Christmas Island 2025

Our Christmas Island trip in 2024 was such a hit we are doing it again in 2025. 

If you have not been to, or are not familiar with Christmas Island let me tell you a tale or two. 

Christmas Island is situated in the Pacific Ocean south of Hawaii. Now you are probably thinking tropical island paradise in the Pacific Ocean, and you are partially right. If you were stranded on Christmas Island before it had become inhabited you would probably die in a week. There is no fresh water and very little naturally growing food. This is a very inhospitable place. But if your idea of a tropical paradise is an unlimited amount of endless  flats, lots of bonefish, trevally, and many other species, a room with air conditioning and a bed, then this is the place for you. 

Christmas Island is a very poor place with very few amenities. The accommodations are spartan and the food is palatable. It’s not luxurious, I can promise you that. Some days there are issues with transportation, or a boat breaks down. These are all things to be expected and taken in stride. 

On this trip you will need to book a flight to Hawaii the day before your actually flight to Christmas Island. It is imperative you are there for your flight with your bags. There is only one flight a week out to the island and if you miss it or your bags aren’t there, there aren’t any other options. 

Christmas Island is approximately 1300 miles south of Hawaii. The only real commerce is a little bit of tourism from fishing, eco tours, and surfing. Until recently the island was never continually inhabited. Around 1882 the island had a permanent settlement mostly of fisherman and coconut plantation workers.

Kiritimati, (also known as Christmas Island) is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. Kiritimati is one of the world's largest atolls in terms of land area, consisting of about 120 sq mile of land area and a 127 sq mile network of lagoons. The atoll is about 93 miles in perimeter, while the lagoon shoreline extends for over 30 miles.

You land at Cassidy International airport (CXI) around 2:00pm the following day. The flight crosses the international dateline. 

Once you collect your bags and find the right lodge you load up into 2 ton flatbed trucks with makeshift seats and a canopy for the hour long drive down to London. This is where you really see the difference between a tropical paradise like Hawaii and this tropical hell. On the drive to the lodge you really start to get a sense of how poor the people on the island are and how starved for resources the are. Most people on the island sleep outside on a straw mat in a covered area. There are communal spaces and some families have their own private ones. There are quite a few churches and schools you pass on the road. The kids will be getting out of school and playing along the road.

When you finally arrive at the lodge you are greeted by the staff and shown to your rooms. The lodge is very simple and is owned by one of the churches and is rented to the outfitter. The rooms are spartan but have everything you need. Two beds, an air conditioning unit, bathroom with a shower, and a small refrigerator. You didn’t come all this way to watch tv after all. The meals and non fishing time are spent in the communal covered area. It’s very close to the beach and you can see the waves breaking and fish crashing bait. 

The days starts with breakfast around 6:30. Most morning we had bacon, eggs, and toast, and a few times we had pancakes. If you are a coffee drinker beware that they only serve instant, like Nescafé. If you need something more you will have to bring it. The guide and boat assignments are decided the night before and we head out around 7:30 for the boat launch in the lagoon. Most days you fish till around 3:00 or 4:00 so you’re getting a full day. 

There are a few different boats the lodge uses and two of them are the outrigger style. Each boat has a boat operator. We had it setup for one guide per two anglers but it’s possible to have it be a one on one experience. It’s a little more expensive but if you’re new to it or if the weather is bad it’s worth it.  

Most morning we headed across the lagoon to some flats that each different guide liked. All the different guides I fished with were good, they weren’t talkative by any means but they knew what they were doing. It’s best to get a rapport going with each guide early in the morning so you can get on the same page. Show them how you cast, figure out their strip, calling out fish and direction, all the basic stuff. It’ll be much easier if you are on the same page as they are. 

Most morning we would fish one or maybe two flats before lunch. There were many different types of flats out there. Some small pancakes that you could walk around in 5-10 minutes, long white sand ones that were ankle to knee deep and went on for hundreds of yards, there were coral flats that were littered with coral heads, and pretty much anything else you could want. Lunch was very basic and consisted of a few bottles of water and two sandwiches. They had two different sandwich options. Ham and cheese or peanut butter and jelly. Neither were great but they did the trick. I brought a bunch of cliff bars, nuts, and beef jerky to help supplement the meals. I also brought a bunch of electrolytes to help stay hydrated. 

Typically one of the sessions would be better than the other based on the tides. But we caught fish everyday. On the last day, my fishing partner and I had an epic day where we each landed 20-25 bones, and we had quite a few doubles. Throughout the course of the trip we caught bluefin trevally, dusky trevally,  bonefish, triggerfish, hooked some gt’s, and cast to many other species. One day it poured down rain and we opted to go blue water fishing and we caught a bunch of yellowfin tuna (that we had as sashimi at dinner), skip jack, blue runners, rainbow runners, and a couple of other species. The fishing is varied and you never know what’s going to happen. 

After fishing you get back to camp for a shower and a cocktail before dinner. Dinner typically consisted of rice, some kind of stir fry, (beef, chicken, maybe squid) some fried chicken, french fries, mostly a random smattering of things. But there was typically not any fresh fruit or vegetables, no salad. Nothing like that grows on the island and it’s too hard to transport it there. 

A few days into the trip you start to find a groove. You are seeing fish and making shots, you’re getting tan or maybe burnt, you’re crusty with salt and sand and everything is just right. 

If I haven’t scared you away and you’re interested in coming along I’d love to have you

Trip details

• Dates - April 15-22
• 7 night/6 day package: $3,150 Per person based on shared room/shared guide
• 7 night/6 day package: $3,550 Per person based on shared room/private guide

• Included: Accommodations, meals, guided fishing, four bottles of water per person per day, ground transportation on Christmas Island.

  Not Included: All airfare to Christmas Island, accommodations/meals/transfers in Honolulu, alcohol and soda, fishing license, staff and guide gratuities, departure taxes.