Aitutaki

The lagoon is the reason to come. It is a broad, shallow triangle of turquoise water ringed by small coral islets, calm, clear and safe for swimming almost everywhere. The water is warmest, around 28°C, from December to March and cools to about 25°C in the winter months of July and August, which still makes for easy swimming. The finest sand is out on the motu. Tapuaetai, known as One Foot Island, and the sandbars around Honeymoon Island are white, empty stretches reached on lagoon cruises or by kayak.

On the main island, Ootu Beach on the eastern peninsula beside the airstrip has soft sand and is where most cruises leave from. Amuri on the west coast has easy swimming at sunset. In places the water is very shallow at low tide and the bottom is coral rubble rather than sand. Days revolve around the water, with snorkelling a few steps from most guesthouses.

Eating here is simple and mostly happens in resort dining rooms, a few small cafés and roadside takeaways in Arutanga. The local dish worth seeking out is ika mata, raw reef fish in coconut cream and lime, alongside grilled tuna and wahoo, taro, breadfruit and fruit from village gardens. Island nights pair a buffet of umu-cooked food with the dancing. Much is flown or shipped in, so menus repeat and choice is narrow; this is not a place to travel for food.

The island's heritage is modest and rural. The coral-lime church in Arutanga, built in the 1820s and among the oldest in the Cook Islands, is the main landmark, with carved interiors and memorials from the missionary era. Several marae, the old ceremonial stone sites, lie in the inland bush, though most are unmarked and best seen with a local guide. There is no museum of any size; the culture a visitor meets is the living village life rather than sights.

Evenings are quiet. A few resort bars and a beachfront bar or two serve sunset drinks, and the weekly island nights bring a crowd, but most places wind down soon after dinner. Sunday is especially still, as the island keeps it as a day of church and rest.

Nature here is the lagoon itself. Snorkelling over coral gardens and giant clams, swimming with turtles and trevally, and paddling out to the uninhabited motu fill most days. The shallow flats are famous among fly fishers for bonefish and giant trevally, and from roughly May to October the trade winds make the southern lagoon a good kitesurfing spot. Diving outside the reef is available for those who want deeper water.

On land the scope is small. The island is low and green, with coconut and banana plantations, and the walk up Maungapu, its highest point at about 124m, gives the classic view over the whole lagoon. Beyond that there is little hiking or cycling of note.

There is nowhere else to go for a day out. The lagoon cruises to the motu are the island's great excursion, but they are about the water and the sand rather than another place to visit. Rarotonga is a flight away and makes a separate stay, not a day trip.

For families who want a simple beach stay, the lagoon is close to ideal: warm, shallow and sheltered, with fish visible from the shore. The island is safe and relaxed, and children are welcomed warmly in village life. There is nothing built for children, though, no attractions beyond the water, and several of the resorts take adults only, so choice of family lodging is narrow. Coral underfoot calls for reef shoes, and the journey, with a connecting flight through Rarotonga, is long for young children.

The island is small enough to cross in a quarter of an hour, and a single road loops most of it. Most visitors rent a scooter or a bicycle, and traffic is light and slow. There is no public bus to speak of, and distances between guesthouses and Arutanga are too long to walk comfortably in the heat. The lagoon and the motu are reached by tour boat or kayak. Getting here means a short flight from Rarotonga, about fifty minutes.

Shopping is limited to a few general stores in Arutanga, some pareu, woven hats and carvings sold at craft stalls, and the occasional seller of Cook Islands black pearls. Anyone wanting a wider choice of crafts or pearls will find more on Rarotonga.

This is an expensive place to stay. Almost everything is shipped or flown in, so groceries and restaurant meals cost well above what the setting suggests, and the lagoon resorts with overwater and beachfront bungalows sit at the top of the market. Small family-run guesthouses with kitchens bring the cost down noticeably, and scooter hire is cheap, but lagoon cruises, fishing guides and the connecting flight add up.

Performance here mostly means the island nights that resorts host through the week. Local troupes perform Cook Islands drumming and dance, fast, athletic and genuinely skilled, and Aitutaki's dancers have a strong name across the islands. Even so, these are dinner shows staged for guests rather than a scene of their own. On Sunday morning the hymn singing in the Arutanga church, in rich layered harmonies, is moving for visitors who attend respectfully. There is no theatre, concert hall or live music venue, so a visitor who travels for performance will find little beyond these two.

The restorative quality here comes from the pace rather than any bathing culture. Days follow the light, there is little traffic or noise, Sunday stops almost entirely, and a hammock over the lagoon is the default activity. The larger resorts have spas, some with treatment rooms facing the water, offering massage with coconut oil and local plant remedies. There are no thermal baths or public bathhouses, and outside the resorts wellness is simply rest.