Oceans 8

Ride along on a rustic, and rusting, Polynesian cargo boat as it makes deliveries to 21 of the globe's most isolated coral reef atolls in the heart of the South Pacific Ocean. Along the 3,000-mile route meet black pearl divers, the man who found the Kon Tiki, Marlon Brando's Mutiny girlfriend, a ship laden with NFL-sized crewman and many more. Through the Tuamotus, a chain of 78 atolls that sailors going back to Magellan dubbed the dangerous archipelago. The name derived from its low-lying, barely visible, wooden-boat-sinking reefs. The ship is packed with 600 tons of everything from chicken and beef, to cement blocks and metal roofs. The cargo boat has changed life for both better and worse.

Oceania was the last area on earth to be settled by humans, the last to be discovered by Europeans and the last to be both colonized and de-colonized. The word Polynesia means 'many islands'; the Tuamotus are one of five French Polynesian archipelagos. They are some of most remote islands in the world, tiny green oases floating in the desert of the sea. The Tuamotus are 78 distinct coral reef atolls, stretching 930 miles north-northeast of Tahiti. From a distance the islands come and go from sight, thus the Dangerous Archipelago and Labyrinth nicknames. Before satellite navigation these reefs were the cause of numerous shipwrecks. Since first populated 1,000 years ago, they have known other names: Pakamotu - 'Cloud of Islands.' Puamotu - 'Dangerous Islands.' And finally Tuamotu, a Tahitian name meaning 'Distant Islands.' Kayaking here provided a daily opportunity for absolute disorientation in an idyllic and wild setting, both challenging and beautiful. We visited both the inhabited and uninhabited, starting from the south and using the trade winds out of the southwest to help push us to the west. From Nukutavake, where the lagoon has entirely filled with sand and is now a coconut plantation. Past Moruroa and Fangataufa, where the French tested nuclear weapons until 1997. To Manihi, where the 50,000 resident oysters outnumber humans 50 to one. To Fakarava, the petite island where Robert Louis Stevenson lived for a month in 1888 (and dubbed the local people 'God's best, at least God's sweetest work.'). To Hao, discovered by the Spanish in 1606 and Makatea, the only non-atoll in the chain, an uplifted limestone block 8 kilometers by 11. And to Raroia, where Thor Heyerdahl's 'Kon Tiki' ended its cross-Pacific sea epic in 1947.

Drawn by its mysterious history and wild and rugged shores, Tasmania proved to be a perfect coastline to explore by kayak. Beginning at the southwest corner of the island, at Port Davey, where the weather arrives directly from Antarctica. Sparsely populated, by a solitary tin mining family and the occasional fishermen seeking cray and sharks, these were the wildest seas we met. Turning the southeast corner at Recherche Bay, heading north - passing the appropriately named Adventure Bay - towards the capital city of Hobart. Round the magnificent Tasman Peninsula, before heading up the northeast coastline and out to the Flinders Islands. There, few visitors venture, home to mysteries of Tasmania's aboriginal history and literally millions of seabirds.

A three-week-long journey from California, through British Columbia and Alaska, to one of the loneliest and least known spots on Earth. Halfway between Russia and Alaska, the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea collide at what the Aleuts called the Birthplace of the Winds. Our goal was to kayak among five volcanic islands rising straight out of the seas - the Islands of Four Mountains - and climb their snow-capped peaks. Weather and tides would dictate our itinerary. Two 21-foot kayaks carried everything need for five weeks. Success was far from assured in a region where it is common for gales to exceed a hundred miles an hour. In addition strong currents, ten-foot standing tidal rips and constant winds churn the channels separating the islands.

Croatia is Border Land. The country lays on the geographic margin between central Europe and the Balkans, between the Adriatic and the Continent. Its very shape speaks of the divide. There is nothing compact, square or secure. Instead it curves around Bosnia and Herzegovina in a narrow arc, like a crescent moon or a boomerang. At no point is Croatia more than a few hundred miles wide; in most places it is much less. The goal: to kayak its length, through the 1,246 islands of the Adriatic. Of those, a mere 67 are inhabited and many are smaller than three acres. All told, the Croatian coast is home to one of the largest archipelagos in the Mediterranean. Kayaking 400 miles, from Zadar to Dubrovnik, barely touching the mainland during five weeks. The longest island passed being Dugi Otok, 35 miles long.

South America's Altiplano, the mountainous desert region crossing the borders of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia, looking for water in the driest place on earth. A six weeks trek, traveling from sea level to 20,000 feet (dragging kayaks en route) to find more than just signs of water. In fact, the sea used to be here. Everywhere. And there were abundant signs. The days were dusty and cold, spent mostly above 14,000 feet, visited by strong winds that stopped for only a few hours in the early morning. As recently as 12,000 years ago sizable lakes still covered these Andean plains. What they left behind - thick salt beds, marine coral and fossils of sea life mixed in with the desert sand - are only the most visible evidence. Much more than just a quest for 'paddle-able' lakes, but to explore just how man has managed to survive here for one hundred centuries.

South America's Altiplano, the mountainous desert region crossing the borders of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia - looking for water in the driest place on earth. The second half the exploration was from Argentina's shimmering but shallow Lago Vilama to Potosi, Bolivia, once home to the largest silver mine in the world. En route, the 20 mile by 40 mile Salar de Uyuni, where tthe salt workers toil on its vast, white surface. And finally to the blood-red Lago Colorado before climbing up the 20,000 foot Volcan Licancabur, on the Chile/Bolivia border, for a sweeping look across the high plains.

The circumnavigation of Gabon's jewel of a national park, Loango. Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and stretching 40 miles into the jungled-interior, the region was explored by kayaking and portaged more than 200 miles around the park's perimeter, seeing this wild country from a new and different perspective. Along the way: river-swimming elephants, manatees, tarpon, surfing hippos, gorillas and more. By trip's end it was hard to decide which was the most beautiful, and the most difficult, parts of the expedition.