13,140,000 minutes. How do you measure a marriage of 25 years? In daylights, in sunsets, in laughter, in miles. The Southern Hemisphere's Society and Cook Islands' raw natural beauty, technicolor skies, and crystal clear water hosted a surreal silver anniversary for my husband, Miguel, and I. For eleven days upon the ship m/s Paul Gauguin our most pressing matter was what time we’d like breakfast delivered to our stateroom. The crews’ polite graciousness was second to none; undoubtably one reason the luxury liner has won myriad World’s Best awards. Great Britain’s Captain Cook was the first foreigner to reach Tahiti in 1769. Two decades later, Captain Bligh sailed the HMS Bounty to this Pacific paradise. But, Bligh’s tyrannical ways and the lure of gorgeous Tahitian women lead his men to mutiny, which many years later inspired the book Mutiny on the Bounty. Authors’ James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff lived on Tahiti while writing the tome. Thankfully, our visit was more blissful, full of hoots and laughter mingled with seabirds’ voices. The first morning this magnificent sunrise greeted us as we anchored off the tiny, eight square mile atoll of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. The land was dotted with coconut, pineapple, banana, and tapioca groves. Most of the 2,500 residents live in villages and zoom around the roads on motor scooters. The crystal clear turquoise water was perfect for snorkeling. We saw fish of every shape, size and color. The reefs were teeming with marine life. We took a stroll on this GORG beach. After our idyllic day, we boarded the ship bound for another of the beautiful Cook Islands - Rarotonga. It was quite an adventure getting there. Before setting sail, our captain said over the loud speaker in his thick Croatian accent "ladies and gentlemen, the wind has
13,140,000 minutes. How do you measure a marriage of 25 years? In daylights, in sunsets, in laughter, in miles. The Southern Hemisphere’s Society and Cook Islands’ raw natural beauty, technicolor skies, and crystal clear water hosted a surreal silver anniversary for my husband, Miguel, and I. For eleven days upon the ship m/s Paul Gauguin
