The Tuamotu Atolls are a place of extremes. Everything feels intense and dramatic: the light, the colors of the water, the green of the palm trees, the patterns on the fish, the sunsets, and the starry night sky. Time passes slowly here. Yet, there’s never a dull moment because there are more atolls than you imagine.

You don’t have to get wet to explore the underwater world of the Tuamotus. To see coral, colorful fish, and sharks, simply look down into the water from above.

The Marquesas and the Tuamotus are part of the same country, but they’re worlds apart. Blue dominates instead of green. Beaches replace mountains.

In Nuku Hiva, we change perspective and rent a car. A tour of the inner parts of the largest of the Marquesas ought to be more than worthwhile.

If you’re coming from Hiva Oa, you’ll see them right away: the pointed towers, over a thousand meters high, wrapped in clouds. It’s another scene without equal, the kind that makes the Marquesas the fascinating place they are.

The Marquesas are a place of longing. Not only for us crossing the Pacific, impatiently waiting to spot land on the horizon at last, but also for some well-known names from old Europe.

Here we go again! Out to sea, into the endless blue. Off to the Marquesas. Accompanied by the ceaseless sound of the waves and, with a bit of luck, by a dolphin or two.

In Puerto Ayora, there’s an agency for excursions of every kind every five meters. Whether you want a land trip, a hike, snorkeling, a boat tour, or diving, no wish goes unfulfilled.

The iguanas and sea lions on the Galápagos Islands can be tripping hazards. On the taxi pier, they create a slalom course for visitors. Here, a head is lazily lifted; there, a flipper is waved. No wonder, in this heat. The only ones moving voluntarily are the tourists.

On the seventh day of our passage from Panama City to the Galápagos Islands, an official stamp drops into the water in Puerto Ayora. And it gives us quite a fright.