Her home for the week was an —a hallmark of luxury in this South Pacific paradise. Elena spent her first morning watching tropical fish navigate the vibrant coral reef directly from her private deck, the silence broken only by the gentle lapping of the lagoon against the stilts.

The scent of tiare flowers hit Elena the moment she stepped off the small propeller plane at Bora Bora Airport , a strip of sand surrounded by an impossible spectrum of blues. It was her first time in French Polynesia, and the view of Mount Otemanu, a 7-million-year-old extinct volcano piercing the sky, felt less like a landscape and more like a dream.

During a boat excursion arranged by a local guide, she learned that the "Pearl of the Pacific" was once a U.S. naval supply base during World War II. Hidden among the lush vegetation, she spotted one of the rusty 7-inch cannons still aiming out toward the deep passage in the reef, a stark contrast to the serenity of the present day.