The Cook Islands

We arrived in Aitutaki and found that the harbour was too shallow for us to enter into the safe confines of the island so we decided to anchor off the pass on the western edge. We hoped that the prevailing winds and seas would not effect us as we were on the West but we were sadly mistaken. Constant rolling and a leeshore on occasion prompted us to head south to Rarotonga after only 4 short nights. We did in fact enjoy Aitutaki and the friendliness of its people. Learning Ukelele music from the Tourism officer, dining at the fine Pacific resort and meeting up with good friends was all part of the fine package.

We sadly left and headed down to Rarotonga, which we had fine hopes for! Unfortunately due to the boom of the yellowfin tuna industry, which had occured some months earlier, we experienced a different Rarotonga altogether. The 'boom' was not in fact so profitable and many of the fishing vessels were sitting in the harbour which made it messy and not too boater friendly! We were nicely accomodated by the wonderful Port Captain however and managed to maintain our anchorage for the duration of our visit not having to shuffle every few days with passing traffic!

We had fun traveling around the island and Dylan got to surf a few new spots. That he enjoyed very much as well as meeting up with some fine Kiwis and promising to meet up with them again in New Zealand.

The market was great on Saturday mornings and as we were there for almost four weeks we had time enough to investigate it. We were also treated to a display on the Maori dances from a traveling school performing group on one particular Saturday morning.

Another highlight of our stay was viewing the 'Picton Castle'. An old trawler converted into a square rigger with an annual circum-navigation primarily focused on educating paying crew! It was interesting to step aboard this great ship and to meet up with the crew.