Pacific Islands - anyone been?

If Guam counts, I went for week. Work sadly. Fantastic people. Warm sea. Massive daily thunderstorms. Oh and loads of snakes and sharks.

I have some Fijian friends I could ask, what recommendations are you after?

One that isn't likely to be affected by rising sea levels caused, in part, by the global warming effect of long haul flights. Tuvalu perhaps?

Sorry, I just can't get past the irony.

I had a friend doing "missionary" work on Vanuatu. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience .

Which islands to go to.  I am only going to do this once.  Fiji is my first choice but I know nothing much about any of them bar the rugby playing ones.

Would Tahiti be better?  Solomon Islands?

I know and acknowledge that Scotroutes.  Got allow myself one big sin 🙂  I am looking at trying to do all the remote stuff I would like to do in one go to reduce the impact.

Vanatu is disappearing IIRC

when I go to the antipodes then Fiji and Tonga are not “that” far away

Is it those pacific islands you want to see, or would any others suffice?

🙂

I just want to go to a pacific island.  Early stages of planning.  Trying to get as much as I can in value from flying round the world as I will only do it once

I just want to go to a pacific island

Well for the love of god tell us which bloody one...

Oh never mind 🥳

Trying to get as much as I can in value from flying round the world as I will only do it once

Youngest_oab flew with Air Fiji from Tokyo to Auckland this week. You can stop for free on Fiji as all thier flights go there.

"Vanatu is disappearing IIRC"

Nearly 20% of it has recently disappeared.

I went to Fiji for a week in 1995 so my comments may well be out of date. A caveat: I was working to a lowish budget after  spending a number of weeks more than planned in New Zealand ( which I absolutely loved) and it was before the internet really came into common use so I may well have been unlucky with my research before I went and whilst there.

It was the biggest disappointment of my six month round the world trip. It was expensive even  at the backpacking level, much of the tourist industry  at the lower end of the market seems to be run by people who were as keen to rip off the local indigenous people as they were the tourists.
My partner has also been, a few years before me, and she also enjoyed it less than she had anticipated.

Went to the Cooks/Rarotonga 25 years ago (and Hawaii).

In those days Air NZ would allow you to stop between Auckland and LAX for an extra $100 i think.

Absolutely loved it. Would love to go back. So incredibly relaxed, amazing people and scenary. And the reef was immense.

Go - you'll only think "what if" if you don't.

After all the eulogising of Rarotonga, I can't recommend Oahu. So over developed, and [to me] a different and worse way of doing things. Americans destroyed all the culture there, whereas it still exists in tonga/rarotonga/fiji

Thats disappointing jimw.  Ta tho

Thats disappointing jimw.  Ta tho

As I said, I think I made poor choices and as I was trying to keep to a budget I didn’t really get to see much more than a beach Hostel  near Nadi and three days on one of the smaller islands which I could walk round in less than an hour. I realised that beach holidays are not my thing and it did force me to rest up after seven weeks of activities in NZ so it wasn’t all bad.

We went to Fiji around 5 years ago for 10 days, on our way back from a gap year in NZ/Aus.

We were told if you want to see/experience the Fiji that you see on TV, in ads, etc, then you need to get off the main island and go to the smaller islands, which is what we did, and it was everything we could have imagined it would be. There's regular boats that go to all the islands and transfers are super easy to arrange.

We spent around 8 days on these islands, but it is usually just the resort, surrounded by dense forest, so is very much a beach/pool holiday, which is exactly what we wanted after a year of solid working in NZ. We did heaps of snorkeling just off the beach which for us was absolutely incredible with heaps of fish and corals, but most places arrange scuba courses and trips too if that's more your vibe.

Some of the islands are super pricey, but there's quite a lot of more basic options which is what we opted for and they were perfectly fine with decent food.

