Cast Away Island

On December 6th we left Mana Island on a half-day trip to Cast Away Island where the Tom Hanks movie was filmed. It was maybe a 20-minute boat ride to get there in the lodge’s tin boat. Once there our guide told us a little about the island. It cost us $50 Fijian dollars to go on this trip and apparently $10 from each person went to the chief of the island for letting us walk on his land. The chief did not live on this island though, nobody did. No spear fishing was allowed near this island either because Fiji relies heavily on their tourist industry to bring in the money for the country. It is very important to the Fijians that the island and its aquatic friends remain as beautiful and as diverse as they always have been in order to get as many tourists out to Fiji as possible. When we first arrived on Cast Away Island we all went out snorkeling for the first hour or so and saw some amazing fish and coral. The water is so clear and the coral and fish are so colorful that once I put those goggles on, the ocean turned into the best natural fish tank I’ve ever seen. There was such a bountiful and diverse amount of fish right beneath me it blew me away. On our way out of the water from snorkeling our guide and the boat driver randomly left us on the island smiling and waving as they drove off. I was somewhat worried until I caught word that they had left to try spear fishing for a bit. While they were gone we just kind of explored the island. We apparently saw the rock wall that Tom Hanks used as a gravestone when he buried the pilot but it didn’t look quite the same as it did in the movie. I climbed up close to the highest point that I could on the island and took a few pictures. It was an amazing view and it was cool to be the only ones there enjoying it. There was no sign of Wilson the volleyball. After a full morning of snorkeling and snapping photos the boat returned to pick us up. Unfortunately they had not been able to spear any fish. We ate pasta that night.