I had never set foot on an island before. So, I decided to take a solo trip on Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas cruise in Cococay, Bahamas. I could feel the bass in my chest as I followed the crowd toward CocoCay’s shoreline, and already my hips were swaying, almost against my will. The moment I stepped on the island, the world seemed to shift. The pier was playing loud drumbeats, the kind of music that doesn’t ask but insists you move your body.

Then I saw the water. It wasn’t just blue—it was every shade of it, stacked in layers: turquoise lapping at the shore, sapphire stretching out toward the horizon, and a pale, crystal-clear rim so sharp I could see straight through to the sand below. My feet, pressed into the white powdery beach, looked like they belonged there, as if I’d been m

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