LMK if you have any questions

Loved Fiji (in 1999!) backpacking. Super friendly people. Had a couple of days on main island which was ok (recall staying in backpackers was called Whitehouse?) then off to a small island called Mana. Everything runs on “Fiji time” though and takes a bit of getting used to.

one of my highlights of round the world trip, Bali-Oz-Fiji-Hawaii-US(briefly)-home

but that is well over 20 years ago!!!

Why not join MadBillMcMad and go overland, then get on a sail boat or suchlike and island hop?! Lots of boats looking for crew

That would be a once in a lifetime trip

it was before the internet really came into common use

Easy to forget that backpacking before the internet was done clutching an annotated Lonely Planet guide, rumours of wonderful beaches and a security pouch full of travellers cheques! Wonderful.

My dad lived on Vanuatu 38 years ago and I went out for 6 weeks when I was 12. It was lovely then, and an amazing experience. Port Villa was reasonably uncommercial and the only tourists were the very few that dissenbarked from the occasional cruise ship. We visited a few of the neighbouring islands one of which had a live volcano on. I believe Vanuatu took a real hammering a few years back after a huge cyclone and I'm not sure if it's ever fully recovered from it.

I'd love to go back one day but I'm afraid the place may not live up to my memories of those 6 weeks all those years ago.

Surely the obvious thing is to fly to NZ and cycle back via said islands ?

Kormoran.  Thats me.  Ollie Reed was just my stand in

Separated at birth!?

Spent somt time in Vanuatu in July as my son is working there. Great place for snorkelling/diving, unspoilt empty beaches if that is your thing. But it got hit by two cyclones earlier in the year so many tourist businesses, struggling anyway because of Covid, were not operating. The younger generation went canyoning on Santo which they said was great. And you can get closer to an active volcano on Tanna than anywhere else. Plus it has the best and strongest kava. And finally the people are great.

Downsides are the cuisine is a bit samey though the local free range jungle fed beef is good, but we may not have seen that at its best (see cyclones above). Also there is little biodiversity as it is volcanic and was never connected to a larger land mass. That and the lack of variety of lical produce surprised me.

So there may be better islands - son recently visited the Solomon Islands for a week's break and really liked it.

I've just come back from Fiji 2 weeks ago.

We went here:   https://vomofiji.com

We went with our kids (4 and 7) and it was frankly, amazing.  There are lots of different islands in that chain that are suited to different things (families, couples etc).

Avoid Denaru - it's where all the big corporate resorts are and is completely souless IMO.  We also know people that have been over to the "coral coast" and weren't super impressed.

Vomo (above) is a bit spendy - but worth it in my opinion: definitely holiday of a lifetime stuff.  But each of the islands represent different value propositions too.

We went to Fiji back in 1999, last stop of our year away travelling before home. Loved it.

Can't for the life in me remember what the small island we stayed on was called, but it was beautiful and people were amazing. Was cheap as chips as well! Wish we'd stayed longer and seen more.

Another vote for the Cook Islands, lovely people, music, coral reefs, verdant, good food and beer.

Work sadly.
...
loads of snakes and sharks.

I think I've worked there also.

I, too, stopped off on the Cook Islands for a few days on the LA to NZ leg of my round the world trip but it was back in around 94/95 so can't comment much. IIRC, that was an AirNZ flight.

I can remember swimming in a big, shallow, warm lagoon and that it was disappointingly overcast when I was there but I can't remember much else.
Can't say I've ever been tempted to return. Cook Islands was/is a NZ protectorate (or something) so many links to NZ (except sheep!)
.

@kormoran

I was reading through and was thinking boat as well , then read your post. Great minds

Why not join MadBillMcMad and go overland, then get on a sail boat or suchlike and island hop?! Lots of boats looking for crew

I get seasick badly even crossing bridges 🙂

Went to Tahiti for a few weeks c12 years ago as part of honeymoon/world travel/career break. Stayed on the main island for a few days & the rest on Moorea (not the mines).

