Kiribati.

Three years ago I had finished a giant work project and needed an escape for a month or so. This was early in 2000.

I had plans to travel, for the turning of the new century, to the first island group this side of the International Dateline, wanted to be one of the first into the new era and a remotish island group seemed like a peaceful way (read--NO Fireworks) to start it all. It didn't happen , the work project was bigger than Ben Hur (literally, though no chariot races) and went over time into the new year. It finished in April.

I departed Brisvegas for Naru(a recently popular destination, though not for these people a choice) and then onto the main atol of the Kirabati group (pronounced 'kirrabus'), on the bi weekly flight from Aust to Naru, Pohnepei......etc. Then on to the village of Buariki 1hrs boat trip away, this is a tidal dependant trip and so can happen at odd hours. There is a fair amount of modern war history on these atols,(Japanese occupied initially and then the US) some of it is still evident in the under growth and some dumped on the rock platform at one end of the main atol there is also a Chinese satellite station that was monitoring US missile launches over the Pacific, there where locals to testify to seeing these in the nite sky, even as recently as then.

I had booked a week of accomodation at "Mauri Paradise" resort, though not a resort in the traditional western view, several young Japenese (4) had established ,within the area of a local village, with several huts , cooking facilities, compressor, hammocks and all with the natural ambience of village life at a subsistence, day to day level. (That rooster was lucky to still be alive after several extremely early, pre sparrow fart cock-a doodle-doos over the week). The huts are timber platforms about 2m off the ground, with a thatched roof and no sides, privacy is not an issue in this part of the world, though there are sides that can be let down on coconut rope if required. Satosan, the DM and Nakamurasan an unfortunatley great Japenese chef where our hosts. Though as part of their relationship with the village several of the village wives aided Nakamura in the kitchen and introduced a traditional flair to the nightly FRESH SEAFOOD. This blend of the exotic ( sashimi, sushi and cooked seafood dishes) caught on the way back from diving and extremly simple and tasty local dishes collected by village women during the day,fruits and root vegetables and sea life found in the intertidal area (BBq mantis shrimp- ya gotta love it). The boats captain was also a local fella, his craft is a 12m local timber built outrigger canoe, plenty of room for the six divers and gear.

The diving was simple, shallow, untouched reefs and you know they are untouched as this is not a traditional tourist destination and few divers had been there. Drift dives along walls in a steady current (23m), reef sharks that where quite smallish and an abundance of fish life and corals, corals and more corals. Two dives a day generally the second dive was in really shallow reefs (6m) and with tropical water temp in the high 20's they where generally long bottom times, but sometimes not long enough.......the day the Mantas arrived!!!!!. And on the way home (no more than 30mins) all passengers are looking out for the tell tale boiling ocean surface so we could catch a feed for dinner.

Between dives there is village life to enjoy, the smells, noises and activities of a simple life with the once a week meeting in the main hut to watch a video on a telly. this in itself is an experience, both of a semi isolated community and the excitement that only Arnie can add. This is not a diving destination, but a destination that you can go to and dive. It's simple and a little different. But worth a look for the more curious.



The ark was built by amateurs, The Titanic, professionals.
cu DP

Contributed by DavidP added 2003-12-11