as was almost the case with our trip. As we
loaded on the 737 in Honolulu, the skies
were clear and beautiful, then as the plane
made its way south, the clouds began to
get thicker and thicker. After about 2.5
hours of flight time, we started our descent
into Christmas Island. Usually, you are on
the ground in 20 minutes or so once the
plane begins its approach to the old WWII
runway. Nervously checking my watch, I
noticed that 35 minutes had gone by, then
40, then 50. Finally, after about 55 minutes,
the captain announced that there was a
severe storm directly over the runway and
we were going to give it 10 more minutes
before we continued on to Fiji. My heart
sank as I kept catching glimpses of the
island through the clouds with my face
pressed against the window.
Suddenly, the plane went a little lower,
then lower, and then the clouds became
dark gray almost black in color. I looked
down to see the small village of London
and saw that we were only about 200 feet
off the deck. At that exact moment, the
captain put down the flaps and landing
gear in one motion and set the plane
down on a rain flooded runway. White
wash from all the water on the runway
combined with the reverse engines
created quite a scene. After what seemed
like a ½ mile, the plane finally slowed
enough to turn around and taxi back to
the “gate.” We had made it! Applause from
the cabin erupted and everybody was
happy to be on the ground.
Upon arrival at The Ikari House, Tim Pask
had a stunned look on his face... “You guys
landed in that!” He said. John and I just
looked at each other nodded and headed
straight to the fridge for a cold mental
eraser. Once un-packed and rods rigged,
we settled into appetizers and made plans
for the next day. Moana, our head guide,
let us know that much of the bait had left
and lots of small bonefish had pushed
up into the milkfish ponds due to all the
rainfall. We were at the island during
a new moon tide and many of us had
milkfish on the brain.
Our first day on the island had about the
same type of weather as when we arrived
with heavy rain and virtually no wind. We