World Bound Educators: Fiji

Outdoor and Climate Change Skills Training Course for Adults

A South Pacific professional development adventure for educators, post-secondary students, and change-makers.

Fiji’s Suncoast region offers one of the world’s most dynamic outdoor classroom, a place where coral reefs, mangrove forests, and coastal villages reveal how culture and climate are deeply connected. World Bound Fiji, presented by Fireside Adventures and Suncoast Adventures, is a hands-on professional development and educational travel course designed for educators, post-secondary students, and social innovators eager to explore climate change education, sustainability, and outdoor experiential learning in the field and through a strength-based lens. 

Join us to discover how learning in the South Pacific can change the way you teach, lead, and live.

What’s in the course

This two-week immersive course combines adventure travel with meaningful skill certification and leadership training:

• 3-day introduction to scuba diving certification

• 1-day snorkelling certificate

• 2-day sustainable fishing and spearfishing experience

• 3-day remote beach expedition with outdoor living and leadership skill development

• 3-day cultural and climate change education professional development workshops led by local and international and local experts and educators 

• Full day tour of Suva to learn more about the history, challenges and changes Fiji has undertaken

• Visits to a local educational centre focused on climate change, ocean health, arts, science, conservation and regional resilience

• Across the 14 days, participants engage in 45+ hours of workshops focused on climate change education, marine ecosystems, and cultural sustainability. Learn how Fijian communities are adapting to the realities of a changing climate and explore practical strategies to integrate climate literacy and resilience education into your classroom, workplace, or organization.

• This experience is inclusive and accessible for participants with diverse skill levels and backgrounds. Whether you’re an educator, travel experts, social change-maker, student, or simply curious about learning differently, you’ll find an environment that’s informative, collaborative, and deeply inspiring.

Key Takeaways

• Gain transferable skills for teaching and leadership while learning how island nations like Fiji are adapting to environmental change. Whether you’re an educator looking to enrich your curriculum, a student exploring sustainable careers, or a professional seeking a global learning experience, World Bound Fiji offers a transformative blend of outdoor education, cultural immersion, and climate action training.

• Trade the classroom for coral reefs and turquoise waters. On the World Bound Educators: Fiji course, you’ll embark on a 14-day professional development adventure that blends outdoor education, cultural learning, and climate leadership in one of the most inspiring environments on Earth: Fiji.

• Led by Jeff Willis, Daniel Gray, and a team of local and international educators, this immersive field course invites participants to explore how ocean ecosystems, island communities, and climate change are deeply intertwined. Throughout the experience, you’ll take part in hands-on workshops, field excursions, and certification-based learning designed to transform your understanding of education, leadership, and sustainability.

• Each component is guided by experienced educators and local experts who bring both professional training and cultural perspective. You’ll gain transferable outdoor education, leadership, and facilitation skills that can enrich your teaching, workplace training, or community engagement programs.

  Fiji: A Classroom Unlike Any Other

• There’s a reason Fireside Adventures has chosen Fiji’s Suncoast as the next evolution of its educator training programs. We are very excited to partner with Suncoast Adventures to co-lead this dynamic experience. The region offers vibrant marine biodiversity, a strong sense of community, and a living example of climate adaptation in action. From coral reef restoration and mangrove replanting to Fijian village sustainability projects, this course offers an authentic look at how education and ecology intersect.

• Here, you’ll find time and space to reconnect — to breathe, reflect, and rediscover why experiential learning matters. By the end of this 14-day adventure, you’ll return home not only refreshed but empowered with new tools, certifications, and global insights to lead with purpose in your classroom, boardroom, or community.

