Monuriki is an uninhabited tiny island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

, off the coast of Viti Levu

Viti Levu

Viti Levu is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji, the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.- Geography and economy :...

 in a group of islands known as the Mamanuca Islands

Mamanuca Islands

The Mamanuca Islands of Fiji are a volcanic archipelago lying to the west of Nadi and to the south of the Yasawa Islands. The group, a popular tourist destination, consists of about 20 islands, but about seven of these are covered by the Pacific Ocean at high tide.Malololailai is the centre of the...

. The island is of volcanic origin and is approximately 1 kilometre long and 600 metres wide. The land area is approximately 0.4 square kilometres surrounded on all sides by a coral reef. The highest point is 178 m. This volcanic islet is part of the Atoll

Atoll

An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...

s islands and related to a group of three islets in the larger group of Fiji Islands

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

, called "Mamanuca".
The islet is surrounded by coral reef

Coral reef

Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

; it also includes volcanic rocks, lagoons, and several small beaches, including some white sand beaches.

General information

This island was a filming location for the 2000 Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis

Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...

' film, Cast Away

Cast Away

Cast Away is a 2000 drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks as a FedEx employee stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific. The film depicts his successful attempts to survive on the island using remnants of his plane's cargo, as well as his...

, starring Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

. It is in a subgroup of the Mamanuca archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

, which is situated off the coast of Viti Levu

Viti Levu

Viti Levu is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji, the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.- Geography and economy :...

, Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

's largest island. The island became a tourist attraction following the film's release. Although it is identified by Kelly after Chuck's return as being "about 600 miles south of the Cook Islands

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

," there is actually no land between the southern-most Cook Islands of Mangaia

Mangaia

Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga.-Geography:...

 and Antarctica.
This island is known as "the island of Cast Away

Cast Away

Cast Away is a 2000 drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks as a FedEx employee stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific. The film depicts his successful attempts to survive on the island using remnants of his plane's cargo, as well as his...

" in the sense that much of the movie was filmed on this island, where the shipwrecked protagonist Chuck Noland, played by Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

, is supposed to have spent a solitary life for about four years. The movie team went in person to the island, where more than 100 people lived during the production. Since the film, this islet is a tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 attraction.

It is characterized by a length of 1.15 km and a width of 600 metres. The island is slightly mountainous, reaching a maximum height of 178 metres in the south-east. The aspect, vegetation, and geography of the island and its surroundings: rocky bottom surrounding, strong currents, stormy weather... is known very well, thanks to the movie. In Google Earth there are several pictures of it, including the cave on the north side of the island, where the protagonist fled.

Although not shown in the film, it is the smallest islet and the southernmost of a small group of three islets, west of Tavua at coordinates 17 ° 36 '32 "South, 177 ° 2' 2" West . In the archipelago are very frequently visited tourist resorts and some islets are privatized. Some tourists people and travel agents refer to Monuriki as Castaway island, but the name is misleading, since it is also used to refer to places near it. Castaway Island

Castaway Island

Castaway Island, or Qalito, is an island of the Mamanuca Group in Fiji. It is inhabited, with a tourist resort on its west side. The island has an area of .-Access:...

, or Qalito, is an island of the Mamanuca Group.

Flora and fauna

The vegetation consists mainly of higher screw pines, or pandanus

Pandanus

Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. They are numerous palmlike dioecious trees and shrubs native of the Old World tropics and subtropics. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.-Overview:...

, coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

, (Cocos nucifera) and associated species of coastal forests. The low vegetation has been eroded in the past by herds of goats up on the rocks, making the stable food of iguanas, destroyed. While trying to free the filming of Cast Away, with financial incentives, David Stanley parallel try "The Island Of The Goats", that was a new environmental initiative that included, an artificial rearing for rescued iguanas.

Monuriki is one of the few place on which the endangered Fiji Crested Iguana

Fiji Crested Iguana

The Fiji crested iguana is a critically endangered species of iguana native to some of the northwestern islands of the Fijiian archipelago, where it is found in dry forest.-Taxonomy and etymology:...

