Such smallness makes Mitiaro the ultimate get-away. Arriving visitors might see homeowners plaiting a new roof for their sleep houses. Or returning from a hidden plantation.

All in island time, a kind of liquid day-to-day reality where a morning coffee, say, is an end unto itself, not a means to stressing about something else. In fact, a cuppa is likely the first thing you will be offered on arrival. For some years, a home-stay arrangement was the only option. Now those wanting more privacy can book in at three small but modern huts near the airport.

Current population is about 130 people, mostly small school children and older citizens. On such a small island, visitors are a welcome diversion and very much a part of island entertainment.

Be prepared for charming inquisitiveness. Try to resist unleashing big city imagination on small town sensibilities. If there is one thing that remote island paradises have in abundance, it's a long list of "you should." topics from people who are here today, flying out tomorrow.

Or maybe the day after tomorrow. Whenever the next plane comes.

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Mitiaro is famed for its somewhat muddy lakes, called Te Roto Nui, the larger, about half the size of the entire island and was the site of pre-missionary village settlements. Then there is Roto Iti, smaller, yet still an astonishing size for an island so small. Both lakes are environments beloved by its even more famous itiki - eels.

Tasty eels are a local delicacy. Not many people actually eat eel on a regular basis, but even the potential for food is admired among remote islands. The lakes are even bigger than the lagoon.

The reef is just a stones throw or two from land where secluded and private sandy coves are dotted all around the island. Closeness gives immediacy to the Pacific Ocean, surging along the reef, high with current, as close to open ocean, as it's possible to get, standing on solid ground.

Over the reef, the ocean floor gives way dramatically, plunging four and a half kilometres to the ocean floor. Ship-like, in other words. Like standing on the deck of a cruise liner, Mitiaro can seem part of the voyage, not so much a destination in itself.

It's a truly relaxing sensation. A reminder of just how immense the Pacific Ocean is, with 1.8 million square kilometres inside the Cooks alone.

Back on land, Mitiaro is easily explorable by foot. Walking around the entire island at a leisurely pace takes three hours maximum, two hours via bicycle and very slowly, less than 20 minutes by motorcycle.

There are only six cars on the island and all amble at a leisurely 30 kph or less. No one is in any particular hurry to get anywhere fast.

Historically, Mitiaro was known by an earlier name, Nukuroa, part of the Nga-Pu-Toru group.

Nukuroa was very much a vassal island state controlled and regularly suffering from raids by the war loving warriors on nearby Atiu. Seen on a clear day as a faint smudge on the horizon, Atiu was always a menace.

Mitiaro would no sooner build up its population than suffer another raid, the men killed, children and women carried away to slavery, if they were lucky. Savage times, undoubtedly, but little different from carnage anywhere else around the world, except for being on a much smaller scale.

Visitors circling the island are told to look out for Te Pare, an ancient fort. Its walls of ancient coral 3 to 10 metres high in part. When originally built, Te Pare had an underground cave for women, children and the elderly to hide, while Mitiaro warriors fought off Atiu raiding parties.

Overcome by one raid, the victorious Atiu warriors rolled boulders over the underground cave entrance, forever trapping those who sought refuge inside and ending Te Pare as a fort.

Today its remains standing as one testimony to the great losses experienced by the ancient people of Mitiaro. Some visitors to the ancient fort may sense the sadness said to still exist at Te Pare. By the time Reverend John Williams arrived on 20 June 1823 to convert Mitiaro to peaceful Christianity, the population was just 100.

Much has been written about the restrictive effects of missionary laws, but for many at the time they were literally a lifesaver, an obviously welcome alternative to law by spear.

Mitiaro lies 230 kilometres north east of Rarotonga. It has many caves to explore and experience

Te Vai Marere freshwater cave on Mitiaro is possibly the easiest to access and locals credit its waters with unusual healing properties. Bathing here, they say, will cure skin eczema and conjunctivitis. To keep Vai Marere water pure, a sign politely asks that no soaps or shampoos be used while bathing.

Take a turn not far from the ancient fort and head inland. A small sign and some steps down to another fresh water cave, Vainauri, undoubtedly the most stunning in the Cook Islands.

This is a favourite swimming spot for the Mitiaro people. A cool, even chilling dip easily makes up for a hot sweaty day. When daylight peeks in through a hole in the ceiling and sparkles off the clear, water, it makes a great place to reflect life or just ponder the island's two astonishingly sized lakes and eels (which don't bite!). One species, tuna, often grow to the thickness of a man's thigh!

The eels are clever specimens, fattening themselves lakeside before making their way through numerous underground channels to the sea to spawn. Picture the island as a gigantic Swiss cheese, with holes opening and closing to the weight of the lake and surges of the seas, and eels making their way to and fro.

Go there - swim in her caves and coves, eat itiki, take an unhurried walk and look around. Mitiaro is easily accessible and even easier to fall in love with.