Spontaneous Island Hopping: Fact or Fiction?

I'm planning a two and a half (possibly longer) month trip through south pacific, and really enjoy flexible travel. In the extreme, I'd obviously love to just get there, maybe Fiji or Samoa, and bum around, hop boats to untraveled islands, and naturally throw any definite "plans" to the wind. I'm looking for a trip with as little tourism and comfortable accommodations as possible; I hope to camp a bit. And I'm very intrigued with the thought of flexible, spontaneous travel between major islands.

Realistically, I acknowledge that this is probably far from what I can actually do. But how close can I get?

Cheers
Michael

Hmm, "hop boats to untraveled islands", "little tourism and comfortable accommodations as possible", "flexible, spontaneous travel between major islands"

There is a weekly (?) boat between (Independent) Samoa and American Samoa. The islands of American Samoa certainly can be considered untraveled major islands. In the 10 days that I was in the territory I saw only two other tourists who were getting off a plane that I was getting on. The accomodations on Tutuila are comfortable though you may want to check out Scanlons which I've heard is a dive. I've heard of expats camping out for a night. You would have to extensively search blogs to find out where. There are also weekly (?) boats to beautiful Ofu island. I've heard the crossing is rough. You can camp at the Lodge. You will be uncomfortable because when it rains, which it will, it really RAINS. You will, of course, need to check the entry requirements for AS.

I might add that with hundreds of islands to choose from, Fiji definitely offers more scope for island-hopping than Samoa.

Though as the above post hinted, untouristed islands rarely offer comfortable accomodation!
Also, on truly remote "unspoilt" islands you may find yourself staying longer than you'd like: a boat may not necessarily come when you'd spontaneously like to leave!

This question comes up again and again in various forms on this forum...

Some people believe that one can just jump around from island country to island country with little effort. Wrong. The South Pacific is a wonderful place to go, but if you are wanting to be in more than one country, than intense planning, reservations, extreme patience and a VERY open mind are going to be needed.
Many of these remote islands are extremely hard to get to... I know, I've tried to do what your proposing... In the Cook Islands and Tonga.

Remember, that in many places it is almost impossible to camp... It is actually illegal in the Cooks, frowned upon in Samoa and Tonga.

It's actually really, really hard to be a Tom Hanks or a Gilligan here.

Fiction .. at least, in the terms you describe. As the others have hinted, I'm afraid your dreaming doesn't have a lot to do with the reality.

I travelled around Fiji for a couple of months. While it was easy enough to be spontaneous, there were not many ferries generally. The simple reason is that there is not much reason for islanders to go to a different island. And you'll have a very long wait (e.g., forever) for anything which is going to go to an 'untravelled' island. Spontaneity was, out of necessity, conditioned by some knowledge of, and planning around, the ferries. There are a few daily short hops -- for example, Taveuni to Savusavu on Vanua Levu, connecting Ovalau and Viti Levu, and of course the tourist shuttle up and down the Yasawas. Passenger ferries between Viti Levu and other outlying islands are of the once per week variety, or even less frequent.

Two months pass quickly, and I took a flights on a couple of occasions to speed things up.

Depending on time of year, camping out won't be a practical option (very heavy rain). And in many cases not viable (private land). I can imagine what's on your mind with this, but it's just not realistic.

I agree with Laszlo that Fiji would offer the ebst chance of getting off the beaten track, as lots of islands, relatively lots of ferries etc. Forget inter-country transport by boat, except Samoa to Am. Samoa.

You could always just fly to a less-visited island in most of those coutnries and stay in one spot for a few weeks. In the Cooks, Atiu, Mauke, Mitiaro and Mangaia don't get many tourists.

Thanks, guys. I knew my dreams, as they usually are, were unrealisitc. But is does seem the road less travelled might still be obtained- that's the most important thing.

And might I add, you can't blame a kid out of a high school in Kansas for having such high hopes for the other side of the world. I'm a sucker for the unexplored and possibility of not just being a tourist.

Thanks much
Michael

Michael,
I tried to reply to this the other day, but the website glitched.
You might have more chance of the road less travelled in the larger countries, Solomon Islands or Vanuatu, as well as Fiji.
But you would need to be prepared to sleep on the floor and use a beach for a toilet, as that is what many villagers do.
Spontaneous travel is possible between the islands of these countries, or rather, serendipitous, and I have certainly done it in Solomon Islands. However, be prepared to rough it, and wait days or weeks for transport, once you get to a village area.

#6 don't worry about it. I went to Fiji with my head full of dreams as well .. I discovered that the reality was just as interesting, perhaps moreso because it wasn't what I fantasized about.

silvanocat: "There are also weekly (?) boats to beautiful Ofu island. I've heard the crossing is rough. You can camp at the Lodge. You will be uncomfortable because when it rains, which it will, it really RAINS."

If the inter-island boat between Pago and Manu'a voyages once a week you'll be lucky. It can be done, but don't rely on crossing via the MV Sili. I've used it once in each direction and, yes, it will be rough. I've also crossed from Ofu to Pago in an alia (a small twin-hulled boat with a single outboard motor) and that was truly interesting.

My two favorite moments on the alia were getting aboard and watching as our captain bolted a compass to the bare plywood deck. This would be the only navigation.

My second most favorite moment was later and far, far out to sea and hours away from sighting land, as I listened to the captain and two other Samoans debate whether the dark mass ahead of us was Tutuila or just a cloud.

Aaaah . . . good times . . . good times . . .

And, yes, you may camp at Vaoto Lodge. It's a great and inexpensive way to hang out on Ofu -- rain and all!

Edited by: inelegy