Bora Bora - Nothing says “ultimate honeymoon” quite like Bora Bora. The word is out — and has been for some time — about this French Polynesian island’s extraordinary natural beauty, and Bora Bora’s remoteness and high prices have kept the island’s luxurious mystique intact. Enchanting Bora Bora belongs to the exclusive, “so-preposterously-gorgeous-it-doesn’t-seem-natural” club of travel destinations. Even the most jaded globe-trotter duly drops his jaw when confronted with the spectacle of the lagoon and the iconic silhouette of Mount Otemanu in the background. Many visitors, in fact, never get farther than that perfect tableau of paradise, but excursions to the main island and its lofty interior are how you’ll get to the real heart of Bora Bora.

Mauritius – Isolated in the Indian Ocean, 1,243 miles east of mainland Africa, Mauritius may be tiny, but there’s never a shortage of things to do. With a coastline ringed by coral reefs, and calm, clear, shallow lagoon waters, the island is ideal for all sorts of water sports; the unspoiled interior offers sights of spectacular natural beauty as well. Tourism on Mauritius is a relatively new phenomenon, however, and so far it’s definitely geared toward the higher-end traveler. Mauritius today is an amalgam of Creole, Indian, Chinese, and French peoples (there was never an indigenous population), with Creole and French the dominant flavors. Its most famous resident, however, may have been the flightless dodo bird, a rare species discovered here by the first Dutch visitors and soon driven to extinction by the settlers’ wild pigs and macaques.

See the profiles of all 10 islands, from Canada, Chile, Kenya and beyond. Or better yet, check out the book and read about all 500 of them.

Palau – Palau is one of the smallest countries in the world with only 20,000 citizens. Yet, it has over 18 states, all of which have their own license plates. Palau has the some of the best diving in the world in the rock island of Korror. What Palau is perhaps most famous for is the Jellyfish Lake. In the middle of some of the rock islands are salt water lakes connected to the ocean through fissures in the rock. Thousands of years ago jellyfish were caught in the lakes and evolved away their stingers due to a lack of predators. Today you can swim with the jellyfish and they are totally harmless!

Pohnpei, Micronesia -If there is one place I’d describe as a hidden travel destination, it would be Micronesia, in particular the island of Pohnpei. It is a very difficult place to get to. The only flights are between Hawaii and Guam. It is probably the most beautiful island I’ve ever been to and is the home of one of the best, unknown ancient ruins in the world: Nan Modal. I describe Nan Modal as a cross between Macchu Picchu and Venice. It is made of stone with canals between all the structures. Aside from the history and mystery of Nan Modal, Pohnpei is just flat-out beautiful. The tropical fruit, flowers, the lagoon and the people make it a truly wonderful place.

Gary picks out six islands as being among his favorite Pacific destinations. Check out the rest of them in his article.

By the time I got to the South Pacific, I was in my early 30s, and I’d been looking for home all my life, for the place I really belonged, the place where I should have been born. I felt I’d found it on Easter Island the instant I stepped off the plane. It was as if the island had been waiting for me, all that time, the way I’d been waiting for the island…

I began to exist in the present tense, as if I had no past regrets and no future fears. It was something I’d never done before. That, and the incredible distances surrounding us, lent me an exhilarating freedom. I likened it to hiding in a childhood tree fort with the rope pulled up. No one knows where I am, I kept thinking. No one can find me.

My days quickly fell into their own gentle rhythm: Go out walking after breakfast. Explore a cave, a volcano, a vista. Take pictures. Talk to people. Go home for lunch. Nap or write or poke around Hanga Roa. And in the late afternoon, walk over to Tahai, the row of giant statues, called moai, that stood closest to town, and watch the sunset paint the sky in the direction of Tahiti…

From the beginning, Yolanda had been urging me to stay longer. I’d only planned on a week, but as plane day got closer and she kept talking, I weakened. Yolanda was right, I decided. There was really no reason to leave so soon. The only thing waiting for me was a small internship on a newspaper in Buenos Aires, and the start date was more than a month away. Besides, there was no penalty for changing my reservation. What harm could it do to wait?

I missed one plane. And then another. And another.

And while I waited, my newly simple life grew complicated. I was enmeshed in a love affair, all right, but it wasn’t exactly with the man I’d met. It was with Easter Island itself. My island.

The synonym for paradise is Galapagos. The definition is an archipelago of 15 islands and dozens of islets in the Pacific, straddling the Equator and belonging to Ecuador, 600 miles east. Never mind the 19th century visit of Charles Darwin and how he began formulating his theory of evolution here. Anyone who comes here will tell you that what really put this place on the map are the sheer wonders that occur when nature is allowed to thrive unspoiled.

But lately, there have been signs of trouble in paradise. Ecuador is considering restricting not only tourist permits and flights to the islands but also residency permits. UNESCO selected Galapagos as its first world heritage site in 1978 but in August declared the islands “in danger” because of increased development and tourism.

But Ecuadoreans have a saying: “If it’s not a problem today, it’s not a problem yet.” And, today, the iguanas are happily basking in the sun. In the middle of these wonders, trouble is easy to overlook.

Travel to the ends of the earth and one discovers there are still mysteries to be solved.

Deep in the South Pacific, 2,500 miles west of continental South America, lies Easter Island, a remote Chilean outpost dotted with stone statues. I landed here with a vague comprehension of the island’s mysteries.

How were its enigmatic sculptures, weighing as much as 82 tons, transported from a volcanic quarry to their sacred ceremonial platforms miles away? Who were the statues meant to represent, and what’s with the round red hats — decidedly un-Polynesian — some statues wore? And why, between the first European contact on Easter Sunday in 1722 and Captain James Cook’s visit 52 years later, were most of the stone heads toppled?

Edward Albee is best known as a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, but even he cannot escape this fascination that most of have with ancient cultures.  In a recent issue of the NY Times, he wrote about a long-awaited journey that he took to Easter Island about the time of his 78th birthday.  It’s an interesting account of his trip.  He concludes:

For many Easter Island will be a once in a lifetime experience – literally and figuratively. But I plan to go back, and more than once. I want to bring special friends with me, people who will appreciate the experience. I want to see the rapture in their eyes as they live with the wonders.