January 24 - Fanning Atoll, Kiribati

We arrived at Fanning Island, one of the islands of Kiribati, at 9:00.  After clearance from the local authorities we all started heading to shore in tenders.  

The island is an atoll that surrounds a very large lagoon (42 square miles - 9.5 nautical miles north west to southeast by 6 miles wide).  At its highest point it is only about 10 feet above high tide.  

It, along with much of the other islands of Kiribati, is expected to be one of the first nations to disappear with the rise of the earth’s oceans. 

We were greeted at the dock by a group of singers.  They had lovely voices and it was a nice treat. 

Just off the dock was an open air market with people selling all types of items made from shells.  Some of it was extremely pretty.  There were also carved models of outrigger canoes and knives made from shark’s teeth. 

We looked for the local truck tour.  One entrepreneur with a truck had set up benches and a cover on the bed of his truck and we took his $10 tour.  We drove by the school and stopped at the church and clinic.  The church sanctuary was relatively large and there were no seats or pews.  Apparently the congregants just sit on the floor for services.

The clinic was staffed by a nurse/midwife who answered questions.  It appeared to be rather sparsely furnished but there was electricity from solar panels and refrigerators for storing medicines.  Most of the island has no electricity and running water although apparently there are more solar panels being installed.  And they had lots of small pigs and even more coconuts spread out to dry.

After checking out the entertainers and markets...

we wandered to a nearby beach and bobbed around for a while.  We had hoped to go snorkeling but the reef was out quite a ways.  The water was great.

We were back on the ship in time for lunch. 

This evening we attended the Liars Club presentation.  This is apparently one of the most popular entertainments on the ship.  With good reason.  The three liars were Ken Rees, the destinations lecturer, actor Bruce McGill, and Rabbi Morris Hershman.  The liars are given a word and each is to give a definition of the word and the audience votes on which one they think is telling the truth.  On its face it is pretty straight forward.  However, it was one of the most hilarious evenings we had ever experienced.