Having grown up on the south shore of Lake Erie, the long winters usually froze the lake over. Sailing to Put-In-Bay in the summer was great; ice boating in the winter was screaming, crazy fun.

However, as I stared out at the bleak, windswept scene, I dreamt of a tropical atoll, tall palm trees and blue lagoon waters teaming with coral and fish. My dreams consisted of a tropical lifestyle that I could only view in a National Geographic.

In high school, I was enthralled with the first Golden Globe Race, a solo, non-stop, round-the-world race. Approaching the finish in first place, French navigator Bernard Moitessier had misgivings over the publicity that would follow his achievement, so he did a 180-degree turn and continued south, rounded Cape Hope for a second time, traversed the Southern Ocean and came north into the South Pacific.

After 10 months at sea, Moitessier stopped at Ahe, an island in the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia. He stayed from 1975-78, building a thatched hut, planting coffee and vegetables, and being accepted by the locals, eventually marrying. His book "The Long Way" details his story.

His descriptions of Ahe were the images of my childhood dreams. On my first circumnavigation in the early 1980s, I spent a remarkable month there snorkeling and being accepted by locals. I felt like Moitessier.

A decade later, I was hired to teach a Silicone Valley stock-market winner how to sail, with the mandate to take him to Polynesia. We set off from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta for the initial shake-down cruise. Dr. Magu loved it.

Our trip from PV to the Marquesas Islands was a typical 19-day passage of six on/six off watches for two sailors. Our transit of the ITCZ was flawless with weather fax equipment aboard to assist a direct transit through the doldrums in less than 10 hours.

Landing in Nuku Hiva, Dr. Magu was not happy. He described the passage as "getting into a Volkswagen Bug in Maine and driving nonstop to San Diego at 5 miles an hour – and never being allowed to get out of the car." He wanted me to get the boat to San Diego, sell her and send him a check. He never wanted to see the boat or me again.

However, Dr. Magu had made arrangements to have his brother and wife meet us in Nuku Hiva for the passage to Tahiti, so there was no getting off yet. After talking with the excited new arrivals, I learned the Mrs. was most interested in black pearls. I smiled, knowing my friends on Ahe cultivated black pearls.

Our passage from Nuku Hiva to Ahe was a three-day, downhill slide. Our arrival was timed for the slack tide as the only pass provides with a torrential flow of water that rips through at 7-plus knots when the tide is on the run.

Ahe is stunning in its starkness, coral bleached white from the sun. People live and survive just a couple of feet above the high-tide mark that yearly seems to inch higher. It is a sensory hit after the lush jungle green of the Marquesas.

As we motored south from the pass I was surprised to see a large steel building on the edge of the main island that had not been there during my previous visits. Sunlight glared off the acre of razor wire protecting this new structure. Razor wire on Ahe?

The black pearl trade had been taken over by Chinese who had moved to the Tuamotus following mainland China’s takeover of Hong Kong. This influx of millions of dollars ratcheted up the black pearl trade from an islander cottage industry to serious big bucks. Things sure do change.

Nevertheless, my Ahe friends were thrilled to have us visit, were still growing pearls and were pleased to sell us some amazingly flawless ones the size of marbles. We ended up creating three necklaces of 18 pearls each, all costing only $1,500. (Be aware that recently the central government in Tahiti has cracked down on pearls being taken out of the country tax-free.)

The Ahe Polynesians took us to the outer motus to show us how they cultivated the pearls, planting a slice of material to germinate the pearl, then adding the necessary ingredients to create the black luster a little later in the growing cycle. It’s an amazing process that is incredibly labor intensive. All of us were in awe over the complexity in their daily lives eking out a living cultivating black pearls.

Our visit was fruitful, peaceful and entertaining, just as Ahe should leave a sailor feeling. Saying goodbye to the pearlers of Ahe was a scene out of a Michener novel as a couple of dozen family members stood on shore waving palm leaves as we weighed anchor.

Our sail to Moorea was filled with wind from a passing front that gave us 40 knots for 24 hours; a quick and lumpy passage. The Magus left in Moorea, vowing never to set foot on a sailboat again. And so it goes.

Capt. David Hare runs the 70-foot Delta expedition yacht M/V Thunder and is a regular contributor to The Triton. He is currently looking for a captain’s position on a yacht over 100 GRT. Contact him at david@hare.com.