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 trip 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.

Aitutaki Atoll, Cook Islands, South Pacific.