Fanning Island

Our second port was English Harbor on Fanning Island. The locals call the island Tabuaeran. It is a circular coral atoll ringed with palm trees. There are three breaks in the ring. The picture shows the break that our tenders used to get to the dock which is on the inside of the island.

The island is part of the Repulic of Kiribati. The United Nations considers this one of the poorest nations in the world. The average income in Kiribati is less than $1000 per year. The total land area of Kiribati is 849 square km (about 330 square miles) but it covers 2 million square km (about 800,000 square miles) of the Pacific Ocean.

Fanning Island has no electricity except for that provided by a few generators. There are no telephones. About 1900 people now live on the island. A few times each year a supply ship will stop at the island. The local population is mostly self-sufficient and mainly eat fish from the ocean.