[13 days before we leave for the islands] In the 1920's Robert Dean Frisbie moved from San Francisco to the South Pacific as a young man. His goal was to become a famous writer like Robert Louis Stevenson. He wrote many novels and essays about life in the Cook Islands. His best, first, and most famous work is The Book of Puka Puka. He married a Cook Island woman and had five kids with her. When she died, he raised them on the nearly uninhabited Northern Islands. Once, during the worst South Pacific hurricane of the 20th century, he saved his kids' lives by tying them to a tree. Chronicaly ill his entire life, he died when he was 53. His daughter Johnny Frisbie still lives in Rarotonga. If you are interested in learning more about the tragic life of Frisbie, I heartily recommend you read Frisbie's online biography, written by James Norman Hall (co-author of Mutiny on the Bounty.) -- Mark
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