| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | ![]() |
Island Hopping in the PacificCountry forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea | ||
Im planning to go island hopping in the Pacific between August and October this year in Fiji, Kiribati, Tahiti and various islands that make up the surruonding area. I've formulated a plan but if anyone can advise me of anything I should check out on my route below then please let me know. _Fiji:_ As I will have to leave from Fiji to head back to LA and London, Yasawas and Ono can be left for the returning leg of Fiji. Leave Nadi (Fiji) after around 10-14 days for Tarawa (Gilberts): Kiribati: Abiang: Marakei: Gilberts (South): French Polynesia: Tahiti: Finally, if any of you are going to be in any of these places then you're more than welcome to join me. It's always good to meet new people on yer travels. | ||
Your itinerary seems extremely tight. Even in Fiji, you should allow extra days for transport connections or simply to sit out bad weather. In Kiribati, it seems utterly unrealistic. I might also add that this mix of 3 countries seems a bit strange to me, especially French Polynesia being added with reference to keeping it cheap... someplace closer to Fiji would seem a more logical choice. | 1 | |
Cheers for the advice Laszio. At the moment I'm just looking at the places I'd like to go and trying to work out some kind of order before whittling it down to something more realistic. The more I read into it, the more I keep coming across the phrase Fiji Time, especially with regard to the islands. Going to Kiribati is actually the main reason for my trip as my folks used to live there before I was born and I want to see where they spent part of their life after hearing so many stories of the place when I was a kid. As it's pretty much impossible to get a flight to Kiribati without transferring through Fiji I thought I'd spend some time in Fiji to flesh out my trip as well. I'm working from the Moon Handbooks South Pacific and Lonely Planet Micronesia books and the maps in the Moon handbook show the routes between islands. I'm assuming these are boat routes but I may be wrong. I just figured it would be nicer to travel by boat than plane. Perhaps the Tahiti/Bora Bora side of things can wait til I'm there with someone special. It would still be a blast to check it out but is Polynesia more of a couples destination? | 2 | |
Any info in the Moon SP guides is VERY old now. As for "Fiji time" - Fiji is actually pretty much the easiest and most efficient island nation to get around by boat (still, it's only weekly to Kadavu, for example), so anywhere else, especially in Kiribati, things will only be less predictable. I guess any destination can be visited alone, not just by couples. | 3 | |
Don't give up your dreams James. If you want to visit French Polynesia go for it. Moorea and Bora Bora are stunning. No reason why you need to be a couple. Be aware that you might have to fly to Huahine and Bora Bora and back. Airfares are less if purchased there. There is no ferry running between Tahiti and any island except Moorea. There are new regulations barring tourists (for safety reasons they claim) from traveling on many cargo boats. I think the Hawaiki Nui might allow tourists. Two - three days is a very short period of time. You want to spend your time savoring the islands and exploring. If your plan is to rush around and tick off the sights I would suggest an other area entirely - someplace more urban. (I'm speaking of all Pacific islands in general.) Moon has a new Tahiti guidebook - published last fall. | 4 | |
I can only comment on Fiji. | 5 | |
This is what my Mother used to call 'running around like a chicken with it's head cut off' That applies not only to individual countries but island to island. | 6 | |