This year, Santa is experiencing the excellent snorkelling around Christmas Island. He paddles in the warm tropical waters, greeted by the island's distinctive wildlife, including Red Crabs, Green Turtles, Red-tailed Tropicbirds, a Christmas Island Fridgatebird, Whaleshark and assorted fish.

Christmas Island is an external Australian territory located in the Indian Ocean some 2,600 kilometres north-west of Perth. The lush, tropical island was named by English sea captain William Mynors of the East India Company, who made the first recorded sighting of the island seamount that rose steeply 5,000 metres from the ocean floor aorund 60 million years ago. Coral reefs subsequently build up over the basalt core, leaving an almost continuous limestone cap. The natural history of the island is of great importance. Christmas Island National Park, which comprises 85 square kilometres of the total landmass of 135 square kilometres, was declared in 1980. The island's unique wildlife includes land crab populations of world significance.