A friend's email address is "guesswhereiamnow". Traveling to the Marquesas in June felt like that. If you never heard of these islands, you have a lot of company. They are specks of Polynesian real estate two days sailing east of Tahiti, near the equator. To the east the nearest neighbors are the Galapagos Islands. In between the Marquesas and the Galapagos is the farthest point one can be from land. More than once I stared out at the sea and thought about being that far from any terra firma, especially as I was traveling on the only major passenger vessel to sail there, the hybrid vessel Aranui 3.

The Marquesa archipelago is unique in its isolation and often seems stuck in a time warp. The ancient Polynesian civilization was almost totally destroyed by disease and slavery during the European incursions of the 19th century. What survived does not seem to have changed much in decades. With few exceptions, everything - people, goods and supplies, mail-all reaches the Marquesas on the once-every-three-week sailing of the Aranui 3. She is a unique ship that has evolved over the years from a mainly cargo freighter to a half freighter-half passenger ship. The term "cruise ship" does not really apply. The Aranui 3 has nothing in common with the likes of Carnival or Princess, other than carrying passengers who eat and sleep separately from the crew. Or, actually, not that separately. There are usually some crew members hanging around the communal bar, and the lower level dormitory style accommodations house both crew and passengers in cubicle bunks.

We had splurged on a "suite" which gave us a nice bedroom, sitting area, full-sized bathroom, and, most important, a balcony. We spent endless hours sitting on the balcony, especially at sunset and late at night watching the waves or staring at the stars. For anyone whose home is north of the equator, finding the Southern Cross is obligatory. Our cabin also had a window on another outside wall overlooking the cargo area. The front half of the Aranui 3 is traditional cargo ship, multiple layers storing everything imaginable, with huge cranes to lift everything off, and whale boats to transport crew and passengers. Passengers are housed in the rear cruise portion half, with the most desirable cabins on the upper deck. Watching the freighter operations was fascinating, except for the one night when rough seas had waves breaking over the enormous cranes and most of us skipping dinner, if not outright confined to our cabins. That night the view was almost heart stopping in addition to stomach stopping.

The Aranui 3 sails from Tahiti on two week voyages all year long, bringing everything the islanders need: foodstuffs, construction supplies, cars, outside contact. She travels from island to island-six total for the Marquesas and two in the Tuamotos-over the two weeks. We watched heavy crates offloaded by muscled Marquesans tossing them one to another as schoolboys might toss a basketball. Every island where the Aranui 3 stops includes shore excursions for passengers while crew members work the cargo. Our shore excursions often started with barefoot, tattooed crewmembers standing on slippery moss-covered rocks and off-loading us from bobbing whaleboats much the same way as they did the cargo. More than once I had crewmembers grab my waist and simply deposit me from the whaleboat to shore and then back again. Getting back on board ship often meant lunging for the rickety metal staircase dangling on the side of the Aranui 3 and climbing up wet steps.

Shore excursions showed a side of Polynesian far different from modern Hawaii or even beach-beautiful Tahiti. The scenery is unbelievable. This is where Gauguin lived, where Jacques Brel spent his last years. On one excursion we traveled to a point overlooking the lush hillsides of Melville's "Typee". Villages, adults and children, would routinely come out to welcome Aranui 3 passengers with dancing and handicrafts. The hosted lunches at Rosalie's and Chez Yvonne have become legendary. We were served course after course of local fish, Polynesian-style roasted pig, fried breadfruit, fresh fruits. The cargo probably had to be off-loaded for the ship to accommodate our extra passenger poundage!

On shore excursions there are opportunities to see demonstrations of local crafts, hike to ancient archaeological sites, drive to overlooks with fantastic views, and walk along picture-postcard perfect harbors. There are visits to the graves of Gauging and Brel, on a hillside with spectacular views, and time to tour a museum dedicated to Gauguin's art along with a reproduction of the "house of pleasure." On board there are lectures on the ancient art of tattooing, and on the migration of the Polynesians from Samoa to the Marquesas (about three weeks sailing) and then to Hawaii. There is time to admire and shop for exquisite wood and bone carvings with Marquesan symbols-most, if not all of us were wearing new necklaces by the end of the trip.

Our sailing (160 - the maximum the ship takes) had people at every level of physical ability. Sailing in and out of the islands is an experience, but shore excursions usually entail some amount of walking and really cannot accommodate anyone with major physical impairment. Just getting on and off the ship was sometimes an effort. This is also not a trip for anyone demanding lots of beautiful beaches. Those are in Tahiti, or the Tuamotos, where the Aranui 3 stops en route to the Marquesas for snorkeling and picnicking. On the other hand, this is the place to find the remnants of old Polynesian culture, and absolutely breathtaking scenery. No McDonald's, no skyscrapers, and few cars.

On board the Aranui 3, everyone settles into a routine very quickly. With 160 maximum passengers, there is one dining room, one seating, and set meal times except for the mediocre breakfast buffet. Tables quickly sorted themselves out by language. On my sailing there were a lot of English speaking passengers-Australians and British as well as Americans. The other travelers were mainly French, plus a few Germans, Italians, and other European nationalities. To accommodate everyone, daily briefings were held three times-once each in English, French and German. It was handled quite well-each briefing was conducted separately; no one sitting bored by words they didn't understand. This was all done before dinner, which started promptly at 7 p.m. After just a few days, everyone gathered in front of the dining room doors about 6:50, ready to barge in to claim their favorite table. For the most part, this was all done in good fun, with pre-dinner banter about the day's hike or shopping.

The food generally reflected being in French Polynesia. Each table had a bottle of white and red French vin ordinaire, and diners quickly learned which tables could be counted on to donate their wine allotments to others. Delicious French bread was plentiful. Most lunches and dinners included a starter, a salad course, main course and desert. Fresh fish was often on the menu, but there were plenty of meat and chicken options. Considering the Aranui 3 is primarily a cargo ship, individual passenger food requests were handled very well. Some of the deserts were very tasty, and with advance notice, birthdays and anniversaries were celebrated with cake. It wasn't gourmet dining, but no one went hungry!

The Aranui 3 embarks on her two week voyage from Papeete on Saturday mornings, so we made arrangements to fly into Papeete the previous day and stay overnight at a nearby hotel. I had been to Tahiti before, but it is easy to forget just how beautiful it is. Perhaps the perfect vacation would be a little more time in Tahiti before or after sailing. After all, Moorea is just a short ferry ride from Papeete and a wonderfully relaxing way to spend a couple of days before the long haul home. That long haul is generally on Air Tahiti Nui, the most commonly used carrier to Tahiti from the US, but Air France also flies from Los Angeles. That was something we found out the hard way, but that is another story.....