Im planning on spend up to 2 months travelling round the south pacific.
I will have no time restrictions as I'm travelling RTW for up to 2 yrs
I want to visit fiji, samoa, tonga, cook island and bora bora,
I'm looking for recommendations on how to get from island to island, possible ferries/ cruises ar flight are expensive and awkward as some flight would mean flying back to Auckland.
You've probably noticed that Inter-Island cruises are thin on the water-basing yourself out of Nadi might work since so many airlines use that airport.
Not cheap or convenient though little is in the South Pacific.
There might still be flight connections between FP and the Cook Islands - if so they may be limited. We were also able to do a triangle route from Fiji to Vanautu to New Caledonia, back to Fiji a number of years back - we found trying to do Samoa or Tonga resulted in having to back track to Fiji. The options for travel in the Pacific have really been shortened in the past few years and it is so expensive and time consuming to get around. You might want to have a look at the airport websites to see who flies into/out of them - may help you plan a route.
The main hubs are Fiji, Hawaii, NZ and LA but you can fit quite a few islands in while using these and only backtracking a few times to Fiji.
Airlines are chopping and changing a bit atm trying to increase routes again ( many were closed due to lack of customers)
There is talk about reopening a flight between Samoa and Tonga just not sure when ( if ) that will eventuate, I have used American Samoa to get me to Hawaii via the wee local plane that connects Samoa with American Samoa - I i think it's Polynesian Air but could be Samoa Air?
But if you check Fiji Air they would probably be your best one to start with as they will probably have the most islands available then try and work in other islands through Air New Zealand, Air Tahiti and Hawaiian Air.
Sometimes it's actually cheaper to back track a little - eg although Air NZ flys to Cook Islands and Air Tahiti. Flys to Tahiti and then American Samoa, ...from Samoa, Fiji Air to Tonga then Fiji and on to LA ...
I found it cheaper to back track to NZ once and Fiji once to visit the places I wanted rather than being determined to fly from island to island. I mainly used Air NZ and Fiji Air with one trip on Hawaiian Air, takes a bit of Internet watching and booking ahead / planning to get good prices though. Don't think there is currently any passes available unfortunately .
What about sailing? There are several websites, where captains are searching crew.
We just spend 5 weeks on a sailing vessel going from Tahiti - Moorea - Hiaunine - Taha - Bora Bora - Maupiti - Aitutaki - Tonga - Fiji.
We paid 37,50€ pp per day +10€ pp per day for food and fees (harbour, immigration, customs, etc) in a 8 person catamaran (we had a nice cabin for ourselves). Seeing these beautiful islands were definitely worth it! You just need a little extra money for activities (diving, whale swimming, scooter rental, etc.). We even had a paddle bord, diving equipment (incl. Compressor), snorkeling gear, etc on board.
We found the offer through www.handgegenkoje.de but there are also english websites, like e.g. www.findacrew.net
Better try sailing first though if it is for you...can be pretty rough (for the stomach) and you are expected to help out on the boat (cooking, cleaning, night watch, setting the sails, anchoring, etc), but it was a great experience!!!
I would def be up for that no sailing experience but always wanted to do it. Will look into it thanks a million
Bora Bora is the only island of FP which i found not interesting. And i have seen a lot there. Go to tuamotus, marquesas or gambier of when you want to do it a bit cheaper: Maupiti
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