled to the village church.

There a priest led them in a whispered prayer, his voice barely audible over the sound of crashing waves; the tide was high that day. Saltwater pooled in parts of the village, which is on Fanalei Island, an ever-shrinking speck of land that is part of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.