One of my favorite authors, Paul Theroux spent a year kayaking and camping around the islands of the South Pacific. One of his...

The Happy Isles of Oceania

Maina Island, Aitutaki Lagoon, Cook Islands

One of my favorite authors, Paul Theroux spent a year kayaking and camping around the islands of the South Pacific. One of his favorite memories of the year was a night on Maina motu. Inspired by his experience, we went there and camped on the beach under a full moon. This was sunset that evening. I fell asleep staring out at the southern cross and a billion other stars and listened to the warm breeze rustle the palms and the low rhythmic thunder of the surf crashing on the reef. We survived on a bottle of rum with candlelight and ate a few local bananas. It was one of the most magical nights in all of my travels. Photo © copyright by Michael Anderson.

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