Christmas Island- Line and Phoenix Islands

Pacific Ocean-Line & Phoenix Islands-Christmas Island  Also known as Kiritimati. The T in local language is pronounced as a s. During my early travels around the Pacific in the early 1980s I had visited some of the Gilbert Islands which has changed the country name to Kiribati. They were quite crowed as all were small atolls. I had never made it to Christmas Island as the flights were via Honolulu and were not always going. So on this time I arranged to fly up from Fiji . Christmas Island is the largest Atoll in the world. It is a fantastic sight as you come into land. Full of bird life and much larger then I had even realised. 

The little Post office was in the Line and Phoenix Government offices lot. I had arranged a driver and tour to get around the island. So one of the stops of course was the Post office. When I got here it was closed. So spend a few minutes trying to find out where the official was. When the lady turned up, she was very helpful . They sold Postcards and Stamps . I like the postmark. 

Pacific Ocean-Line & Phoenix Islands-Kiritimati  Also known as Christmas Island. Not to be confused with the Christmas Island owned by Australia in the Indian Ocean. This postcard shows glimpses of the wonderful scenery on this island. The area where the beach was is amazing with beautiful white soft sand . All my friends and I skinny dipped that day as there was no one about.  We also got lots of Bird photos. To finish off we had local Crayfish which was fab. A great trip to Kirimati and back to Fiji . 

I was a little disappointed that the Post office only had Definitive stamps. The reason is that Tarawa the capital of Kiribati is so far away and there is no direct connection between the two. There is one hotel here the Captain Cook as the island was discovered on Christmas Day by Captain Cook. 

Christmas Island in the Pacific

There are two Christmas Islands. This is the one in the Pacific . It is also called Kiritimati . However in local language ti is pronounced as Kirimas hence Christmas. Kiritimati. Christmas Island belongs to Kiribati pronounced as Kiribass.  

Had a great trip here. It is the largest coral island in the world and has a increasing population of 7000 plus. The key tourist feature here is game fishing. 

You can see photos of the Island from the plane. The Airport . The Captain Cook hotel. Christmas Island is part of the Line and Phoenix Islands . I had to wait for the Post office to open . I think it opens like so much here in "Pacific Time " . Not a great selection of Kiribati stamps , but a choice of very nice postcards to choose from.. But when opened the postmaster was very helpful with my mail as you can see. Some  beautiful white sandy beaches. So went swimming and bird watching. 

Next Stop American Samoa.