On this route, tomorrow never comes

The flying boats that once soared over the South Pacific were so luxurious that nobody cared if they lost a day crossing the date line. Mark Rowe reports

Who do you invoice for a lost day? God? Flight NZ 047 departed Rarotonga in the Cook Islands at 11.59pm on the Friday. When it touched down in Fiji, three hours and 45 minutes later, it was 1.45am - on Sunday. After five hours' more flying we landed in time for Sunday breakfast in Auckland. Thanks to the International Date Line, somewhere east of Fiji, Saturday simply never happened.

Who do you invoice for a lost day? God? Flight NZ 047 departed Rarotonga in the Cook Islands at 11.59pm on the Friday. When it touched down in Fiji, three hours and 45 minutes later, it was 1.45am - on Sunday. After five hours' more flying we landed in time for Sunday breakfast in Auckland. Thanks to the International Date Line, somewhere east of Fiji, Saturday simply never happened.

Lost days are one of the curiosities on the Coral Route, which is among the world's greatest air journeys. This epic trail was truly the stuff of post-war legend, when flying boats ploughed highways in the sky, darting back and forth between yesterday and tomorrow across the Date Line, traversing 4,700 miles of ocean between Auckland, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Tahiti.

Even when you fly over the Pacific it is difficult to really take in just how vast this expanse of ocean is. A little blue line on the in-flight map tracked the aircraft's movements, but there was no land to be seen, and no distinguishing features to indicate where we were.

At one point, we flew over the Tuamotu Ridge, but even this was not a land mass but rather a volcanic underwater plateau. Finally, though, some specks of dust appeared on the screen with names next to them. Nuku Hiva and Tahuata in the Marquesas Islands, then the Disappointment Islands (named by Ferdinand Magellan, after his crew was unable to obtain fresh water there and was chased off by the natives). After that, the Tuamotus: Takaroa, Manihi and Rangiroa, coral islands that on the map looked like single cells viewed through a microscope.

The plane began its descent and Tahiti appeared at last. The local time was 3am. In the early days of the Coral Route things were rather different: when it got dark the pilot set down in a lagoon and the passengers were taken to a fine hotel. Now international business travel means that journeys are generally timed to allow you to arrive in LA or New Zealand in time for that crucial meeting. The stops in the Pacific are reduced to brief halts, invariably in the middle of the night. Airports that see a handful of aircraft during the day come alive in the witching hour with the noise of engine thrust.

That is not to say you will receive a desultory welcome. Far from it. Though the planes have changed, the Coral Route still retains the glamour of its early days. Walking down the steps from the plane at Tahiti's Faa'a airport in Papeete, with a warm wind in your face, a ukulele strikes up: this four-stringed mini-guitar originates in Hawaii. We were welcomed with garlands (by the end of our trip, clothes, suitcases and passports were stained with pollen and indelibly scented with frangipani and hibiscus). It's a long-standing tradition.

The Coral Route was first charted when Sunderland flying boats operated by the Royal New Zealand Air Force kept the far-flung island outposts of British Empire connected during the Second World War. Kiwi pilots had mastered the art of aeronautical island-hopping. Originally a mail service, Tasman Empire Airways Limited (Teal) introduced the commercial service in 1951, ferrying passengers from Auckland's harbour across to Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti and the Cook Islands in luxurious twin-deck Solent flying boats. There was just the one boat to start with, the Aparina. The Coral Route proved popular; initially a monthly service, the frequency was increased to fortnightly after only six months. Tonga was added to the itinerary. Teal grew into Air New Zealand. It became one of the most glamorous, most luxurious passenger routes in the world. A ticket cost £30, six times the average weekly wage in early 1950s America. The Solents carried around 45 in flying, high-class restaurants complete with silver service, linen tablecloths, powder rooms and miniature golf. Crew and passengers became life-long friends. Hollywood stars such as Cary Grant and John Wayne climbed on board.

The Solents often travelled only a few hundred feet above the waves and could only climb to 10,000 feet. Splashing down on pond-smooth lagoons to be met by flotillas of outrigger canoes, the jet set navigators. Every stop brought with it gifts and mementos: conches, black pearls, vanity cases made from palm fronds.