, Brachylophus vitiensis, live. These iguanas feed on a wide range of plants and insects. They spend most of his time well camouflaged in the branches of trees. However, they are actually threatened by extinction and are only a few thousand copies on the three tiny islands of the western Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

: Yadua Taba

Yadua Taba

Yadua Tabu is a volcanic islet in Fiji, an outlier to the northern island of Vanua Levu, and immediately south of the larger island Yadua. Yadua Tabu covers an area of 0.7 square kilometres and has a maximum altitude of 100 meters...

, Macuata

Macuata

Macuata is one of Fiji's fourteen Provinces, and one of three based principally on the northern island of Vanua Levu, occupying the north-eastern 40 percent of the island. It has a land area of 2004 square kilometers....

 and Monuriki.
Although not shown in the movie, in Monuriki live this nearly extinct Fiji Crested Iguana

Fiji Crested Iguana

The Fiji crested iguana is a critically endangered species of iguana native to some of the northwestern islands of the Fijiian archipelago, where it is found in dry forest.-Taxonomy and etymology:...

. The Brachylophus vitiensis began in movies when Dr. John Gibbons of the University of the South Pacific

University of the South Pacific

The University of the South Pacific is a public university with a number of locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. It is an international centre for teaching and research on Pacific culture and environment. USP's academic programmes are recognised worldwide, attracting students...

 was invited to the screening of the movie Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon (1980 film)

The Blue Lagoon is a 1980 American romance and adventure film directed by Randal Kleiser. The screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart was based on the novel The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The film stars Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins...

. The director filmed part of the movie on a remote island and included shots of the native wildlife to enhance the feel of the movie, including a large colorful iguanid. Gibbons, who had been studying the Fiji banded iguana at the time, travelled to the island and identified it as a distinct species. The species is restricted to dry forest habitats, which is one of the most threatened vegetation types in the Pacific. It was once known from 14 islands in the western part of Fiji; however, recent surveys in 2002–2004 years have only confirmed the species on three islands: Yadua Taba

Yadua Taba

Yadua Tabu is a volcanic islet in Fiji, an outlier to the northern island of Vanua Levu, and immediately south of the larger island Yadua. Yadua Tabu covers an area of 0.7 square kilometres and has a maximum altitude of 100 meters...

, Monuriki, and Macuata

Macuata

Macuata is one of Fiji's fourteen Provinces, and one of three based principally on the northern island of Vanua Levu, occupying the north-eastern 40 percent of the island. It has a land area of 2004 square kilometers....

. Yadua Taba holds the highest concentration of the species, containing approximately 98% of all individuals, which is estimated to be 6,000 animals. The Yadua Taba iguanas are the only legally protected population, as Yadua Taba is a National Trust of Fiji reserve and lacks the feral

Feral

A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...

 goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

s which have destroyed the lizard's habitat on other islands. Monuriki is also a breeding ground for some sea Turtle

Turtle

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...

s. The rise and fall of the tide

Tide

Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....

s do come and go long sandy beaches and rocky sea beds full of fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

.

Dry forests are Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...

 in smaller offshore islands with highly sensitive to excessive burning and deforestation

Deforestation

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....

; overgrazing

Overgrazing

Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, or by overpopulations of native or non-native wild animals.Overgrazing reduces the...

 and exotic species can also quickly alter natural communities; restoration is possible but challenging, particularly if degradation has been intense and persistent. Degrading dry broadleaf often leaves thorny shrublands, thickets, or dry grasslands in their place. Tropical dry forests include both deciduous and semi-evergreen forests. A recent work by Howard Nelson

Howard Nelson

Howard Nelson, Ph.D. is a Trinidadian ecologist and wildlife biologist. He is currently the CEO and Conservation Manager at the Asa Wright Nature Centre located in the Arima Valley in Trinidad's Northern Range....

 suggests that areas which were formerly classified as evergreen forest also fit the criteria for dry forests. Much more of the pacific islands originally supported dry forests.