DATES: July 27 – August 08, 2026 (flight departs Vancouver on July 25, 2026)
LOCATIONS: Nadi • Fiji • Suncoast Region • Bequ Island
AGES: 18+ (co-ed)*

PRICES (CAD)
Early Bird Price (ends Dec 1, 2025): $6,549 + GST
Regular Price: $6,999 + GST
Non-refundable deposit: $1000 + GST

Includes:
– Pre-course check-in (Zoom conference with attendees)
– 24/7 instruction & support by Fireside staff
– Most meals
– All accommodation (dorm, glamping,  tenting, community homestay)
– Private ground transportation and group camping equipment
– 3-day visit to Bequ Island off the Coral Coast
– Admission into all activities based on the itinerary
– 3-day Scuba Diving Certification (70% of the cost). $350.00 deposit (separate) paid by participant.
– 3-day (2 nights) remote and private island camping expedition, including a more culturally appropriate Indiana Jones version of finding the ruins of a 1500-year-old village buried in the jungle
– 1 full day of snorkelling
– 2 day of spearfishing and deep sea fishing
– 1 day capital city tour of Suva
– Admission into all activities based on the itinerary

Does not include:
– Flights (but we can help you coordinate)
– Anything not mentioned above

More info: office@firesideadventures.ca

Photo: Our partner Suncoast Adventures

Photo: Kristen Kellogg / ATTA

Photo: Kristen Kellogg / ATTA

Jeff Willis is the Founder of Fireside Adventures and Lead Educator for the World Bound Outdoor Experiential Educator Training: Fiji. With more than 30 years of experience leading outdoor education, youth leadership, and environmental learning programs across Canada and around the world, Jeff brings an extraordinary blend of passion, adventure, and purpose. His relationship with Fiji’s Suncoast region runs deep, it’s where Fireside’s international programs have flourished and where he continues to build long-term partnerships focused on sustainability, cultural learning, and climate action.

Jeff’s immersive teaching style reflects Fireside Adventures’ philosophy: that the outdoors is the ultimate classroom. In Fiji, he guides participants through an inspiring 14-day journey that combines ocean-based exploration and climate-focused education. Participants earn scuba, snorkelling, and sustainable fishing certifications while developing outdoor leadership and expedition skills on Fiji’s stunning coastlines.

Through interactive workshops and hands-on field learning, Jeff helps educators and participants:

• Understand the complexity of climate systems through ocean and land-based learning.

• Explore the cultural, ecological, and community narratives of Fiji and the South Pacific.

• Build interdisciplinary connections between climate science, outdoor education, and social studies.

• Gain practical, transferable tools to teach climate change and sustainability in schools, universities, and workplaces.

For Jeff and Fireside Adventures, Fiji isn’t just a destination—it’s a teacher. Its reefs, tides, and communities offer powerful lessons in resilience, collaboration, and hope.

If adventure had a heart, it would beat in rhythm with the tides of the Bligh Water — one of Fiji’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems — and Daniel Gray would be standing there, smiling beneath the Fijian sun. Born and raised along the northern coast of Viti Levu, Daniel’s connection to Fiji’s land and sea runs generations deep. Daniel knows the Bligh Water as intimately as most people know their hometowns.

A true Fijian waterman, Daniel blends traditional knowledge with modern adventure leadership. He can read the ocean like a story, sense weather shifts in the wind, and navigate coral channels by memory. His spearfishing and freediving skills are matched only by his reverence for the reef. He teaches travellers and students how to see beneath the surface, how coral, current, and culture are woven together in Fiji’s living ocean classroom. When Daniel steps onto shore, the learning continues. His legendary beach cook-ups turn the day’s harvest into unforgettable meals: trevally roasted over open flame, smoky eggplant blended with coconut cream, and laughter shared beneath a canopy of stars.

Daniel Gray is more than a guide; he is a teacher, conservationist, and storyteller. As part of the Fireside Adventures Educators team, Daniel connects every underwater adventure to a larger story of climate change and cultural education. Through hands-on exploration, he helps families, educators, and students understand how ocean health, food security, and community well-being are interlinked—and how Indigenous and local knowledge continues to shape sustainable living across Fiji’s Suncoast.

For Daniel, outdoor education is not recreation, it is reconnection. His Outdoor Survival Skill experiences invite youth, educators, adventurers and families to build shelters, make fire, navigate by stars, and learn how to read the land and sea through Fijian eyes. What begins as an adventure becomes a rite of passage, leaving participants with confidence, humility, and a deep respect for nature.

Join Us This Summer

• This isn’t another conference or online course — it’s an invitation to learn differently, travel with intention, and be part of something bigger. Join World Bound Educators: Fiji and help shape the next generation of global education and climate leadership.

• Learn more: www.firesideadventures.ca/youth/world-bound-fiji