Day 1 · Papeete, Tahiti · 27 February 2016

There are few things more dangerous than arriving at a cruise ship after three days of very little sleep.

Actually, there is one thing more dangerous.

Arriving at a cruise ship after three days of very little sleep while being convinced you’re still capable of making intelligent decisions.

That was me standing on the pier in Papeete, staring up at the Aranui 5.

Eight years earlier, Kirsten and I had sailed aboard the Aranui 3 with five of our children. Back then, the kids were young, the cameras were simpler, and I still believed I could function properly on four hours of sleep.

Apparently I still believed that.

The difference was that now I was about to spend two weeks revisiting one of my favourite places on earth: the remote Marquesas Islands.

And I couldn’t have been more excited.

A Familiar Face in an Unexpected Place

One of my favourite parts of travel is the surprises you never see coming.

As we rolled our luggage toward the Aranui check-in area, I was already busy taking in the sight of the ship. Then I looked up.

“Mila!”

She looked at us, smiled, and immediately greeted us by name.

Not only did she remember us, but she remembered some of our children too.

Considering the thousands of passengers she had met over the years, it felt a little bit like walking into a family reunion on the far side of the Pacific Ocean.

Travel has a funny way of shrinking the world.

Especially when you return to places where relationships matter.

The Sound of the Marquesas

By nine o’clock, everyone was on board and the ship’s pool deck had transformed into a stage.

The drumming started first.

Then came the chanting.

Deep voices rolled across the deck while tattooed dancers moved with an intensity that immediately reminded me that the Marquesas are unlike anywhere else in French Polynesia.

The dances weren’t polished resort performances.

They felt powerful.

Raw.

Authentic.

If there was ever a perfect send-off for a voyage to the Marquesas, this was it.

The Gravol Situation

As we slowly departed Papeete Harbour, I made what seemed like a reasonable husband question.

“Did you bring enough motion sickness medication?”

Kirsten looked at me.

Then she looked away.

Then she looked back.

Not a good sign.

Turns out she had only packed a handful of Gravol tablets.

Just enough for a few days.

The timing of this discovery was unfortunate.

Because at that exact moment we were approaching the reef pass and preparing to leave the protection of the lagoon.

Within minutes the ship started its gentle rolling motion.

Kirsten reached for the medication.

I silently hoped the Pacific Ocean would be feeling cooperative for the next two weeks.

The Pacific Ocean, however, was not consulted.

Losing a Battle With My Pillow

By this point, I had slept roughly four hours spread over three days.

I had grand plans for the afternoon.

There were activities.

Ship tours.

Photography.

Exploring.

Instead, my pillow won.

Completely.

I retreated to the cabin for what I intended to be a short rest.

The next thing I knew, a few hours had disappeared.

Sometimes adventure requires exploration.

Sometimes adventure requires a nap.

This was definitely the second type.

Why We Came Back

That evening we attended the orientation for English-speaking passengers and learned about life aboard the ship and our first stop at Takapoto.

Neither of us realized that one of my greatest travel mistakes was less than twenty-four hours away.

A mistake involving breakfast.

And time zones.

And a dining room that wasn’t actually open yet.

But that’s tomorrow’s story.

As I stood on our balcony before bed, looking out over the dark Pacific, I realized something.

The Aranui wasn’t simply taking us somewhere new.

It was taking us back.

Back to islands we loved.

Back to people we remembered.

Back to stories that had never quite left us.

The voyage had barely begun.

Yet somehow, it already felt like coming home.

In the next installment: I manage to miss breakfast before breakfast actually starts, proving that sleep deprivation and time zones should never be allowed to work together.