India, March 31 -- On our first night at Turtle Island, a private island resort in Fiji's Yasawa archipelago, my husband Alex and I were about 15 minutes late to happy hour. Our bure, or villa, was perched on one of the island's best vantage points, and we had been stalling to soak in all the colors of the sunset when we heard singing from the bottom of our steps. Down the pathway-made from stones marked with names and memories of past visitors-we found an enthusiastic group of "bure mamas" serenading us with Fijian tunes.
By the time we walked across the white-sand beach to the lounge, where the other guests had already gathered, tears were flowing. A couple we had a brief but chipper encounter with earlier that day was standing at the...