In phytosociology

Phytosociology

Phytosociology is the branch of science which deals with plant communities, their composition and development, and the relationships between the species within them. A phytosociological system is a system for classifying these communities...

, description of forest associations was physiognomically

Physiognomy

Physiognomy is the assessment of a person's character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face...

 based. Many of his forest associations overlap modern ideas of dry

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...

 and moist

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , also known as tropical moist forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome....

 forests.
The climate in Fiji is tropical marine and warm most of the year round with minimal extremes. The warm season is from November till April and the cooler season May to October. Temperature in the cool season still averages 22 °C (71.6 °F).

Rainfall is variable, the warmer season experiences heavier rainfall, especially inland. Winds are moderate, though cyclones occur about once a year (10–12 times per decade).

The group of Monuriki is a number of tiny rocky islets in rocky basalt and with several rocky islets, all around lie off Contrasting broken cliffs and hills, coasts and coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

s and a few golden sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

 coves,

The group of islets has a drier climate and different habitat from the rain forests that cover most of the Fiji islands. Although not as rich as the rainforest the plant life of the coast does consist of many species including a number of endemic species. This coast is traditionally home to a number of endangered animals including terrestrial and marine birds. See List of birds of Fiji. Dry forests are always vulnerable to forest fires and human intervention and the original vegetation of this coast has been cleared for farming, especially cattle ranching. There are remains of a coconut plantation. Dry forests are highly sensitive to excessive burning and deforestation

Deforestation

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....

; overgrazing

Overgrazing

Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, or by overpopulations of native or non-native wild animals.Overgrazing reduces the...

 and exotic species can also quickly alter natural communities; restoration is possible but challenging, particularly if degradation has been intense and persistent. Degrading dry broadleaf often leaves thorny shrublands, thickets, or dry grasslands in their place. With only two percent of natural dry forest remaining in isolated patches, none of them in protected areas. Dry forest are elected for urban areas, farms and farming communities all along the coast.

Pandanus is common in the littoral habitat, and is a component of strandline and coastal vegetation, including grassy or swampy woodlands, secondary forests, and scrub thickets developed on makatea (raised fossilized coralline limestone terraces). It occurs on the margins of mangroves and swamps, as an understory tree in the plantation of coconut and forest, either planted or naturalized.
Associated species of native habitat include creepers such as Ipomoea pescaprae, Canavalia sericea, and Vigna marina. Other coastal thickets and forest associates include Acacia simplex

Acacia simplex

Acacia simplex is a perennial climbing tree native to islands in the western part of the Pacific Ocean as far east as Savaii. It is also found in Argentina...

, Amaroria soulameoides, Tournefortia argentea, Barringtonia asiatica

Barringtonia asiatica

Barringtonia asiatica is a species of Barringtonia native to mangrove habitats on the tropical coasts and islands of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean from Zanzibar east to Taiwan, the Philippines, Fiji, New Caledonia, the Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia...

, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza

Bruguiera gymnorrhiza

Bruguiera gymnorrhiza is a small tree up to 10 m high and belongs to the family Rhizophoraceae. It is found on the seaward side of mangrove swamps, often in the company of Rhizophora. Bark is rough and reddish-brown. The tree develops short prop-roots rather than long stilt-roots. Flowers are...

, Calophyllum inophyllum

Calophyllum inophyllum

Calophyllum inophyllum is a large evergreen. It is native from East Africa, southern coastal India to Malesia and Australia.-Distribution and description:...

, Casuarina equisetifolia

Casuarina equisetifolia

Casuarina equisetifolia is a she-oak species of the genus Casuarina. The native range extends from Burma and Vietnam throughout Malesia east to French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu, and south to Australia...

