Plans change when you’re moving through the Pacific. Sometimes it’s timing, sometimes it’s logistics, and sometimes it’s just the way the journey unfolds. What I’ve come to realize is that even when things shift, you’re not really off course. You’re just being guided somewhere you were meant to go, even if it wasn’t the original plan. Even to a place you’ve been to before

For me, that next place is Fiji.

This isn’t just another stop on the map but It’s a humble return. A return that feels different from the first time, shaped by everything I’ve experienced across the Pacific since then. Hawai’i, Tokelau, Palau, they all add up!

What once felt like a single chapter now feels connected to something much bigger – One Ocean, One People. Fiji sits right in the middle of that.

The first time I went to Fiji was back in 2018, at a point where I was still figuring out what my time in the Pacific really meant.

I had just come off a stretch of time in Hawai‘i and a full year living in New Zealand, and I was moving through the islands more out of curiosity than intention. Fiji was one of those places that I experienced without fully understanding what I was stepping into.

I spent time sailing the islands, stayed in villages such as my week in Togobula village, and found myself in situations that felt raw and real, not structured for visitors. I remember being around families, watching daily life unfold, and witnessing a way of life that wasn’t staged for anyone. They were just happening. And this was how my cultural voyaging world began!

Meke dance to this day is one of my favorite forms of Pacific dance. But back then, I didn’t fully process the deeper meaning nor understood there was. I could feel that it carried something deeper, but I didn’t yet have the awareness to understand it beyond the surface.

Looking back now, I can see that Fiji left a stronger impression on me than I realized then.

Selfie with a taupou during a storytelling video shoot in American Samoa

At that stage, I was still learning how to move through these environments. I was present, but I wasn’t yet aware of the depth behind what I was seeing. Fast forward eight years, wow!

There’s a difference between being somewhere and actually understanding it. Back then, I was taking things in, but I hadn’t yet developed the awareness to recognize how much meaning was tied into everyday life, language, movement, and community.

This is why I respect the building blocks of the journey that came after I left Fiji for the first time. Dancing hula in Hawai’i was the cultural rebirth, living in American Samoa grounded my storytelling, and Tokelau make me realize how much this all manifested into something bigger than me.

Coming back now feels like stepping into something I wasn’t ready for the first time.

There’s more intention behind how I travel, how I engage with people, and how I approach the storytelling that comes out of these experiences. It’s not about moving quickly or seeing as much as possible anymore. It’s about slowing down and understanding what’s actually around me.

This return to Fiji isn’t about repeating the past. It’s about building on it. It’s about taking everything I’ve learned across Oceania and bringing it into a place that I know has more to teach and show than what I was able to take in before.

There are specific things that draw me back, but they aren’t checklist items. More than anything, I want to spend time with the cultural elements that continue to shape life across the islands:

• Dance, especially meke, and the stories carried through movement
• Masi (tapa), and the process behind its creation
• Weaving traditions and their role in everyday life
• Woodcarving and the expression of identity through craft
• Language across different islands and communities within Fiji
• Voyaging traditions and the role of the canoe

From a travel lens, I also know I only scratched the surface the first time. There are entire parts of Fiji that I haven’t experienced yet, and that curiosity is just as strong as the cultural pull.

Some of the places I still want to spend time in include Ovalau, Kadavu, Vatulele, the Lau Islands, and Vanua Levu, along with the smaller islands scattered throughout the archipelago.

This time, I’m not looking to pass through. I’m looking to spend time, to observe much deeper, and to understand things in a way that only comes with being present.

Fiji is often seen as just another island destination, but once you spend time understanding its place in the Pacific, it becomes clear that it holds a much deeper role.

Geographically, it sits in a position that connects different parts of Oceania in how it connects people, movement, and culture across the ocean. Culturally, you can feel influences that stretch across the region, with elements that reflect both its own traditions and its relationship to surrounding islands. Such as it’s gateway into Melanesia as a Melanesian culture while it’s connections to Samoa and especially Tonga to it’s east.

It doesn’t feel isolated in the way people often imagine Pacific islands to be. Instead, it feels like a place where different parts of the Pacific begin to overlap.

Fiji isn’t just a crossroads in the Pacific but It has become a major crossroads within my own voyage.

It’s a place where different paths begin to connect. Places like Rotuma, Rabi, Kioa, and even further returning to Tuvalu start to make more sense when viewed through Fiji. What once felt like separate destinations now feels part of a wider network that has always existed.

That’s why this return matters.

It’s not just about going back to a place I’ve already been. It’s about stepping back into a part of the Pacific that helps bring everything else into focus, both in the region and within my own journey.

This work is part of One Ocean, One People, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to documenting and sharing Pacific Island cultures and stories. All support helps fund fieldwork, travel to remote islands, and the production of educational storytelling across Oceania.

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