Nobody packed a volleyball, but the irony was fully intact.
Last weekend, the MV Fiji Princess ran aground on a reef near Monuriki, the uninhabited Fijian island where Tom Hanks spent four cinematic years talking to a piece of sporting equipment in the 2000 film Cast Away. The small luxury liner, part of the Blue Lagoon Cruises fleet, was carrying 30 passengers and 31 crew members when it beached itself in the early morning hours.
According to Blue Lagoon, a “severe squall” was the culprit. Conditions had been calm when the ship anchored, but the squall apparently dragged the anchor toward the reef until the vessel was firmly, embarrassingly grounded. The Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji confirmed the ship took on significant damage and was taking on water.
A Cruise Ship Ran Aground on the Island Where Cast Away Was Filmed
The rescue, fortunately, went nothing like the movie. Passengers grabbed their luggage, boarded a large fast ferry, and were back at Port Denarau on Fiji’s mainland in short order. Blue Lagoon reported that everyone disembarked “in an orderly manner.” No injuries. No four-year survival mission. No desperate raft made from FedEx debris. The cruise line put passengers up in hotels in the port city, and noted that many guests were “thankful” for how the situation was handled.
The location itself is no secret. Monuriki is a recognized tourist destination in the Mamanuca Islands, a volcanic archipelago famous for its beauty, dive sites, and coral reefs. Blue Lagoon actually markets overnight stops on the island as part of its 3-to-7-day Fiji cruise packages, some of which include a visit to the Cast Away film location. Local tour operators run Cast Away-themed excursions there routinely. The island has also served as the filming location for Survivor since 2016, so it knows how to handle a camera crew and a manufactured catastrophe. This one, though, was not manufactured.
While the passengers were fine, the environmental stakes were very real. The Fiji Princess had thousands of liters of diesel fuel aboard, and the Maritime Safety Authority mobilized quickly to prevent any leakage into the surrounding reef system. By Monday, the agency confirmed a successful fuel transfer operation, with roughly 23,000 liters removed from the vessel.
The ship is still out there. The passengers are back on land, presumably with better vacation stories than anyone who just sat on a beach all week. And Monuriki, once again, delivered exactly what it was always known for.
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