42. Kiritimati - Hilo 

31. March 2007

I arrived at the hotel after normal time for dinner, but they made a meal especially for me in this very simple, but friendly place. There were about a dozen guys staying at the hotel, who were here to fish for the Bone fish, a couple collecting fossil corals for scientific research, and a Japanese architect.
I met them all, as we sat down for dinner, around one table, the evening after I arrived.
 

The next morning I tried to rent a car to tour the island, but none was available. Instead I was offered a lift to London with the Japanese architect. He was here to inspect a fishing factory with freezing facilities; He had designed and built it a year before, as a gift from Japan. 
 

London is the “main” town on Kiritimati, and across the channel is Paris – no kidding! Kiritimati is the

largest coral Island in the world.
 

After changing money – the going currency here is Australian dollars – and visiting the local telecom shop to use the internet, I boarded a local “Rainbow” bus for the half hour drive to the airport.
 

The radio man had arranged for me to get fuel, and it was there precisely at the time that had been arranged. Fuel is sold in barrels á 200 litres only - at a price of about US $ 4.30 – per litre that is!!!
 

I had calculated that I could make it to Hawaii with 200 litres – but I opted for 2 barrels – just to be sure.
 

Next morning I was off to the airport in a truck. I filed a flight plan by ringing the San Francisco Flight Service Center. But before I called up on the HF radio, I flew a sight seeing trip around the island.
 

I was pretty amazed by the beauty of the “flats” and inland lakes. In fact, I have not seen anything like it before. Please check out the gallery. I hope the photographs do justice to the spectacular sight?
 

Taking up the course to Hilo in Hawaii, I climbed to 10,000 feet – even though I was flying north east. Due to the magnetic variation, the magnetic course was westerly. I gave position reports every hour on the HF radio to San Francisco Radio. 
 

The flying conditions were perfect – the only event was a sudden loss of the engine power about 100 miles away from Hawaii. I was using fuel from the ferry tank, and I wanted to use most of it up – but in my calculations,I had forgotten to count in the fact, that it is not just the about 45 litres of fuel the engine uses per hour, that leaves the ferry tank – another about 30 litres is pumped up into the wing tanks per hour at the same time, as excess return fuel from the engine.
 

A quick shifting on the fuel selector from ferry tank to main tank – and use of the booster pump – had the engine back spinning in no time.
 

To get into Hilo I had to pass a solid cloud cover, so I landed using the ILS to runway 08. 
 

Getting customs and immigration done was a little complicated. I was taken by the customs official to his office by the harbour, as there was quite a bit of paperwork to be done. But he took me to a hotel, after it was done with. Nice!