Hey y'all,
Me and a couple of friends are starting to scope out a good destination for a much needed two week kitesurf holiday in the June/July/August period, were really intrigued by the promise of Kiritimati.
www.christmasislandsurf.com/
Did a search on the forums here and got some surprisingly negative opinions. Dirty lagoons, crap winds, etc. Wondering if this was just for a different island, or if it wasn't all it was cracked up to be on their website. Anybody actually been / travelled with these guys?
Thanks a bunch,
Tom
Northern hem not so great in June/july/august. Try Fiji for waves. PNG for wind/flat and a bunch of other south hem locations.
Check out Cocos Island (Australia) trade winds start blowing July/August/Sept. Usually good wind 15 - 20 kts, flat lagoon. Info at Zephyr Kite Tours.
I should clarify also "no surf" for kiting, strictly freeride, freestyle,flat water riding at Cocos. But take a board as they have a couple of little breaks that you can surf.
Nuclear wind there.
Really nuclear winds.
Have the British and the Americans weapons testing during the cold war to thank for that.
That is all I know about it.
This is not to be confused with Christmas island in the Indian ocean, famous for illegal immigrants and crabs. This island I have spent a bit of time on and you would not want to kite there.
A lot of the negative comments have been about Tarawa - same country but as far away from Kiritimati as Monkey Mia is from Cairns.
I've never been to Kiritimati, but would love to. I know that when I was in Tarawa 10 years ago, to get there you had fly via hawaii. That would make it pretty expensive.
Kiritimati is famous for some fantastic fly fishing (not really my thing).
It also made the news about three years ago because someone wanted to start a commercial flying school there - as a front for getting terrorists into planes within flying range of the US mainland. (Kiribati itself is totally politically stable and not a hotbed of terrorism, but some Saudis with big checkbooks thought it was an easy target)
Normally dont chime in much, but doubt too many people have been there but I went there about a year ago..
Really great lagoon kiting, some great sand bar mazes to kite through, but need to hire a boat to get to the other side of the lagoon to get where the goods are and to do downwinders. It would add up quickly at 100$US/day. IF you get unlucky and dont get wind, the surfing sucks.. terrible reefs and the waves are not that great, and not very powerful. It would be ok for a longboard or SUP at best, but it does take a massive NW swell to get down there and those are non existent in June/July.
Nothing on the island for fun, just a shack or two to crash in..There is one 'real hotel' but didnt check it out. Really dont recommend it for much other than bone fishing, especially for the price of getting there.
MRU is awesome, Cocos is great. Fiji/Namotu/Tavarua are BEST EVERS!
Here's a video I did from my trip.
Thanks for the feedback guys, that's really helpful.
Yep, looking at Mauritius as well, and I hear it's the right time of year to venture to Kenya as well.
Have to say I'm really tempted by Kenya- sounds like there is plenty of things to see / do besides kite.
I'm heading to Tarawa in june to catch up wih my girlfriends sister who is working there, but i will have my kite gear with me, and fingers crossed we get some wind! i'll let you all know how it goes! got fiji as a backup for the kiting after tarawa anyway 
Hey Tom,
if your thinking of Mauritius, you might be interested in the organised tour with boat support and photography and local knowledge at your disposal.
consider this - www.kitethrills.com/mauritius
PM me if you want more info.
cheers
