For days, stopping at one container yard after another, I had been yearning for Tahiti. I am plowing through Hampton Sides’ book, The Wide Wide Sea, about Captain Cook’s 18th-Century explorations of the South Pacific. His crew, grimy and horny, always looked forward to Tahiti with its wild exotic flowers, cooling waterfalls, fresh fruit, and half-naked girls. Besides, our ship was running low on fresh fruit, and Tahiti has the best pineapples ever.