Another string of tropical paradise islands this month with visits to Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa and the legendary Bora Bora. All have had their own characters and highlights. There have been plenty of exotic plants and well oiled local rowing teams for Ruth, and plenty of subjects for my new underwater camera and some dancing girls for me.

Moorea

So Moorea first, the chief highlights were watching a traditional dance troupe performing at a nearby hotel and swimming with tame stingrays and sharks. The rays and sharks are fed daily by the tour boat guides and turn up promptly every morning for breakfast. The rays in particular get quite amorous as they climb all over you searching for morsels hidden in your swimming togs. The sharks were a little more circumspect but still showed a close interest. It did feel a little odd swimming towards sharks bigger than oneself, but they have plenty of opportunities to take nibbles out of passing swimmers but do not seem that interested. Ruth had her fix of plant life with a visit (using our rarely used and expensive Italian folding bicycles) to a nearby agricultural school where locals are taught how to farm. The main feature was extensive fields of ripe pineapples which we could not pick or buy as the school was on holiday.

Huahine

An overnight sail to Huahine next, where we circumnavigated the northern part of the island on our trusty bicycles to see some of the inland attractions.

The first were some sacred blue eyed eels who lived in a ditch. The eels have some local legends attached to them to explain their presence in the drainage culvert and their blue eyes. The ditch was so shallow with just a trickle of water that we could not quite believe we were in the right place, however the arrival of bus loads of holidaymakers convinced us we were.

Pedalling around the island brought much entertainment for the local children as they could not quite believe our extraordinary bicycles with their tiny wheels. They took much pleasure in whizzing past us on their shiny minature mountain bikes, but adult stamina told in the end, our dignity would not let us be beaten.

Further around the island, we came a group of ceremonial stone platforms, These platforms were the equivalent of temples and used for many aspects live before the Europeans arrived. However, after the arrival of the missionaries in the 18th-19th centuries, the indigeneous population were forced to abandon their old beliefs and cultures and the stone structures fell into disuse. The platforms have now been tastefully renovated and have a peaceful atmosphere, similar to the standing stones of the Orkney Islands.

Our final night on Huahine was a classic evening beach barbeque to celebrate the birthday of one of our friends, Oliver on 'Bess'. Plenty of good friends with guitar music, good food and tropical stars.

Tahaa and Raiatea

The joint islands of Tahaa and Raiatea came next. Entry was through an interesting pass in the surrounding reef which had large standing waves caused by an outflowing current. The expression on Ruth's face was a picture as we were surrounded in boiling white surf and the stern was lifted alarmingly by the following breakers in the pass. A picture would have been useful, but all we could think of was holding on for the fairground ride. The snorkelling within the considerably more peaceful lagoon was the best we have seen yet. In one spot, the fish were a little demanding as they were accustomed to be fed by visitors from the local hotel. In another spot, we found two massive, elegant green moray eels quietly sharing a coral head. Sadly one of them was dead half an hour later, shot with a harpoon by a crewmember of a nearby charter catamaran. In an area where there is not a shortage of food and people pay to look at the sealife, it seemed a little unnecessary, and Ruth let them know it.

In a little slice of Caribbean life, we were visited by a singing fruit man who delivered fruit and vegetables to your boat - for a price. He was a lovely chap, singing us a few local songs accompanied by his ukelele as he bobbed off the back of 'Do It' awaiting his next customer. He had some hideous tropical ulcers on his legs caused by coral scratches, which Ruth treated much to his delight. She sent him on his way with some plasters, cotton wool and hydrogen peroxide and firm instructions not to go into the water for at least a week. Some hope, as his other sideline was taking hotel guests on snorkelling tours.

If you have a broadband link, you can see a video of his skills here.

Ruth managed to get her fix of plantlife with an 'ethno-botanical' tour along with some friends. The tour guide was a friendly Frenchman who had settled on the island having sailed there in a small pink plywood sailing boat thirty years before.

The tour was most enjoyable; it certainly wasn't cheap, but it was our one and only professional tour and it had been highly recommended as the guide did actually know his stuff. It makes such a difference if your tour guide has just learnt a script, or if he can actually answer additional questions. The tour started in the guide's home - he lives in a traditionally built house with banana leaf roof and woven bamboo walls. It did look very comfortable - as did the family of cats.

The garden contained coffee bushes, mango trees, soursop trees, guava trees, star fruit trees… and a small vanilla plantation. He showed how to pollinate vanilla flowers and also how to harvest and dry them. Having exhausted the garden, we headed off in a landrover to drive across the island - stopping to admire various trees en route before providing lunch from the local flora at the highest point on the island. It was a pleasant day out scrabbling around the island hills in a Land Rover (very popular in these parts) being educated about all the mysterious local plants.

Bora Bora

And finally, Bora Bora, the last island we will be visiting in French Polynesia. An island of contrasts; some of our friends had said they didn't think much of it, too developed, too much traffic, too many tourists, too many helicopters (as if…). Others loved it. The difference seemed to be which side of the island they anchored. The unhappy ones stayed on the west side which was fairly urban, with hotels, bars, cruise liners, supermarkets and other accoutrements of modern life. Most of the happy ones took the rather tricky route through the coral reefs inside the lagoon to the east side, where the water was the most amazing range of intense turquoises and blues, the fish life was abundant and the view of the mountain spectacular. Our puny digital cameras could not do justice to the range of colours and scene of tropical perfection; as they say, "They best photographs are in you head".

Another benefit of moving to the east side of the island was that we could anchor in 3-4 metres of water. Throughout French Polynesia, the anchorages have tended to be really deep, often greater than 25 metres. This is becomes a problem if the anchor does not set properly (requiring raising and re-laying) or when leaving as lifting the required 70-80 metres of chain and anchor with our human powered anchor windlass requires an unpleasant amount of exertion for these temperatures.

Sadly, our three month island hopping holiday in French Polynesia is coming to an end as our visa runs out and we now have to move on with some more long distance sailing. The plan is to hop further west through the Cook Islands and Niue to the Tonga island group. New lands, new people.

WHAT WE FIXED

This month, instead of highlighting the usual 'Things That Broke', I would like to report a success. For some time, a couple of the forward hatches have been leaking, which does not cause problems when sailing downwind, however, a good thrash to windward gives the cabin a soaking in salt water. I had been putting off the work until New Zealand but reports of the weather that can be experienced on the Tonga to New Zealand leg encouraged me stop delaying. Two days of scraping, screwing and sealing later the job was done. Hatches fixed at last? Time will tell.

CULINARY DELIGHTS

The favourite cuisine experiences this month were red banana pasties discovered in a supermarket on Huahine. The were a cut above the usual island baking being full (no cavernous air spaces as perfected by Ginsters Pasties) and delicious (Ginsters have never managed this bit). The locally grown red bananas have an orange-ish skin, very orange flesh, and when cooked with a load of sugar, turn bright red. We shall miss them.

Videos

For those of you with Broadband internet, this month's video is here:

• Travels in French Polynesia