Bora Bora gave us everything we had hoped for: turquoise water, spectacular sunsets, manta rays gliding beneath us, and a week of feeling completely at peace. Then, of course, our freezer died. Again.
After a quick return to Raiatea for repairs and another failed attempt to fix Dan’s tooth, we headed for Maupiti, an island everyone told us was beautiful but a little challenging to get in and out of. They were right, but they hadn’t quite emphasized the “get out” part. After climbing a mountain that nearly killed me, snorkeling with manta rays, and enjoying the calm waters inside the reef, we suddenly realized most of the other boats had already left. A weather window was closing, and we had a decision to make.
We left Maupiti knowing the passage ahead would be rough. We just didn’t know how rough. By the fourth day, I couldn’t eat, the waves were towering behind us, and rogue waves were slamming into Equus from directions we couldn’t predict. Then the forecast changed again.
That was when Dan asked the question I desperately needed to hear: “Do you want to go to Palmerston?”
Sometimes the best adventures aren’t the ones you planned. Sometimes they are the unexpected places where you find help, kindness, blue whales, and a reminder that perhaps you are exactly where you are supposed to be.