Mixed memories for me - we had limited budget & were there more a la backpackers rather than lodge on waters edge as part of a postcard seen on tv £££££ resort.

We stayed in an air b n b on the main island on the waters edge (owned by ex world champion surfer), hired a car, went to Teahupo',o (flat as out of season) & saw the various sights.

Then caught the ferry across to Moorea & stayed in a Fare (handmade wooden structure) just off a beach. I think we struggled to find anywhere to stay on Moorea (which is less populous & developed than the main island) that wasn't high end or part of a fancy £££££ resort (think the same goes for the islands even further out).

Our beach was rocky with no real swimming but a short walk from an amazing beach that had one of those 👆 resorts on it https://www.sofitel-moorea-kiaora.com/ . Amazing lagoon with inner & outer reefs, wow snorkeling with coral,  sharks, rays etc with the lush mountains behind, blue sea & postcard resort off to one side.

Think we borrowed a car from the fare owner & saw the island. Amazing natural beauty with lots of resorts dotted around, mostly on the nicer beaches/coves etc.

We were self catering & I don't really remember eating out at all, just buying fresh baguettes from a shed along a dusty road on Moorea (pretty sure I ate more than bread for the week we were there!) & food from a large french supermarket on the main island.

Our budget didn't allow any tours (they were all £££ at the time) so it was all very DIY but one of the highlights of our journey along with Japan & NZ.

I get seasick badly even crossing bridges 🙂

Me too but then I got to be cook on a mate's yacht and the sickness was never a problem. Weird!

Surely, surely, the way to see the Pacific Islands is to go by wind powered vessel

https://www.crewseekers.net/

Plant a seed and see what happens 😀

I went to samoa on honeymoon in 2008. We stayed on Upolu and visited savai'i. We went for 16 days. Stayed in a very small 'resort' in a fale on the beach and hired a car for trips further afield.

The place was amazing large enough to explore and need a car, small enough to do it all. Beaches were unbelievable and deserted. Flight was 26hrs via LA. Came back via Auckland.

Now i have kids and watch moana(!) It takes me back there. Everyone was super friendly the place we stayed at was badly damaged in an earthquake

Do you want to go to a Pacific island or an island in the Pacific? Places like Fiji and Tonga are becoming more international these days - island hopping around the smaller islands may be a bit better but the diving hotspots like Chuuk are still full of tourists. Yap, in Micronesia Kosrae and Pohnpei would be quieter but they're all fairly small. Palau was amazingly friendly and has the rock islands and jellyfish lake. The Marshall Islands are also full of typical atolls but Majuro is a bit of a dump, and it's hard to get from island to island. Hawaii (at least the big island and oahu) is basically America with a Polynesian veneer.

(all based on visits at least 15 years ago)

Surely, surely, the way to see the Pacific Islands is to go by wind powered vessel

Probably yes - I was thinking about using boats rather than short flights once in the area.  But the seasickness scares me

Do you want to go to a Pacific island or an island in the Pacific?

I'm not sure I get the distinction!  Its just early stages of planning.  I picked Fiji because of the rugby.  It will be my only chance to do this and to minimise flights I want to see everything I want in one trip.

Its probably also about the coral reefs / atolls and beaches but I can only do a day on the beach before I get bored.  I would like to be able to wander around and get a bit off the tourist trap routes

I'll look into boats a bit more too.

Yes sickness scared me too, but no one is immune and it can be very circumstancial. There's anti sea sickness meds of course. But often it's just a specific motion that is the problem, not just being on water. Having a job or task on board is what saves me

I can only take so much time on a beach although Pacific snorkelling is pretty impressive. In the Cooks I hired a motorbike and went round the island filming houses and horticulture, very interesting but regret not attending a church service (to hear the amazing singing). I'd certainly go back.

