Christmas Island!!

Rather than giving more explanation about the nature and its beauty i hope the above posts are enough to prove its admiration. So i would like to continue the description about the island "Christmas island".

This was originally published here

Christmas Island

Christmas Island is one of natures most impressive feats, an island full of natural wonders: from the unique annual red crab migration to rare and unusual birds and glorious deserted beaches where the only footprints in the sand are those made by nesting turtles.With so many endemic species, the island is often referred to as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean. Yet it also displays a curious amalgam of cultures, history and industry, emerging as a place where all these elements create a truly unusual travel experience.[Read More]

Location

The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located 2,600 kilometers northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, 500 km south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and 975 km ENE of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.It has a population of 1,402 residents who live in a number of "settlement areas" on the northern tip of the island: Flying Fish Cove , Silver City, Poon Saan, and Drumsite.The island’s geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism amongst its flora and fauna, which is of significant interest to scientists and naturalists.Phosphate, deposited as Guano, has been mined on the island for many years. 63% of its 135 square kilometers is National Park and there are large areas of primary rainforest.

Facts

• The picturesque sight was caught in hand on 1615 by Captain William Mynors of Royal Mary and gave it an indentification on 25th December 1643.
• After the detailed surveys about the island by Dr John Murray in 1872 the islet was  explored to world's sight.Thereby showing the potential importance of phosphate mining.
• By the year 1985-1987 the exportation of phosphate was carried out by George Cluines-Ross and Dr John Murray with the Christmas Island Phosphate Company.
• Later the island was invaded by Japanese during the Second World War from 1942-1945. Some settlers fled prior to the invasion while some tried to escape to nearby jungle but were later caught as prisoners.
• Until 1957 the island was ruled by the British colony of Singapore and later purchased by Australia for 2.5 million pounds on January  1st 1958. Thus the territory day is celebrated on October 1st with great ecstasy and enthusiasm by the locals of the islet.
• Christmas Island and the Cocos or Keeling Islands together are called the Australian Indian Ocean Territories and since 1997 share a single Administrator resident on Christmas Island.

Things to See and Do

Christmas Island is famous for its pristine wildlife. During the wet season (November to February) the red crabs migrate from the rainforest. The roads are literally a carpet of red moving crabs! This is a truly awesome sight and one not to be missed.The bird life is spectacular with Golden Bosuns, Boobies and Frigate birds swooping all around. The endangered Abbott’s Booby nests only on Christmas Island.In January the whale sharks can be seen on their annual migration.There are many tourist operators on the island which provide diving, fishing, bird and wildlife tours to mention just a few. All have extensive experience of the island.Visit some of the beautiful beaches and coves, not to mention the spectacular blowholes and caves!!!![Read More]

Beaches

There are a number of sand and shingle Beaches in Christmas Island which will make your vacation delightful. The Beaches in Christmas Island which have formed gradually over a period of years through volcanic eruptions within the Pacific Ocean and by the formation of reefs and corals have contributed to the beauty of the beaches here.

Facitlties

The beaches are the most obvious attraction with facilities for

• windsurfing, kite surfing, boating for all adventure lovers
• sports activities
• diverse varieties of flora and fauna
• some rare sights into the varieties of coral, like whip corals and cabbage corals.

Placed in beautiful diving sites, the Christmas Island gives the traveler the exquisite richness of the island's shores with abundant tropical beauty makes it a haven for visitors.

The Christmas Island Beaches are also renowned for the annual migration of the Red Crabs and the Mangrove Swamps with a amazing range of species. The island provides excellent spots for snorkeling, diving, and exploring its rock pools. Scuba diving is one of the major adventure sports associated the island's beaches for its excellent coastline and unpolluted waters because of almost no industrial wastes dumped into the sea. The reefs surrounding the island contain a variety of underwater wildlife of exotic varieties, and you shall definitely have a lifetime experience seeing these rare species mellowed by the slanting sun rays which penetrate the ocean's surface waters. You can also go for Big Game Fishing, organizing private fishing charters and trolling, with the Dog Tooth Tuna, Trevally, Yellow Fin Tuna, Wahoo, Martin and Barracuda as some of the important species.

Some of the popular beaches in Christmas Island are the

Greta Beach

Greta Beach is a sand beach on Christmas Island located approximately 15km from town called Flying Fish Cove . It is a quiet beach surrounded by rain forest popular among families with children. Greta Beach is slowly decreasing to the sea and belongs to the biggest location where crabs spawn. Every year hundreds of thousands of crabs migrate to Greta Beach to lay their eggs into sea as well as rare sea turtles laying their eggs into sand of the beach.

The Lily Beach

Lily Beach is a beach on the island of Christmas Island. Situated on the east coast of the island. It is one of the most popular beaches on the island. Situated between the rock cliffs. Lily Beach has a beautiful white sand and the background it is surrounded by large trees that provide nice shade. The sea is a pure azure.

The Ethel Beach

A left turn along a rocky track at the bend just prior to Lily Beach.
There is a sandy channel at the eastern end of the beach that is a good entry point for snorkelling when the water is calm. This part of the coast tends to be calmer during the wet season (October to April).

Dolly Beach

Dolly Beach is an attractive and the biggest beach on Christmas Island neighbouring with Greta Beach approximately 20km from town called Flying Fish Cove , Christmas Island. Dolly Beach is popular place for camping offering large sand beach surrounded by coconut palms and rain forest. The shelf subsoil creates shallow stone pools with crystal clean water right by the beach. Rare sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand of Dolly Beach every year.

