( CNN ) -- Navigating a narrow channel through the reef , our Zodiacs slide onto a crushed coral beach and we scramble onto Mature-vavao , an uninhabited atoll at the eastern edge of French Polynesia . It 's a gorgeous little island , shaded by thousands of coconut palms and encircled by bands of water that run a dozen different shades of blue . Expedition leader Jack Grove thinks this might be the first time a cruise ship has ever visited the island and there 's a good chance nobody has set foot on the atoll in 30 years . The landing party turns left along the shore . But I blaze my own path straight ahead to the lagoon that dominates the middle of the island . Boobies , terns and other seabirds pay me scant attention . Most have probably never seen a person . Wading into the lagoon to cool off and spy on the tropical fish , I 'm overcome by the sense I 'm one of the few people who has ever set foot on this small patch of planet Earth . It 's as close as I 'll ever come to the emotion that Neil Armstrong must have felt when he first set foot on the moon , or the rush that mariners like Magellan and Cook no doubt got when they came across terra incognita . Discovering the remote . But that 's what this cruise is all about . A three-week journey between Easter Island and Tahiti , it calls on some of the world 's most remote and least-visited islands . Organized by Seattle-based Zegrahm Expeditions , the voyage includes gourmet cuisine , top-notch lecturers and a bartender who can make even the most obscure cocktails . But the real reason that 60-odd passengers have paid five figures for this cruise is geographical bragging rights -- a chance to boast to friends and colleagues back home that you 've hobnobbed with Fletcher Christian 's kinfolk on Pitcairn , explored ancient Polynesian cave dwellings on Henderson Island and frolicked with manta rays off Hiva Oa before visiting Paul Gauguin 's grave on the same secluded island . You know a cruise is something special when your fellow passengers include renowned marine archeologist Jim Delgado and best-selling author and shipwreck detective Clive Cussler . Even for men like these , with all the adventures already under their belts , the voyage is unique . We 're three days out from Easter Island before land is spotted again -- uninhabited Ducie Island , a small atoll in what really is the middle of nowhere . Tumbling into the water , I explore the reef with Jack Grove , one of Zegrahm 's founders and a veteran marine biologist . Grove wants to show us something he found 25 years ago -- three rusty anchors -- all that remains of the mail ship `` Acadia , '' which ran aground on Ducie in 1881 . An incredible array of sea life floats around the wreck -- Moorish idols , butterflies , turquoise parrots and white tip reef sharks that warily watch us from afar . Island stops . The following day we land on Henderson Island , an uplifted coral block that resembles a huge white table that 's emerged from the ocean . Other than odd geology , the island 's claim to fame is the real-life `` Moby-Dick . '' When the American whaler `` Essex '' was rammed and sunk by a sperm whale in 1820 , this is where the survivors took refuge . ( No , their captain was n't named Ahab . ) But those shipwrecked whalers were n't the first residents . I follow expedition anthropologist Campbell up a cliff face and into a cave where there 's evidence of long-ago human occupation -- a fire pit and stone scraping tool . `` We do n't know for sure , '' says Campbell , `` because nobody was around to record their history , but we think a small Polynesian colony existed here more than 500 years ago . '' Pitcairn is the first populated island we come across in nearly a week . And it 's just barely inhabited -- roughly 50 people , nearly all of them related to Fletcher Christian and other `` Bounty '' mutineers . It 's a strange little corner of the British Empire , with a long and sometimes dark history . The only way to land on Pitcairn is literally surfing 12-foot waves into the tiny , jetty-enclosed harbor . From there it 's an uphill climb to Adamstown , the only settlement , where the residents greet us with a fish-and-chips lunch , cold beer and open-air craft stalls hawking Pitcairn flags , postage stamps , organic honey and `` Bounty '' replicas -- one of the islanders ' only means of making foreign exchange . One of those I meet at lunch is seventh generation Pitcairn resident Andrew Christian , who invites me to hop on the back of his ATV for a spin around the steep volcanic isle . Covered in tattoos and body piercings , he seems every bit as roguish as his mutinous ancestor . Like most everyone on the island , Christian is a jack of several trades : DJ and photographer , government warehouse supervisor and cemetery caretaker , black pearl jewelry artist and website creator . His mountaintop home looks out over the vast Pacific , both an inspiring view and a constant reminder of how isolated Pitcairn remains even in the 21st century . Spear throwing and octopi . From Pitcairn we sail north towards the Marquesas Islands , calling on several isolated atolls along the eastern edge of French Polynesia . The residents of Puka Rua entertain us with a spear-throwing contest and a demonstration of barehanded octopus fishing . In the tiny Catholic church on Puka Puka -- the first island that Magellan spotted on his trans-Pacific passage -- local Jim Galindo spontaneously bursts into a Latin hymn he remembers from his choir boy days . The fabled Marquesas finally come into view near the end of our second week at sea . Like something out of `` King Kong , '' towering volcanic pillars and jungle-shrouded cliffs mark the entrance to the Bay of Virgins on Fatu Hiva island . Rising behind the shore are cloud-shrouded heights that look as if they just might harbor giant apes or some other mystical creature . But the most menacing thing we encounter hiking into the Fatu Hiva highlands is a pond full of spotted , foot-long eels . Grove tries to catch one with his bare hands , but they 're far too slippery . Further up the trail we come across the remains of three old marae -- shrines made from dark volcanic stones and now almost hidden by the jungle . This spot was somehow sacred to the ancient Polynesians who built these temples . Perhaps they thought their gods lived up here or maybe it was the splendid isolation . We explore even higher , bushwhacking our way with machetes to the base of a colossal cliff laced with veil-thin waterfalls . Nearby is a natural rock pool that offers liquid relief from the sweaty uphill climb . Nobody , not even Grove , has been here before or even knew it existed . Lying on my back in the water , staring up at the misty volcanic peaks , I find myself wondering yet again how many human beings have ever been here . Zegrahm Expeditions offers its Easter Island-Tahiti cruise once per year , with rates from $ 11,970 per person . Joe Yogerst is a freelance travel , business and entertainment writer based in California .
the 21st century journey from Pacific to Tahiti stops at remote Tahiti French islands . Seattle claim to fame is the real-life `` Moby-Dick '' The only way to land on Pitcairn is to surf 12-foot waves into the tiny , jetty-enclosed harbor .