Crack!! My friend, John R., broke the shell on the coconut. We had been working on removing the husk and outer casing of this land mollusk for quite a while. About 30 minutes ago Matt had found what appeared to be a coconut floating in the surf. He hurled it onto the beach and we began our "Castaway" adventure to crack it open. It was clear that the four of us had perhaps become a little bored dawdling in the turquoise South China Sea!

If there's one thing that gives me a "high" when I travel, it's finding that little nook or cranny that "those other tourists" have never discovered. This hidden treasure for the four of us was Bintan Island off the coast of Singapore. This little piece of Indonesia is about 55 minutes by high-speed katamaran from the ferry port near Changi Airport. A roundtrip costs S$50 (about $US35) and is as comfortable as a trip on a jet.

Earlier that morning, we had jumped out of bed at 7AM ready to find a beach! Sentosa wasn't cutting it. When we got to Bintan, we were immediately assaulted by tour operators hawking their resorts. Everything is "hawked" in Southeast Asia -- from chili-crab to fake Polo shirts. By now, we were experts and deftly navigated ourselves for free onto the bus destined for a resort called Mana Mana. I had met a French expat family at the terminal who explained this was the best beach on the island.

To put it mildly: this was the best beach I have ever touched. The kind I've seen in photographs, but never set foot upon. The powdered-sugar sand dipped into water so warm it was barely discernable from the balmy breeze. And blue! What turquoise blue! We had found a small sandbar around the corner from the resort; so it was here that we spent the day dawdling in the water (and cracking coconuts!). Tropical fish swam around our feet. The waves lapped up on the beach. A few birds cackled in the distance. I closed my eyes. Paradise found?