Our flight from Rarotonga to Aitutaki was very short, only about 20 minutes. We left early in the morning and had a beautiful view of the islands and lagoon from the plane. Our travel package from New Zealand included transportation between the airport and the hotel, so we thought we would not need to rent another scooter. But even though Aitutaki is a very small island, we still had all our diving equipment to carry around. So, once again, we ended up renting one.

Our room was right in front of the beach — and what a beach! Beautiful blue water that looked extremely promising. We quickly unpacked and went snorkeling.

The water was a little better than in Rarotonga, with plenty of coral heads and some interesting shells. The only problem was something we had not anticipated: there was no dive center willing to rent us weight belts. Without weights, our wetsuits made us far too buoyant to dive down effectively.

There was only one solution. We covered ourselves with a very thick layer of sunscreen and went snorkeling in shorts and T-shirts. Both of us have very fair skin, and after spending so many hours in the water, getting badly sunburned was not an attractive option. But without weights, it was the only practical way we could collect.

The outer reef was about 600 meters from the beach, and I decided to swim all the way out to see whether I could find anything interesting. The waves and current were quite strong, but the effort was worthwhile. I found some nice small shells, including Trivia, Columbellidae, Cymatium and Cypraea. On the way back, I came across some beautiful Haminoea cymbalum. I had never seen this species alive before, so I took several photographs.

I used my underwater Casio camera a lot during this trip. Looking back, I really regret not having had it with me on some of our earlier expeditions.

After a quick lunch, we took a nap to save some energy for night snorkeling. The water was a little cooler after dark, but still comfortable enough for us to remain in it for several hours.

Meanwhile, I kept thinking about our wetsuit problem. I started looking around underwater for something heavy that I could somehow attach to my belt so that I could wear my wetsuit the following day.

Eventually, I found a heavy piece of metal that looked as though it had once been part of an engine. I thought I might be able to attach it somehow to my weight belt, so I picked it up and went to show Carlos.

Then I looked down.

Guess what was lying there?

A three-kilo diving weight!

For a moment, I thought a genie had given me magical powers. Naturally, my next wish was to find another three-kilo piece — this time made of gold.

Unfortunately, it seemed that I had already used my one wish on lead...

Still, under the circumstances, that piece of lead was almost as valuable as gold to me. I was finally able to wear my wetsuit for the next several days.

Carlos just kept using enormous quantities of sunscreen. What could I do? He obviously didn't have my magical powers.

We still had the same strict baggage-weight restrictions for the return trip to New Zealand, which presented another problem: those enormous Tectus niloticus were extremely tempting.

Although I am a shell dealer, I am still a collector at heart, and I still love finding beautiful shells myself. Those monsters were hard to resist.

In the end, I couldn't.

I took one.

It is sitting next to my desk as I write this.

One curious thing about Aitutaki is that there are no dogs on the island, and bringing one there is prohibited. We were told that the dogs had been eliminated during a leprosy outbreak in the 19th century because people believed they were involved in spreading the disease.

So, if you ever travel to Aitutaki, leave Rex at home!

We found some nice Cypraea maculifera scindata, large Cypraea caputserpentis, turrids and various other small shells. Once again, we also saw beautiful Tridacna everywhere.

Someone suggested that we visit the Ministry of Marine Resources, where they were raising Tridacna. They had specimens ranging from very small juveniles to medium-sized individuals, which were periodically released around the island. Judging by the number of Tridacna we had seen while snorkeling, the program certainly seemed to be working.

Eventually, it was time to return to Rarotonga, and once again we began worrying about our baggage allowance.

By this point, the situation had become slightly ridiculous. We had left two pieces of luggage in New Zealand, another two in Rarotonga, and we were carrying two more with us.

Our biggest concern, however, was what would happen when we passed through customs in Auckland with all those smelly shells.

Would they confiscate them again?

Apparently, I still had one magical wish left.

While checking our luggage in Rarotonga, I asked whether they could tag our bags all the way through to our flight to Brazil, even though that flight would not leave until about 12 hours after we arrived in Auckland.

They could!

That meant we passed through customs in Auckland carrying only two backpacks — with no shells inside.

Even better, when we later checked in the two bags we had left in Auckland, the airline staff did not have access to the other pieces that had already been checked through. So we didn't have to pay any excess-baggage charges either!

At that point, I decided to test my magical powers one more time and wished for a free upgrade to business class.

Nothing happened.

Apparently, I really had used up my last wish.

We left Aitutaki on Monday afternoon, arrived in Rarotonga and caught a flight to Auckland at 3:00 A.M. on Tuesday. After crossing the International Date Line, we arrived in Auckland on Wednesday — somehow losing an entire day — and our flight to Brazil departed at 5:00 P.M.

Fourteen hours later, we arrived in Brazil at 9:00 P.M.

On Wednesday.

Confusing?

Absolutely.

I'm just glad I don't work in a travel agency anywhere near the International Date Line!