Known for their pristine secluded beauty and which shall make your Christmas Island Tours very interesting. In some of these beaches you can observe several marine turtles resting, besides pigeons and the ending stretch of palm and coconut trees which dot the Island's surface.

Scuba Diving

Scuba diving trips boast endless kilometres of spectacular wall diving, untouched corals, hundreds of species of tropical fish, dolphins, whalesharks, warm clear water, the opportunity to see magnificent marine life - what more could you expect from the ultimate scuba diving trip and experience?

Christmas Island is surrounded by a narrow tropical reef which plunges into a bottomless abyss. This makes it the perfect destination for scuba diving trips! This reef is laced with many unspoiled corals and abundant species of marine life. [Read More]

Bird Watching

The island is large enough to have developed its own unique rainforest ecology. There are hundreds of species of birds with seven of the 13 land birds being endemic to the island, including the inquisitive Christmas Island Thrush, whose melodious evening song lends a wonderful musical quality to the tropical, palm-fringed sunsets.

Many species are quite inquisitive and those on a birdwatching holiday can be rewarded with some truly special sightings. Highlights include the rarest bobby and frigate birds in the world, the Abbotts Booby and the Christmas Island Frigatebird. With little effort is it quite easy to tick off a full list of residents in a busy week or more relaxed fortnight, though the elusive Christmas Island Hawk Owl keeps many coming back for more!

Red Crab Watching

Bright red is the common colour but there are the occasional orange specimens and more rarely some purple animals. They are a big crab. An adult body shell (or carapace) may measure up to 116mm across. The Christmas Island red crabs' carapace is round shouldered and encloses their lungs and gills. Their claws are usually of equal size unless one is a regrowing claw. Males grow larger overall than females, while females have a much broader abdomen and usually have smaller claws than males. However young Christmas Island red crabs all have the characteristic narrow abdomen of the male. The broader abdomen on the female Christmas Island red crab only becomes apparent in the third year of growth.

Christmas Island red crabs grow slowly, reaching about 40mm in carapace width after 4-5 years. They are sexually mature at this age and begin to participate in the breeding migrations.The Christmas Island red crabs moult their shells regularly during their early growth phases to match their increasing body size. Moulting usually takes place in the protected moist environment of their burrows. Mature Christmas Island red crabs probably moult only once a year, as their growth rate slows.

Flying Fish Cove

Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island is a very well known tourist attraction of the Christmas Islands. It was the first British Settlement on this island, which was established in the year 1888. Kiritimati is the actual name of the place, which is popularly called Christmas Islands, and is located in Kiribati. There are many places where the visitors can pay a visit during their stay in Kiribati.

The Flying Fish Cove in Christmas Islands is a very popular spot and about one third of the total population of the territory live in this region. The place is situated in the north eastern region of the island. There is a small harbor in the Flying Fish Cove. The visitors can pay a visit to this harbor. The harbor provides lot of facilities to the tourists visiting the place. They provide the tourists with yachts. There is also an airfield, which is located just a few kilometers far. It is in the southeast direction of the Flying Fish Cove. The interested visitors can even try out diving at the beach found near the settlement.

National Park

Christmas Island National Park, Christmas Island is one of the leading Tourist Attractions in Christmas Island. Christmas Island National Park, Christmas Island beckons tourists from many corners of the world and they arrive to experience it with complete enthusiasm. Christmas Island National Park, Christmas Island should definitely feature in the itinerary of your Christmas Island Tours.

Christmas Island National Park, Christmas Island is home to some of the most unique species of animal and bird life. Christmas Island National Park, Christmas Island has a very natural and balanced ecosystem which makes it one of the most sought after travel destinations in the island.The authorities of Christmas Island National Park, Christmas Island has recruited many guides and animal keepers who are responsible for taking the travelers to many parts of it. The Christmas Island National Park, Christmas Island was officially opened to the public in the year 1980.

Some of the most endangered bird life which you can come across in the Christmas Island National Park, Christmas Island revolves around the Christmas Island frigate bird and the Abbbetos. Apart from these endangered species of birds the sea birdlife which is found in the islands is also extensive. There is an overall collection of more than 80,000 sea birds which build their nests over here.

Accommodation

• Hibiscus House
• Mango Tree Lodge
• The Retreat
• Rumah Biru Cottage
• The Sanctuary
• Sea Gazin
• Sunset
• VQ3 Lodge
• The Cabin
• Captain's Last Resort

These are the list  of resorts and lodges that provide very comfortable accommodations and all facilities. They are perfectly located such that all the destinations are easily accessible and good mode of transportation is available. The lodges can be rented based on your budget plan as all sorts of lodges suiting our budget is available. The island is a paradise for those who want peace and relaxation from the busy and hectic world. The corals are extremely beautiful and it provides a wonderful experience of viewing the corals so clearly through the scuba dives. The people are also friendly and you need not feel as a stranger as they readily help to guide for any required information. Its a great island and a unique place offering a wonderful opportunity to see cool purple color shells.

This was originally published here

The Christmas Islands are the perfect destination where the tourists can come for holidays and spend some days in complete peace and serenity. The place has got good facilities of transportation and the visitors will get convenient transport facilities which will enable them to move freely from one place to another. All the different attractions in Christmas islands can be accessed comfortably by the visitors from any corner of the place. There are good lodging and dining option as well. The stay in the Christmas Islands will always remain a memorable experience for all the visitors.

Originally published @tidingsspot.info