Things to Do in Tuvalu in December
December weather, activities, events & insider tips
December Weather in Tuvalu
Temperature, rainfall and humidity at a glance
Is December Right for You?
Weigh the advantages and considerations before booking
- + Trade-wind breezes keep Funafuti's lagoon tolerable - afternoons hit 31°C but the sea air cuts the edge, unlike the stifling stillness of March-April
- + Pacific golden plovers and bristle-thighed curlews arrive from Alaska. The airstrip pond at Funafuti International becomes a twitcher's runway at dawn
- + Vaiaku Loto Fale church choir rehearsals for Christmas spill onto the maneapa courtyards - four-part harmonies you can walk into without an invitation
- + Guest-house owners still have space two weeks out. Once January charter flights from Fiji fill up, that flexibility disappears
- − The wet-season pattern is blunt: 30-minute deluges at 3 pm that drown the airport road's coral surface into axle-deep custard
- − UV hits 8 even under cloud cover. Without reef-safe SPF 50 you'll burn through a cotton T-shirt in an hour on the wharf
- − Supply ship MV Nivaga II sometimes sits offshore for days waiting for swell to drop - groceries dwindle and the single ATM runs dry
Best Activities in December
Top things to do during your visit
December's incoming tides run clearer than any month. The lagoon flushes three days after the new moon and you can float above staghorn bommies at Tepuka Vili Vili counting orange-fin anemone fish at 2 m (6.5 ft) visibility. Morning low winds mean glassy surface - good for spotting reef sharks before the afternoon squall stirs sand.
Christmas week the island councils relax landing fees, so fishermen will take you to uninhabited motu for a sack of rice plus petrol. You get squeaky-sand islets 400 m (1,300 ft) long, hermit crabs the size of tennis balls, and coconut crabs that wander into camp at dusk - something impossible during the drier season when access is restricted.
After 8 pm the causeway cools to 27°C (81°F) and trade-winds funnel between the lagoon and ocean. Ride from the power-station end to the old WWII bunker. Phosphorescent algae in the culverts lights your tyres neon when you coast. December's higher tides push lagoon water over the road in places - refreshing splash and no traffic after the last flight lands.
December is pandanus harvest: leaves are split, boiled in ocean-water drums behind the maneapa, then dried on corrugated-iron roofs. Watching women weave the 'te titi' dance skirts gives you the smell of salty steam and crushed pandanus that no souvenir shop replicates. You can try plaiting a four-strand bracelet - guests are welcome once the morning's breadfruit is peeled.
December Events & Festivals
What's happening during your visit
Technically 1 October. But the public holiday gets rolled into 'Christmas fortnight' when government workers return. Expect fatele dancing on the airstrip, copra-sack races, and coconut-tree climbing that ends with singers drumming on 200-litre fuel tins. Tourists can join the kirikiri (line dance) after the third verse - just follow the hip sway.
Starting at sunset, acoustic guitars made from plywood and fishing-line move house-to-house along the ocean side. Each stop serves toddy (fermented coconut sap) that tastes like sour apple cider. Songs swap between Tuvaluan hymns and 1970s country. The circuit reaches the Vaiaku maneapa by midnight where the whole atoll squeezes onto bleachers.
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