Tales of the South Pacific - Tabuaeran (Fanning Island), Kiribati

Cruise Day 16

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

We arrived at Fanning Island just before seven and even though we hadn’t intended on getting up early, we were up for our arrival. 

Tabuaeran or Fanning Island as it is commonly called, is part of the island nation of Kiribati.  Kiribati (pronounced Kiri-bahs) is an island nation that stretches 2,600 miles east to west.  It is composed of three groups of islands with the eastern most group called the Gilbert Islands where the capital of Kiribati is.  The middle group is called the Phoenix Islands and the western group where Tabuaeran is located is called the Line Islands because they form a north to south line.  It is a very interesting country as it covers a total area of 1.35 million square miles, but only about 313 square miles of that is land, and the total population is only 134.500. 

The big picture map, we are now south of Hawaii in the Kiribati nation group of islands.

The country of Kiribati.  You can see the three distinct island groups - the Gilbert Islands to the left, the Phoenix Islands in the middle and the Line Islands running north to south to the right.

Tabuaeran, where we are visiting today, has a population of around 2,000, and is an atoll.  An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef that forms as an old volcano erodes.

There is one opening into the Lagoon named the English Channel by the early British explorers.  Its highest elevation is ten feet, so it is very exposed to storms and rising sea levels.  It is expected that in the not-too-distant future, most of Kiribati will be uninhabitable because of climate change and the rising seas.

This is Tabuaeran, a thin strip of land surrounding the inner lagoon.  The ship is anchored off shore and we were tendered into the village.

The ship is anchored off shore, you can see across the lagoon to the other side of the atoll.

The opening into the lagoon was named the English Channel by the early British explorers.  In this photo you can see a tender going through the opening and will dock around the point to the right where the village is.

Val and I visited here in 2013 (link to that visit) and are anxious to see what it is like now.  Back then there was no power except for a few generators, no water system, no sewer system, and very few vehicles. 

Because of the tides, all passengers have to be back on the ship by 12:30, so it is a short day.  Since this is obviously a tender port, it will be difficult to get everyone ashore and back within that time frame, but they are running two tender platforms and it’s very well organized so I’m sure it will get done.

After a quick breakfast in the Neptune Lounge Val and I decided to go ashore.  We have priority boarding on the tenders so usually we walk down to the tender platform and get on, but because of the circumstances today, those with priority boarding have to go to a meeting room and then be taken to the tender platform, one group at a time.  It’s a little less convenient, but necessary today.

Val and I are on our way to the island.

It didn’t take too long though and we were on the island around 8:30. We could tell right away that things had changed as the tender pier was in much better shape.  There was a group singing traditional songs at the end of the pier, so we watched them for a while and then started exploring.

At the end of the dock there was a group of singers welcoming us with traditional songs.

The first thing we noticed was there were a lot more children and a lot more buildings than before.  From the pier we walked east along the lagoon where there were a lot of people from the ship swimming and snorkeling.  When we were here in 2013, they warned us that the water wasn’t clean as they dumped their waste and sewage into it, but the water looked clean and clear this time and the ship gave no warnings so they must have cleaned things up.

One of the things that passengers do when visiting Fanning Island is bring school and medical supplies as this is a very poor nation, particularly this island.  They also bring gifts for the children and today someone brought sunglasses that you see many of the children wearing.

 

The lagoon was inviting as it was hot and humid.

After a while we turned back and walked into the village.  There was a whole line of tables set up where villagers were selling handicrafts they had made.  There were all sorts of coral and shell jewelry, woven baskets, and all sorts of things.  They also sell decorative shark knives that are a specialty of the island.  They are not real knives, but very interesting; I had bought one on our last visit so even though I was tempted, I didn’t buy another. 

This island is undeveloped and very poor so when the occasional cruise ship visits, it's an opportunity to bring in much needed revenue through the selling of their handicrafts and tips given for entertainment provided.  It is also customary to give tips when you take pictures of the villagers.  They never ask for it, but most everyone does it as here we are, invading their village and disrupting their lives.  One other source of revenue we saw on this trip was the addition of boat rides being given and scooters and bicycles for rent, this was not the case in 2013.

As we walked into the village, we noticed many more dwellings than before.  On our last visit, there were mostly thatched huts, but now there were a lot more actual buildings.  A few were pretty substantial, but most looked like they were built with scrap metal and wood.  When you live in the tropics you don't need a very substantial place to live, only a place to keep the rain off you.

We talked to a few of the local inhabitants and took pictures.  It is expected that you give them tips for pictures as the occasional cruise ship is their only way of getting outside income.  Because this is an atoll, the village is built linearly along the outer ring of land.  There are other villages on the island, but the only one accessible to us was the one by the tender port.

Although it was warm, particularly in the sun, the temperature wasn’t too bad, but the ever-present humidity just wears you down, particularly if you’re like us and not used to it.  After a couple of hours, we’d had enough and headed back to the ship.  There was a bit of a line for the tenders, but it went pretty fast and we were entertained by the local singers as we waited in line.

We love Fanning Island, but our experience wasn’t quite the same as our last visit.  For one thing, because of the shortened visiting time, it seemed like the whole ship was on the island at the same time and it almost seemed too crowded.  As we saw in Greenland, when you start having regular visits from tourists, a tourist industry builds.  Although, very primitive, this seemed to happen on Fanning Island too.  There were more vehicles and things for tourists to do, although still no real services such as food, drinks (including water) or restrooms, it still seemed different.  Still, there was the experience of seeing how people lived without all the modern conveniences that we have come to expect.  It was well worth the experience, especially since the people on the island are so friendly and welcoming.

It felt wonderful to get back on the ship in the cool air conditioning.  Val and I relaxed for a while and then headed off to a late lunch.  After lunch I downloaded all of our pictures and started organizing them until it was time for trivia. 

One thing we did have to do today is find another tour for Pago Pago, our next port.  We received a notice that our snorkel and kayaking tour had been cancelled due to a local ceremony that was being held that didn’t allow anyone to be in the water.  We found something else and booked that so that got taken care of.

The rest of our day and evening went as usual with time for relaxing then dinner and the casino.  My bad luck continued, but Val finally had a good night and came out ahead.  We have three sea days ahead of us until we have a series of six ports in eight days, so we need to rest up.

We ended our day with another beautiful sunset.