Fishing Holidays: Kiribati is popular for its world class salt water fly fishing targeting bone fish and giant trevally. Bone fish and giant trevally come in huge numbers with plenty of opportunities to catch double digit catch on a fly. Anglers can catch & release anywhere from 10 to 30 bonefish a day is the rule not the exception and just add to it a giant trevally or two. In fly fishing, fish are caught by using artificial flies that are cast with a fly fishing rod and a fly line. A fishing license is $50 per head and charters are easily available.
Cultural Experience & Outer Island Adventure Holidays:
Experience the unique Kiribati Culture and explore the natural beauty of our islands while taking an adventure in North Tarawa or in the Outer islands of the Gilbert Islands group. Solitude and tranquillity are the focus of an outer islands experience. Here visitors explore and experience the traditional way of life on the outer islands, learn and participate in sightseeing, fishing, dancing, local sports, feasts, canoe riding and sleep in traditional housing. Traditional outrigger canoe races and traditional dancing contests are a must see while visiting Kiribati. Contests are common during festive events such as the National Day 12th July. The opportunity of being in Kiribati during a festive event will enable you to see community gatherings where there will be traditional dancing, singing and storytelling in a mwaneaba (a community meeting house). Each place or island you visit has its own story and history to tell. Islands; Abemama and Butaritari were made famous by the famous writer: Robert Louis Stevenson who lived on these islands during the late 1880s. Butaritari Island, the greenest island, is famous for the traditional art of “Binekua” (calling of the whales to come ashore) by Kuma Villagers.
Surfing in Fanning and Kiritimati Island: Fanning Island (Tabuaeran) and Kiritimati Island are the best world class destinations for surfing in Kiribati. Of all surfing in Kiribati; Fanning (Tabuaeran) Island surfing is the pick of is the pick with almost year round consistent swell. Fanning has breaks on the North and South, making the most of both Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere swells. The two most consistent breaks are ‘English Harbour’ in the South with strong and consistent March to June; and ‘Whalers’ in the North with strong consistent swell from October to March (even picks up some southern swell).
On the other hand, Kiritimati also hosts a golden five kilometer stretch of points, reefs and channels between London village and Paris point. This stretch is reputed to have 24 surfable waves – with surf season October through to March. The swell hits Kiritimati about a day or two after it hits Hawaii – a 8′ to 12′ swell at Sunset Beach in Hawaii will result in 6′ to 10′ clean faces in Kiritimati one to two days later. Of the 24 breaks, two third are user friendly with deep channels and sand of soft reef bottom. The other third is has rough coral bottoms and are for experienced surfers only.
Surfing in Kiribati makes a difference with other surfing destinations because here you own your surf and you don’t have to yell at any surfer or swimmer in the water in front of you. Simply saying, you don’t have to worry about water crowds on Fanning and Kiritimati island, there are none; “Your Wave, Your Surf, No crowds.”
Birdwatching & Wildlife Tours:
Bird watching and wildlife tours are popular activities in the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands Protected Area of Kiribati. These areas are nesting grounds for an abundant and diverse population of tropical birds, turtles, coconut crabs and marine life. Extensive populations of birdlife are found on these include shearwater, petrel, tropicbirds, frigate birds, terns, noddies, lorikeet parrot and Christmas Island’s very own endemic warbler, found only on Kiritimati Island. Manta Ray schools encounters is one of the wildlife attractions you can encounter in Kiritimati Island lagoon. In the water these sea creatures look like a slick of oil on the water surface. A tour of the lagoon on boat or while snorkelling gives you the opportunity to get close a personal with these creatures. Turtle nesting is also common on these islands.
WWII Battlefield tours and Commemoration Events:
Explore the Battle of Tarawa and the Battle of Makin in the Gilbert Islands or attend Commemoration events on the 20th day of every November. The aftermath of World War II left scars of the battle between American and Japanese forces. On the island Betio in the capital Tarawa atoll and Butaritari atoll – war relics have become historical attractions for tourists to observe and to learn the history of the WWII battles on these islands.
Cruising Kiribati:
Kiribati is open to attracting small to medium scale cruises such as Adventure Cruises, Expedition cruises and Ocean Cruises who would like to explore our islands, our culture, our marine life and enjoy our shore excursion activities. Popular cruise destinations in Kiribati are: Fanning Island and Kiritimati Island in the Northern Line Islands; the Southern Line Islands and Kanton Island in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area.
Diving & Snorkelling:
The vast waters surrounding the islands of Kiribati offers great diving potentials and snorkelling opportunities to explore intact coral ecosystems and the rich underwater life. Places like the Southern Line Islands and the Phoenix Islands Protected Area have huge potentials for chartered dive cruise explorations. These areas are identified as one of the last healthy, undisturbed places in the ocean. At these islands you can experience the rich marine life while snorkeling or diving, and explore the deep with remotely operated vehicles. Go ashore on Millennium Atoll (aka Caroline Island) and be one of the first to set foot the island that first saw the millennium rise in the year 2000 or set foot on Kanton and islands of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the largest marine protected areas in the world.
