[4] The coastal-marine ecosystem of the island contributes to its national significance as outlined in Fiji's Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

[4] To the north is Davetanikaidraiba Passage; Wakaya is connected to the nearby island of Makogai by a narrow reef ridge.

[citation needed] There were two fortified sites on the island named Delaini and Korolevu, with the radiocarbon date of 500–300 calibrated years before present.

[9] On 6 May 1789, Captain William Bligh sailed past Wakaya on a small boat with men loyal to him, after the mutiny on the Bounty on 28 April, describing the island as "a little larger one" in his logbook.

[9][23] By 1870, the island was owned by the former American Consul in Fiji, Isaac Mills Brower, who had a homestead with livestock on Wakaya; cotton and coffee plantations were also present at the time.

[18][24] In 1877, the island was bought by Captain Frederick Lennox Langdale (1853–1913), a former Royal Navy officer, who later served on the Legislative Council of Fiji before being appointed governor's commissioner at Cakaudrove to the north, a position he resigned from around 1909.

[7][26] In the late 1890s, Langdale also became the manager of the coconut plantations on Rabi Island, at the offer of Pacific Islands Company Ltd.[27] On 21 September 1917, during World War I, German naval officer Felix von Luckner and his party were arrested at Wakaya by a group from the Fijian constabulary consisting of a British officer and four Indian soldiers.

Previously that year, Luckner had been raiding Entente ships as the commander of the SMS Seeadler, but the ship wrecked on Mopelia island in French Polynesia during a storm, causing Luckner and five of his men to flee on a boat with the goal of capturing a vessel and returning for the rest of the crew.

[29] On 11–12 January 1930 a tropical cyclone impacted the Fijian islands of Makogai, Wakaya and Gau, where it caused a moderate amount of damage.

Colonial authorities surveyed the island, concluding it to be unsuitable for resettlement due to the soil being shallow and the water supply being poor.

Levers Pacific Plantations Pty Ltd offered to sell Rabi Island in northern Fiji in October 1941.

After a series of telegrams between the islanders and the British, in March 1942, the majority of Banabans agreed to a compromise where both Wakaya and Rabi were to be purchased.

The Western Pacific High Commission couldn't agree on a price with the owners of Wakaya, so only Rabi Island was purchased in March with money from the Banaban Provident Fund.

[9] Despite the purchase of the hotel chain by the Singaporean banker Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat in 1981, the island of Wakaya remained separately owned by Gilmour and his business partners.

[10] At least $13 million were spent on the development of the island,[9] which included the construction of a freshwater reservoir, an airstrip, a golf course, jetty, village, church, and a school.

[38][39][10] Later that year, the majority of Wakaya Island (80%) was sold to Seagram's heiress Clare Bronfman, who was convicted in 2019 of financing a human trafficking ring known as NXIVM.

[33] Since the development of the Wakaya Club on the island, some famous people have stayed at the resort, including King Felipe VI of Spain (then a Prince) and his wife Letizia, Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, Steve Jobs, Rupert Murdoch, George Lucas, Michelle Pfeiffer, David E. Kelley, Robert Zemeckis, Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise, and Keith Richards (who was hospitalised after falling from a coconut tree).