Deep in a bay off Ngeruktabel Island, I am flowing slowly with the current in a kayak beneath the shaded overhang of one of Palau’s many Rock Islands. The tiny, forested limestone mound rises from the water in a way I can only describe as Jurassic. Tropicbirds chase each other through the warm equatorial air, their ribboning tails trailing jubilantly behind them, scrawling secret avian messages into the deep emerald canopy.

I am back in Palau and pinching myself.