Christmas Island Kiribati

Kiritimati: the other Christmas Island

Kee-Rees-Mass in the native tongue Gilbertese), also known as Christmas Island, is the biggest island of corals in the whole wide area. Situated in the South Pacific on the liner islands, it is part of the state of Kiribati (pronounced Kee-Ree-Bahs). Situated to the northwest of the International Date Line, it is the first populated island to commemorate the New Year every year.

Not to be mistaken for the Aussie Christmas Island, Christmas Island was a strategical island of the Allied Forces during the Second World War. Americans and Australians used the island, so the Japanese could not establish a basis to catch the busy trading and delivery routes from Honolulu to Australia.

After the Second World War, both the British and Americans used Kiritimati for atomic tests - the British in 1958 and the Americans in 1962. Today Kiritimati is mainly known for bonnefishing, windsurfing and snorkelling. The island has very small touristic establishments with some small islands with even fewer shops, a few small bars, even less small bars and even less than that.

There' s a street leading from the airfield to the city. Basically, the International Airports is a hut. An Air Pacific service departs Nadi, Fiji at 23:59 on Tuesday evening and arrivals the next day. This makes it possible to take a full excursion from Fiji, as I did.

You' ll probably have to make two one-way bookings on Air Pacific, which will soon be available on the Fiji Airways website, as the date changes do not log in well to the computer. I will be frank; there is not a barrel to do except just to enjoy being on one of the most secluded isles in the game.

To me the best attraction was the beach and the astonishing waters. Is not disappointing for the beach. It is also full of sand, unlike other sandy areas. The" fluffy" cliffs are lightweight and one of a kind on this Christmas Island. There' also a barrel of shrimps on the beach and all over the island.

That' s really ironical, considering that Christmas Island Australia is renowned around the globe for its hike of the crimson crayfish. There are a barrel of small shrimps on the beach, but also many bigger shrimps that dig pits all over the island. That brings me to the Kiritimati and Kiribati in general.

There' may only be 5000 humans on the island, but they are perhaps the kindest humans I have ever met. Afterwards we drove with the buses to and from the Aiport. Folks used to stop us all over the city just to say hello and jaw. So the immigrant who had us registered in Kiritimati saw us running on the roads of London and suggested a round trip around the island in her vehicle - we took her!

So many other instances, from the folks at the airfield to the woman in the shop where we had Cokes. It was so fresh to recall that humans can be really so cute and real. That was my second trip to Kiribati, the land.

It has much more personality and takes up about 70% of Kiribati's land mass. Returning here in Fiji I already miss Kiritimati and will always cherish my short but worthwhile journey to the remotest islands.