The Cast Away effect: 25 years of tourism gains for Fiji

Set-jetting done properly: Twenty-five years after Tom Hanks starred in Cast Away, it’s the gift that keeps on giving for Fiji, writes Christine Retschlag.

Fiji’s blustery southeasterly winter trade winds are nudging the vessel in which I am travelling towards the island where fictional FedEx systems analyst Chuck Noland was stranded for four lonely years in Cast Away.

In reality, acclaimed American actor Tom Hanks, who played Noland, was there for only a matter of months in late 1999/early 2000, and the island itself is called Modriki or Monuriki, depending on which local you ask. Both are correct.

Monuriki's white sand beach and palm trees draw Cast Away fans to Fiji. Photo / Supplied

But 25 years later (the movie turns 26 in December), the fantasy and parts of the film “set” remain.

I am on a half-day tour with Castaway Island Resort and its dive master Semesa “Mese” Qoroya, with a family of three tourists from Arizona my only other company.

Castaway Island Resort dive master Semesa Qoroya leads tours to the filming site. Photo / Supplied

Had this particular family been stranded Chuck Noland style, I doubt they would have survived, as the matriarch grabs a piece of coral and asks our guide, “What’s this?”

Our tour starts at the beach, where coconut shells have spelled out “Help Me” in the sand, the sign that Noland built in a bid to attract the attention of any search planes.

Coconut shells spell out "Help Me" on Monuriki, echoing the film's distress signal. Photo / Supplied

Mese points out a rocky outcrop offshore where Noland built his bamboo raft and the beach where he speared fish, but admits that the reef break here was too tame to convince viewers that Noland would struggle to escape. That was filmed nearby; such is the magic of the movies. Those wishing to see the actual bamboo raft can find it at Plantation Island.

We take a short walk inland, and Mese shows us the sharp rock where Noland cracked coconuts. He also cut his hand nearby, smearing his blood on the volleyball that would become his surrogate companion, Wilson. Several metres away, a huge boulder signals where Noland buried FedEx pilot Albert Miller.

A Wilson volleyball replica sits on Monuriki beach, a nod to the beloved film prop. Photo / Supplied

While there have been attempts to buy the island over the years, it remains protected land and home to endemic creatures such as the critically endangered Fiji crested iguana and more than 2000 pairs of wedge-tailed shearwaters. Hawksbill turtles also nest here.

Monuriki island, home to the Cast Away film set, in the Mamanuca group. Photo / Supplied

Mese, who hails from nearby Yanuya Island, says the benefits from the movie continue for his village of more than 1000 people, long beyond when they were first employed to help with filming, in what for many villagers was their first paid work.

“A long time ago, in the village people looked after themselves but built their home from the trees. Now [because of financial benefits from the tour] we can build nice concrete houses for when the cyclones come.” The area was hit hard by Cyclone Winston in 2016 and Cyclone Harold in 2020.

Yanuya Island, whose village benefits from Cast Away tourism via landing fees. Photo / Supplied

“Due to the landing fee that tourists pay for visiting Castaway, it enables villagers to pay for their groceries when they visit the mainland.

“All the tourists who come to Fiji want to visit the island. It’s a nice, beautiful island.”

Yanuya Island chief Taukei Vunaivi says the landing fee, of NZ$7 a head, is used for “village development” and the maintenance of Na Mamanuca Primary School, the island’s only school, serving its 185 enrolled students from Years 1 to 6, with four teachers.

Monuriki's rugged coastline and turquoise waters from above. Photo / Supplied

While the movie spots steal the show on this tour, snorkelling right offshore is a close second. In the shallows, I meet an Australian film crew working on the current US Survivor series, such is the enduring beauty of the Mamanuca island group in which Cast Away was filmed.

Snorkelling complete, we lunch under a rustic hut made from palm fronds. While there is salad and prawns, there’s no crab, which featured so heavily in Noland’s diet once he eventually learned to make fire . However, there is sparkling wine, beer and soft drinks.

Tropical fish dart through the crystal-clear waters of the Blue Cave. Photo / Supplied

We take a short boat ride to the nearby Blue Cave swimming hole, a stunning spot where I wonder whether Tom Hanks also swam with the surgeon fish on his days off. A planned third stop at a remote sand bar is cancelled because of the wind.

The Blue Cave swimming hole, a stunning stop on the Cast Away tour. Photo / Supplied

Back at Castaway Island Resort, which this year turns 60 and was named decades before the movie, I spot the original paddle Hanks used in the movie to steer his raft through the reef. It’s hanging over the main bar where I order a Castaway Punch, a cocktail of coconut rum, grenadine, fresh lime juice and soda water. It’s a fitting finale to a fabulous Fijian day.

The original raft paddle Tom Hanks used in Cast Away hangs at Castaway Island Resort's bar. Photo / Supplied

Details
A half-day tour to Castaway Island, including brunch, costs $220 for adults and $110 for children.

The writer travelled as a guest of Castaway Island Resort.