A lovely day to lend a hand on one of the world's most dazzling beaches

We're walking along Wailoaloa Beach in Fiji with our eyes cast down on the dark sand. We're not looking for shells. We are on the hunt for rubbish. People come to Wailoaloa - meaning black beach in Fijian - to watch the stunning sunsets over the water. But they often leave behind bottles, cans, paper, plastic and all manner of litter.

Passengers on the Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Spirit cruise ship have signed up to a beach clean up excursion run by Australian charity Take 3 for the Sea. We boarded the ship in Sydney and so far we have stopped at Noumea in New Caledonia and Mystery Island in Vanuatu.

Now in Lautoka, Fiji, 46 crew and passengers have decided to volunteer their time to collect rubbish on this sunny morning. They've come from different corners of the globe - Australia, the UK, Germany, USA, Canada, Hong Kong and New Zealand - united by a desire to do something good on their holidays.

We disembarked the Norwegian Spirit at 8am and got onto two buses at the port. We arrived at the Beach Club Wailoaloa for a briefing before donning gloves and fanning out along the beach.

The passengers form small teams, chatting amiably as they gather rubbish into large sacks. When one American passenger is asked why he decided to come on this excursion over the other enticing activities on offer, he says: "It seemed like the right thing to do."

There are 84 people at the clean up in total, including workers and guests from nearby hotels, police from the Nadi Police Station and local media.

Tourism Fiji chief executive Brent Hill grew up in South Australia where he learned in school the importance of keeping the environment beautiful.

In Fiji, where many people live in villages, most rubbish is buried or burned here. There is no local recycling industry and landfill is often located near the ocean. When there is no bin around, many people leave their rubbish behind - which is something Brent's team is aiming to change.

"There's a real movement now in Fiji, where everybody's realising, hey, we've got to do more ourselves," Brent says. "But we're also a real victim of the rest of the world. You've heard about things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and so on. Thankfully, that's not in our area but we do see things wash up ... so, it's just something that everybody's got to take responsibility for, I think."

Tourism Fiji launched an initiative in May, urging people to put their rubbish in the bin, or if there isn't one, to bag it and take it with them to dispose of thoughtfully. It is hoped it will create generational change to preserve the environment that tourists and Fijians want to enjoy in the future.

"It's vital for us because when people come to Fiji, they want the pristine ocean, to be able to go out to the islands and snorkel over the reefs and sit on a beautiful beach."

Brent says he's appreciative but not surprised that so many visitors from the cruise ship were willing to lend a hand at the clean up. "The best thing for us is when tourists can be engaged with sustainability. We love that. All these guys are giving back, they realise Fiji is beautiful and they want to keep it that way."

Take 3 for the Sea's head of business development Jenny-Lee Scharnboeck starts to sort out the rubbish on a tarp. Everything collected today will be weighed and categorised to provide a detailed report on the morning's efforts. Jenny-Lee is passionate about sustainability in the Pacific.

"I worked in Tonga, my sisters lived in Vanuatu and my niece is half Fijian so I love the Pacific," she says. "And it's the Pacific Islands that are getting impacted by climate change and the rising sea and a lot of this litter that you're seeing as well."

Among the volunteers of the Wailoaloa Beach clean up is the general manager of the Norwegian Spirit, Rade Vuk Malobabic. He has swapped his ship uniform for a turquoise and red shirt with a Fijian palm design. During question and answer sessions on the ship he often gets questions about the handling of waste produced on board. Behind-the-scenes tours of the ship show passengers how wastewater is treated before it is discharged according to strict international environmental laws.

NCL has eliminated plastic straws and swapped plastic water bottles for recyclable paper-based bottles. The company is aiming for net zero emissions by 2050. The new ships run on ethanol, while the vessels have systems to filter the gas emission going into the atmosphere. "Some of the guests assume that cruise ships are polluting much more than actually is true," Vuk says. "We are a cleaner industry than I would say some of the hotels and some other resorts ... and even some different industries that are involved in tourism."

So far NCL has offered the Take 3 clean up shore excursion in Eden on the NSW South Coast, Brighton in Victoria and now in Fiji. It's considering further opportunities for clean ups.

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In under an hour, the group has collected 514 kilograms of litter from the beach - this includes 180 kilograms of tyres, 447 plastic bottles, 242 aluminium cans, 47 shoes and 851 pieces of plastics and remnants. The haul also includes a pool pump, building materials and 157 pieces of polystyrene. Water is handed around and refreshments are laid out by the Wailoaloa Beach Club. The visitors head back to the ship with a sense of satisfaction, knowing that they've done something to make this corner of the Pacific a little better.

The writer was a guest of NCL, which operates several cruises in the South Pacific. Norwegian Sun will sail 14-day itineraries from Cairns to Fiji in April and August next year, from $3493 per person. ncl.com

Pictures: Getty Images; supplied.