Christmas Island, Kiribati Reviews and Ratings

We stopped there in 95 when I was delivering a new dive vessel to Fiji from Hawaii. It's a very low-lying coral island with a massive lagoon and more coconut palms than anywhere else I have ever seen. It was the sight of an atomic test blast in the 50's but there is no visible evidence remaining. Hundreds of pieces of World War II American equipment abandoned all over the island. We were there to pick up fuel but enjoyed our 3 day stay (nothing happens very quickly on Christmas Island). We visited the Captain Cook Hotel which was open for business as if guests were going to walk through the door any minute even though the locals had not seen a commercial flight come into the little airport in over six months. Hawaiian Air had stopped it's weekly service from Honolulu at the time--I have no idea if another carrier has started back up. I remember that the diving and fishing were particularly good. The hotel had a number of photos on the walls of world records that had been caught in the lagoon in the past (mostly Permit Bonefish and Snook). After 5 rough days running south from the Big Island seeing this idealic tropical paradise rising above the horizon in the sunrise 3 degrees north of the equator was a sight for sore eyes. I came away with a lot of interesting stories from Christmas Island.