There are three things Fijians really don't want to talk with visitors about: Poisonous sea snakes, cannibal roots, and the frequent military coups that grab headlines and make it seem like the country is unstable.  Islanders who don't want to discuss something are hard to persuade, but as far as I can tell, here's the lowdown:

Poisonous Sea Snakes: The infamous Fijian poisonous sea snakes have very distinctive black and white horizontal rings (like stripes) and grow to about three to four feet in length (though one local said he once saw an anaconda one about six inches around and 12 feet long).  If one bites you, you have about two minutes to live, so there really isn't much point in worrying about them.  They swim in the ocean and up onto the sand, but the good news is they have very poor eyesight and small mouths of only an inch wide.  So unless you have the misfortune of stepping directly on one, it's very, very unlikely a sea snake will chomp you.  Understandably, they are more afraid of us than we of them, and I didn't see a single one during my time in Fiji. At Likuliku Lagoon Resort, they said they'd only seen one in six months, which suggests the population is controlled or otherwise discouraged (maybe just by development alone). One local told me that as a child, he used to see them all the time and even pick them up: They are that timid. But that Steve Irwin-type behavior is, and never was, recommended.

Cannibalism: History seems to illustrate that the art of eating your enemies was a very effective method of discouraging colonization. The first European explorers literally sailed for their lives, most infamously, Captain Bligh of The Bounty fame.  After he was semi-vindicated in those events, Bligh's life was hardly a picnic.  He was sailing in Fiji and managed to find a convenient opening in the reef between the two main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu in order to make a narrow escape from canoes full of angry Fijian warriors. That passage is now called Bligh Water. 

But even before contact with Europeans, it was common practice for warring chiefs to capture and eat the people they conquered or kidnapped, even women and children.  Simply put, eating someone's flesh was the ultimate fuck you.  Sometimes, the Fijians would even eat a piece of an enemy while he was still alive so he could watch.  But apparently, they did show some respect by not eating human flesh with their hands, like they did their other food.  A special little spear, now sold in tourist shops as the "cannibal fork," was the proper way to dig in.

Coups: True to its multi-tribe roots (there are over 300 islands and as many chiefs and dialects), by definition, Fiji has always been a difficult nation to gather into consensus.  The formal government, modeled after the British system, and the Great Council of Chiefs (made up of 28 major chiefs), are continually jockeying for power and control.  Unfortunately, this does mean that the government is unstable. Just last December, Fiji was in the news because of a military coup that consisted of soldiers with fake guns demanding that the ministers in power relinquish their cell phones and cars.  The ministers did so peacefully and there was no bloodshed, or even fear of bloodshed (unlike the military coup in 2000, where several people died).  

The new self-appointed Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Frank Bainimirama, is still in power nine months later. Though some chiefs and other politicos frequently make thinly veiled threats against him via "statements" to the media, none of the locals seem terribly worried about it.  In fact, many of them laugh when they talk about it, because it's so ludicrous and somewhat random.  About 50 percent of the people like the new leadership, the other 50 percent prefer the other party: Sounds familiar. 

The government is based in Suva, the capitol city on Viti Levu, but since tourism is based in Nadi and in the outer islands, the Fiji Visitors Bureau maintains it is absolutely safe for visitors to come to Fiji.  I certainly never saw even a hint of violence or anyone carrying guns, fake or otherwise. But I was aware that the government of New Zealand has been discouraging their citizens from visiting Fiji.  And since Kiwis are a major force in tourism in Fiji, the number of visitors was way down.  This was exactly New Zealand's point, to impose informal sanctions in a effort to motivate Fiji to get its act together.  Australia is also following suit, though judging by their presence in Fiji during my visit, most Australians are ignoring the warnings.

So, all in all, Fiji is safe, although very dynamic and in transition in a number of ways (with women flooding the workforce and younger generations choosing to only have one or two children). If you want to be afraid of something, be afraid of the impact global warming has on these little islands.  Already, the neighboring island nation of Tuvalu (a flat atoll) has about 20 years before it is underwater.  Of course, New Zealand, possibly the coolest country in the world, is welcoming its residents with open arms.

Cathay Che is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Travel & Leisure. She will be blogging from Fiji all week.