Fanning Island Line Islands, Kiribati
Kiribati
4
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Frequently Asked Questions
By tender. There is no concrete pier, no terminal and no coach. The boat enters the English Channel, the narrow pass cutting through the coral ring, and opens onto the anchorage the charts call English Harbour. On the beach, almost the entire village is already waiting.
In the Line Islands, a string of atolls in the Republic of Kiribati scattered south of Hawaii, thousands of kilometres from any large city. Its official name is Tabuaeran, and the atoll has about 2,000 inhabitants.
It is the large communal house with a pandanus roof, the heart of Kiribati communities. Islanders present traditional dances and songs there, performed with a seriousness and energy that owe nothing to packaged shows. Around it, a craft market improvises itself on woven mats.
Shell necklaces, woven baskets, collectible stamps and knives edged with shark teeth. Pay in small US notes: no cards are accepted. Purchases made here matter genuinely to family incomes.
A short walk from the beach leads to the remains of the transpacific telegraph cable station, opened in 1902. Fanning served as a relay on the All Red Line, which linked Canada to Australia touching only British territory. The German cruiser Nurnberg came to sabotage the station in September 1914.
Yes, the lagoon offers calm swimming and pleasant snorkelling near the channel, where clear water moves between the coral heads. Bring water shoes: coral is unforgiving of bare feet.
Following a village guide, you see the seaweed farms, the school, the pigs under the breadfruit trees and the copra drying, the main local resource alongside fishing. Outrigger canoe trips offered on the beach let you see the ring of land from inside the lagoon.
None, and that should be understood before going ashore. No airport with regular service, no general electricity grid, no medical or tourist infrastructure. Resupply depends on the ship, and everything runs at the village's pace.
A hat, water and water shoes: shade is limited to the coconut groves. Small US notes. And some restraint: shoulders covered at the maneaba, and ask before photographing.
Because the Line Islands run on UTC+14, the most advanced time zone in the world. Tabuaeran is therefore among the very first places on the planet to enter the new year, at hours when Quebec is still on the eve.