I too was in fiji in 1999! Cheap credit back then, and going round the world seemed to me to be a better option than university. Firstly, the sea in the southern hemisphere is azure blue, flat as a pancake, as clear and sparkling as crystal glass, and filled with colourful, beautiful, friendly people and fishes all wearing very little clothing (especially the fish). There's bracelets and tablets for seasickness and probably jedi mindtricks, so definitely do get on boats.

In Fiji I remember sandy beaches, blue skies and sea water as warm as a bath. I remember a dubious guest house, our room had a family of cockroaches that we christened "The Jetsons" living behind the toilet, and a cute mouse that popped up when you least expected it. I remember island hoping on boats and great backpacker bars though I imagine we shunned anyone over the age of 24.

Possibly due to aforementioned bars + ingesting various locally produced substances* I don't remember anything that would actually be useful to you, sorry.

On a shoestring lonely planet budget. No photos either, unthinkable nowadays.

* one offering made our teeth tingle and we posted a sample to a friend back home wrapped in magazine perfume strips (to fool sniffer dogs of course). She threw it away because she thought it was just dirt. Which it probably was.

though I imagine we shunned anyone over the age of 24.

thats gonna be me then 🙂

From what I know of young people nowadays they are a lot kinder and inclusive than we were in the 90s. Also not sure if backpacking in your teens and 20s is even a thing now, Fiji might be full of people like you now 😉

p.s. just checked out the place @batfink stayed at 😳 You could buy a bike for that, every night!

p.s. just checked out the place @batfink stayed at 😳 You could buy a bike for that, every night!

Yes it was a bit ridiculous…. We have booked again for next year. It’s only a 4 hour flight for us though.

I've been to the Pacific on a couple of trips, first in 2000 ish - stopped in:

French Polynesia - island hopped on ferries between Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora (which is an atoll) and Raiatea, but you can fly between them all I think.
Cook Islands - stayed on Rarotonga and Aitutaki (also an atoll) - actually went back here on our honeymoon in 2008 as it's amazing and I wanted Mrs Dubs to experience it too. I learned to scuba on Raro too.
Fiji - did a bit of island hopping here too, there used to be a sort of backpackers fun island in one of the island groups to the west of Viti Levu (the main island) and I also went to a remote place (maybe Arthurs?) on the island of Kadavu  which was pretty basic at the time. Actually played a pick up game of touch with the locals at one point - that was fun 🙂

As for getting there, you used to be able to get a return flight to Auckland via LA and add a bunch of stop overs to create a RTW ticket.

They still do it, but I reckon (like everything else) it's not as cheap as it used to be. Have a play and see what you can come up with, or pop into a flight centre - they have been the best for me when booking far flung travel.

https://www.airnewzealand.co.uk/round-the-world-itineraries

Don’t forget Easter Island for less palm trees and more stone statues.

This is a brilliant way to see Polynesia, ‘over water’ accommodation and a different venue every day - https://www.moanavoyages.com/en/cruises/archipels-croisieres/

I’ve been to Easter Island too (2000 ish). It’s a fantastic place to visit, but it is super hard to get to. 9 ish hour flights from Santiago or Tahiti IIRC.

It’s also amazing to hear how a civilisation tore itself apart without regard for their environment.

Got allow myself one big sin

You of all folks, have less to feel sinful about doing this than pretty much anyone I know. You do more than most to try to limit your emissions and this isn't going to make any difference. I think you should travel guilt free. I've never been to any Pacific Island, however my wife says that Hawaii for all it's tourist trapiness (Yes, I did mean to put a t) has to be seen to be believed, and would go back in an instant.  I'll look forward to the pictures.

Several Tongans I worked with said Tonga isn't great to visit, go to Samoan, but don't tell the Samoans we sent you.

Discovery islands are nice, great whale watching too.

Pitcairn Island is down round that way. IIRC everyone who considers themselves indigenous is descended from the sailors who were mutineers from the Bounty. There's only a handful of permanent residents, and it's one of the remotest places on the planet. Might be worth swinging by...