After the long flight, we checked into the Beachcomber Intercontinental, the grandest hotel on the main island of Tahiti, and revived ourselves with pain au chocolat and coffee while gazing across the reef to the enchanting volcanic domes of Moorea. No matter how exhausted you are on arrival, the colour of the light and the sea and the fresh tropical air give you an adrenalin rush that will keep you awake until sunset.

At Tahiti, the longest flight is behind the modern-day Coral Route traveller, and this journey is not always about clear skies. These are the tropics and things can get a bit bumpy. On our flight from Tahiti to the Cook Islands, the turbulence persisted for two hours as the pilots navigated around the edge of a storm that spread over 1,200 miles. At least today's pilots have the means to make the flight as smooth as possible. The old flying boats had no modern-day instruments and passengers had to grin and bear it.

There are several stupendous sleepovers across the South Pacific. In Samoa, Aggie Grey's hotel in Apia is still going strong, founded by the late Aggie, the daughter of a Lincolnshire chemist who made her millions selling hamburgers to American troops and who inspired James Michener's Tonkinese madame, Bloody Mary in his Tales of the South Pacific. In Fiji, the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort on the island of Vanua Levu is a strong contender for the Pacific's most opulent thatched bures - traditional Fijian dwellings.

Rarotonga is well worth a stopover to explore the lush interior, take a glass-bottomed boat, snorkel, or cycle around the island, stopping for banana muffins at a roadside stall. The islanders love dancing; a local dance group was a star turn at the Edinburgh Festival a few years ago. At church on a Sunday morning women dressed in their best sing hauntingly.

The original landing strip for the Coral Route in the Cooks was the Motu Akaiami in Aitutaki lagoon, once the only international airport on an uninhabited island and a short hop from "Raro", where pilots refuelled and sheltered ("pesky weather ... ho hum, another day in paradise"). The original jetty remains.

The Cooks look like an innocent backwater, but they have been fingered by international police agencies as one of the global blackspots for money-laundering. Samoa, for its part, is perhaps closest to the genuine article when it comes to your Pacific idyll. Birdwatchers will love it, and those seeking an alternative to Aggie Grey's to rest their head could take an internal flight across the Apolima Strait to Savai'i Island. Here, in the Falealupo rainforest, you will find a magical canopy walkway through the wild and remote rainforest that finishes in a treehouse, where £16 buys you a billet for the night.

There is really very little to hurt you in Samoa, or indeed anywhere in the South Pacific. The Picasso triggerfish might nibble your toes, but they mean well. Jellyfish are rare and there are no poisonous snakes and no malaria.

And, sadly, there are no more flying boats. The last scheduled international flight was in 1960. The only remaining Solent IV flying boat now stands in Auckland's Museum of Transport and Technology, carefully restored and maintained by members of the original, Coral Route flight crew.

For the original Coral Routers, Auckland was the beginning, not the end of the trip. The super-wealthy arrived here by Pan Am clipper flying boats from San Francisco, by ocean liner or on their own yachts before taking off for the coral sands of Oceania. And if that lost day is still gnawing away at you, therein lies the solution: head back across the International Date Line to the Cook Islands and enjoy two sunsets for the price of one.

GIVE ME THE FACTS

How to get there

Air New Zealand (0800 028 4149; www.airnewzealand.co.uk) flies from London to Auckland, via Los Angeles, with return fares from £680. Pacific Island stopovers cost £50 each.

Where to stay

Tahiti-Beachcomber International (00 689 865 110; www.ichotelsgroup.com) at Point Tahiti, Papeete offers double rooms from around £195 with breakfast.

Pearl Beach Resort (00 689 508 452; www.pearlresorts.com) on Bora Bora offers double rooms from £279 on a room-only basis

Further information

Tahiti Tourism UK (020-7222 7282; www.tahiti-tourisme.com). The best information for the Cook Islands is www.cook-islands.com. For Samoa go to www.visitsamoa.ws. For Fiji go to www.bulafiji.com and for Tonga go to www.tongaholiday.com.