The m/s Paul Gauguin is a 330-passenger cruise ship, named for the French painter who was inspired by the islands.

Always follow the sound of the drums. That might be the best bit of advice for visitors to French Polynesia. Because when drums beat, enchantment looms.

I didn’t understand that on my first visit to Tahiti and the Society Islands some 34 years ago. I’d arrived as a backpacker with my boyfriend, degrees and job hunts shelved for a year of travel. This archipelago was our first stop. We saved money by eating baguettes with vitamins and foraged coconuts, by riding a cargo ferry between islands (sleeping on the deck to escape the diesel fumes) and by camping on the beach in Bora Bora. Now I was back with the same guy – an old married couple wondering what happened to those kids

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