There’s only a handful of permanent residents,

Aren't half or a third of the men now in prison for being sex offenders? Doesn't sound like an ideal spot for a holiday if I'm being honest

Cook Islands. Incredible place, amazing people, beautiful place and I preferred it to Fiji.
Fiji was great fun too, but as said above, you need to get off the main island to get the best from it.

Aren’t half or a third of the men now in prison for being sex offenders?

Hadn't seen that! Probably one to avoid in that case

The whole history of Pitcairn is pretty unpleasant. How did any women get to the island?

Anyone else got a mental image of TJ in a grass skirt and a coconut bra? Just me?

Funny you should mention that 🙂

Had a few weeks on Rarotonga about 10years ago. Ticked all the boxes of island paradise for me.
It was expensive, which is understandable as everything is flown or shipped in, but not excessively so back then.
Tiny island which you can circle in no time at all on a moped, with walks up the volanco in the middle etc and surrounded by beaches and lagoons, so pretty much what you'd expect if you think 'polynesia'
This was just before direct flights from Australia were avaiable, so idea how much it's changed - back then you'd only stop if travelling between NZ and LA or coming out and back from NZ.
There were resorts, but most seemed relatively small, we stayed in a rented bungalow.
If it was still the same would go back in heart beat.

How did any women get to the island?

The mutineers initially headed back to Tahiti (the reason they mutinied in the first place), and collected twenty islanders 14 of whom were women. I think by about the early 19thC only one mutineer was left, the others and the Polynesians from Tahiti had all been murdered or killed. The descendants that live there now are from those initial settlers

I have been to Pitcairn Island back in 2000 (was in the RN). Personally its not a place that Id rush back to amazing if disturbing story. Ladies were taken there as part of the mutineers originally. Only thing going for it was an lovely lagoon, other than it is just an odd rock in the ocean. Inhabited by incestuous males, I'd be surprised if there is any future for the place as when I was there alot of the young were leaving to be educated in New Zealand and not coming back ( cant imagine why ). Also stopped at a place called Palmerston Atoll, amazing island with only a few inhabitants and only accessible by boat. Locals were amazing I could have stayed for ever. People sailing the world were offered stays in swap for goods . Ill find some photos, also did Tahiti and Hawaii but not photos (was in the bar) 

I did that once too - the round the world ticket, visiting Australia, New Zealand, and several pacific islands. It was one of the best things I've ever done.

Fiji's fanastic. So much to do, loads of little islands nearby, and is great for a curry.

Mo'orea's like Bora-Bora without encircled lagoon and the insane celebrity prices. Totally gorgeous but with boulangeries too. Bora-Bora was the anticlimax of the trip (apart from scuba diving with manta rays) but then we couldn't afford to climax it properly cos of the extortionate accomodation.

The Cook islands are great. Lots of fun and also gorgeous. The lagoon at Aitutaki is the most picture-perferct beach-type destination I have ever and will ever visit. Ever. We took a boat trip to One Foot Island and simply stared, open-mouthed and laughing ocassionally, until they took us away again a few hours later.

I also went to Hawaii once (the Big Island and Kauai) but I'd rather visit any of the above again because Hawaii's just too like America. Although Waimea Canyon on Kauai is absolutely astonishing.

I'm a lucky bastard to have been able to do that, and I'm entirely jealous of you at the same time 😀  I want to go again!

Visited there a long time ago (~1993). My broad generalisation (always the best kind I find 😉 back then was that the non-French islands were "better". The French territories that we visited (Marquesas, Tuamotus, Society Islands - Tahiti, Morea, Bora bora) were relatively well off, and the locals not much interested in our existence. Other places we visited - Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, and Niue were much friendlier towards travellers, and more likely to engage with us.

Rarotonga was great, but at the same time the only place I saw a fight break out in a bar I was in !

Tonga - Try the Kava 😉

Niue - Probably the friendliest, nicest island on the planet.

LR