Christmas Island Pictures.

[Stan Wright]

I just finished posting a bunch of pictures from our Christmas island trip. You can see them on the "Christmas Island" page. It was a fantastic trip.

Aloha,
Stan

[leoric]

Wow! Awesome pics, Stan. If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost you for the whole trip (including airfare)? Thanks. P.S. I've also caught my fair share of sea birds while fishing.

[Stan Wright]

Sorry, forgot to mention that. We figured the cost at around $3000.
That includes roundtrip airfare from Honolulu. All ground transportation. Hotel. All meals. Six days of fishing, boat, boatman, and guides every day. We paid $31 US for the fishing licence, and $20 US for a departure tax. My bar bill came to $19.80 US. I'm not much of a drinker. I did get a T-shirt and shark tooth sword..... so my total bill for the trip was just under $3000.
That's about $430 per day. Considering the amount of fish we caught, and the gormet food...... I feel it was a real bargin. LOL

[airline]

Stan,

That price isn’t too bad. As retirees we fly free to Honolulu and then we stay in the Company Hotel for a small service charge. For ten days of fishing in the Kaneohe area during the beginning of January (without a guide) it cost us $2,000 total including all the retiree service charges.

We also fly free on Air Pacific, and I noticed that Christmas Island without air travel is about $2,000. Maybe, for the same price, next time I will leave the wife home and keep on flying to Christmas Island. Gosh, but Waikiki is getting expensive!

Richard

[Stan Wright]

Richard....

I promise that the fishing at CI is much better than in K-Bay. <grin>

If you can do the air part of the trip, I'd go for it. One guy was checking in on the stand by possibilities for going on Air Pacific. If you can, do it.

When I figured the price at under $3000... that was for everything, even tips. Your right about the fishing package being under $2000. You might want to talk with Kay at www.fishabout.com
Seems the air part was $900.

My son is going again in June. They are only interested in the big GT this trip.

Aloah,
Stan

[airline]

Stan,

This is a runny subject: The published health conditions on Christmas Island look like diarrhea and dengue fever are the order of the day due to no sewer system on the island. As an experienced traveler I can tell you that there is nothing more miserable than booking a costly itinerary and coming down with diarrhea. It has happened to me so many times that it’s now my first priority. It seems like bottled water is not enough, because food items like salad and fish are usually washed in the local water. Not to mention the ice cubes and the fish cleaning stations. The airline water on the plane is also enough to put my digestive system off balanced.

My wife is from the tropics and what I do is take a few weekend trips to her home town to allow my system gets acclimated. It seems like, if I rest for a month back here on the Mainland in between weekend trips my system toughens up. Then, I can go native for weeks on end without getting sick. I'm really surprised that the diarrhea problem is never mentioned, becasue I have been on quite a few flights heading back home that were full of sick passengers. Someone always locks himself in the jon and wont come out until the plane has landed. It make me wonder if you guys are taking Tetracycline Antibiotics while you are fishing CI? I remember when I was fishing Mexico we could buy a plastic bag full of Tetracycline pills for a few Pesos.

Richard

[Stan Wright]

We haven't had any problems on the last two trips. One of the local guides wasn't doing too good one day and I gave him some of my Loperamide Hydrochrilride tablets.... (The cheep stuff found at any drug store.. I never travel without it. LOL) He was fine in an hour or so.

We only drank the bottled water, but ate everything.

Aloha,
Stan

[airline]

Stan,

Thanks for the Drug Store suggestion. After telling you about the Tetracycline Antibiotics pills I remembered that we had to start taking these antibiotics a week or so before we went to Mexico.

I had planned to make a non-fishing trip to the Mission in London to get my system acclimated, but I received this message from Kim at Dive Kiribati:

>>Father Bermond died April 6th 2006, in France of Lung cancer.
There are no longer any accommodations at the church in London where he once lived and worked.<<

VERSUS is currently airing a program about fly fishing the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean for Giant Trevally The name of the program is, “The Hunt for Big Fish” by Larry Dahiberg. Two more showings are listed: Friday 2/2/07 (3:00 - 3:30 PM Eastern) and Saturday 2/3/07 (11:30 - 12 Noon Eastern). I believe you will have to subtract 5 hours from Eastern time to get Hawaiian time? Your son will enjoy seeing this one.

Richard

[Stan Wright]

Richard,

I found the box for the Anti-Diarrheal tablits.... it,s just Imodium.

I heard about father Bermond. There are so many churches there now. The place we stayed, The Villages is owned by a church right next door. There was a person staying there when we did that was not on a fishing package. She just needed a hotel. The Mini Hotel also has rooms for rent. I think there might be some other places. I don't know prices for the non fishing packages, but the lady the week we fished said the Villages was the newest and nicest. She also rented a car from someone.

Stan