, Cerbera manghas

Cerbera manghas

Cerbera manghas is a small evergreen coastal tree growing up 12 m tall. The shiny dark-green leaves are alternate, ovoid in shape. The flowers are fragrant, possessing a white tubular 5 lobed corolla about 3 to 5 cm in diameter, with a pink to red throat. They have 5 stamens and the ovary is...

, Chrysobalanus icaco

Chrysobalanus icaco

Chrysobalanus icaco, the cocoplum, Paradise Plum and icaco , is found near sea beaches and inland throughout the tropical Americas and the Caribbean, including Cuba, southern Florida, and the Bahamas. The inland subspecies is Chrysobalanus icaco pellocarpus.-Description:Chrysobalanus icaco is a...

, Cocos nucifera, Cordia subcordata, Excoecaria agallocha, Guettarda speciosa

Guettarda speciosa

Guettarda speciosa, colloquially called beach gardenia, or zebra wood, is a species of shrub in the family Rubiaceae found in coastal habitats in tropical areas around the Pacific Ocean, including the coastline of central and northern Queensland and Northern Territory in Australia, and Pacific...

, Hernandia nymphaeifolia

Hernandia nymphaeifolia

Hernandia nymphaeifolia is a species of plant in the Hernandiaceae family. Its common name is Lantern Tree.-Description:Hernandia nymphaeifolia is a tree with 5-22 m high. The leaves are narrowly or broadly ovate or subcircular. The 5-9 veins are palmate. The flowers are white or greenish ,...

, Hibiscus tiliaceus, Intsia bijuga, Morinda citrifolia, Podocarpus neriifolius

Podocarpus neriifolius

Podocarpus neriifolius is a species of conifer in the Podocarpaceae family.It is found in Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam....

, Santalum insulare, Scaevola taccada

Scaevola taccada

Scaevola taccada, also known as Beach Cabbage, Sea Lettuce, Beach Naupaka, Naupaka kahakai , Merambong and Ngahu is a flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae found in open coastal locations of the tropical areas of the Indo-Pacific...

, Schleinitzia insularum, Terminalia catappa

Terminalia catappa

Terminalia catappa is a large tropical tree in the Leadwood tree family, Combretaceae. The tree has been spread widely by humans and the native range is uncertain. It has long been naturalised in a broad belt extending from Africa to Northern Australia and New Guinea through Southeast Asia and...

, Terminalia littoralis

Terminalia littoralis

Terminalia littoralis is a large tropical tree in the Leadwood tree family, Combretaceae.It grows to tall, with an upright, symmetrical crown and horizontal branches, growing in the coast, valuated by its timber...

, Thespesia populnea, and Vitex trifoliata. Peat swamp associates include Sphagnum cuspidatum and various sedges.

While all pandanus is distributed in the tropical Pacific islands, low islands of the Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

 and Micronesia

Micronesia

Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....

 are his favorite spot: it covers the barren atolls.
The tree is grown and propagated from shoots that form spontaneously in the axils of lower leaves. Its fruit can float and spread to other islands without help from man.
The fruit is an edible drupe. They grows wild mainly in semi­natural vegetation in littoral habitats throughout the tropical and subtropical Pacific, where it can withstand drought, strong winds, and salt spray.
Cocos nucifera was probably aided in many cases by seafaring people. Coconut fruit in the wild is light, buoyant and highly water resistant, and evolved to disperse significant distances via marine currents. It has been collected from the sea as far north as Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

History

After the Mutiny on the Bounty

Bounty

Bounty may refer to:* Bounty , an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for the capture of a person or thingIn transportation:, an 18th century British Royal Navy ship...

 on 28 April 1789 William Bligh

William Bligh

Vice Admiral William Bligh FRS RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMAV Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after being set adrift in the Bounty's launch by the mutineers...

 sailed hislaunch through the open area of ​​the northern Fiji Islands. On his way to Kupang, he became the first European to visit several islands in the Fiji group, which is why the sea area north of the Fiji island of Viti Levu

Viti Levu

Viti Levu is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji, the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.- Geography and economy :...

, which was crossed here and in the Monuriki, is named "Bligh Water".