Now I’m off the grid. Most people couldn’t even tell you where this island nation is. Heck – its not even on most maps.
Stepping from the plane, I feel like I’ve finally arrived in Polynesia. The airport vibe with a ukulele musician greeting, a single small queue to navigate to immigration, many of the visitors being greeted with lay and halo wreaths of flowers. More like the remote out-island of the other South Pacific islands I’ve visited … but here, it’s the capital of this semi-autonomous nation – a protectorate of New Zealand. All Cook islander’s hold NZ passports.
Again I’m in a country that drives on the left; say ‘fair enough’ when-ever they are unsure of what to think; or ‘good on ya’ when they agree.
I cross the international dateline (again) for this journey. Time travel. I definitely needed to be careful about booking my room….for yesterday. I’ll be crossing the 180th longitude several times in the coming days as I continue to travel the South Pacific. It can be confusing.
My hotel arrangements where not optimal…I knew that when I booked. A 2-star bungalow. And straight away, my airport to hotel transfer was a confusing event. At the last moment I figure-out a shuttle solution and arrive at my hotel – late, 11:00pm.
And what a bungalow. As my bags are dropped from the shuttle, the owner exits her home….bare-footed in her bathrobe, puffing on a cigarette. Her Kiwi accent and eccentric character where a reality check. Your not in Kansas Toto!!! My bungalow looks to be 50 years-old and is more like an old Florida cracker-beach house on LGI. I’m in for an adventure here for-sure.
A longish (1.5 k) walk to the dive shop (and any restaurant) the next morning starts my first full day on Rarotonga. Pacific Divers look organized and my 2-days of planned dives look promising.
Finding a great breakfast place, I almost feel normal. Luck would have it, a marvelous local Museum with cool information about the Polynesian culture was nearby. An amazing museum guide there taught me more about the history of the South Pacific then I found anywhere…or learned in my history studies. Amazing to think these peoples populated all these islands thousands of years before any Europeans. Humans will survive and expand – no matter the corner of the planet, no matter the obstacles. For the first time; I fully understand Indonesia, Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Culturally and geographically and historically.
My 4-dives here were peaceful, but uneventful. We dive reefs on the Northern coast of Rarotonga; the only area protected from the Southwestern Trade winds. Lots of healthy Christmas Tree coral, but not much else. Oh-well, it just reminds me of the great-fortune I’ve had diving hundreds of other sites around the world.
Rarotonga is perfectly round, ringed by a single road. One of the most entertaining aspects of my time here, was riding the bus’s. Riding the ANTIClockwise bus made my trip!!. Clockwise bus’s just don’t feel right !! I never knew. The ANTIClockwise bus seems to go well the time travel concept - Other then KiWi’s not many reach this remote dot in the Pacific.
Often as you travel about the Cook islands, you notice raised graves in the yards of ordinary homes. It seems to be a tradition to bury your family on the lands that you own. So you open your back-door, and there is your family – 50 feet away. Feels strange to me, and would make moving on difficult. But life and death on a tiny island has its own pace.
I island hop to Aitutaki. Just a 50 minute flight over Cook island atoll’s to a smaller-yet island of the South Pacific. And WOW what an island. Totally different than Rarotonga. A lush tropical garden atoll. A small island, completely surrounded by a brilliant blue lagoon. A huge shallow lagoon made for snorkeling, filled with small coral and rock formations, reef fish and a white sandy bottom. Heaven. I book into Matriki Huts. And it couldn’t be better. My hut is on the beach. A primitive wood structure, with an attached outside shower, a common outside bathroom, and the best ambiance I’ve experienced on my entire adventure.
Time has stopped here in Aitutaki. Not because its caught in the 50’s or 60’s … but because time seems take on a different character. It virtually stops. I spend just 5 days here, but it feels like a month - magical month. The days of sun and magnificent beauty seem endless. International date-line or no; time is counted different on this island.
I’ve managed the food here a-bit better then Rarotonga, with a quality hotel/restaurant just 50m down the beach..with expresso! Even so, the Cook Island experience is not about food, its about beauty. I have to make do with a banana and cookies for dinner several times here. Life of a traveler.
I dive the first full-day here. Just outside the lagoon on finger reef coral heads. The highlight are the massive Napoleon Wrasse. The guide has them trained to eat coconut. The follow him around on the dive like pets. He stops every few minutes to feed them some Coconut. He calls the bigger one Frank; the huge colorful N. Wrasse following us, allowing me to swim within 1-2 feet. We also saw 2-3 Eagle Rays that were not fearful of the divers, hunting just feet from me. And a single white tip shark. Add in a ton of Unicorn fish, a cool pipe fish, several huge turtles…. And bam!! It was a wonderful dive. But that apparently is all of the diving here. Just a couple of sites, visibility was modest (15-18m). I was a-bit disappointed in the management of their dive-business here, but the guide was wonderful.
I have a few more relaxing days here. So I spend the day touring the island on a scooter. Passing churches on Sunday morning – hearing their singing filling their sky. This is an amazingly beautiful island. Only in one corner of Vanuatu have I found such unspoiled beauty. (Espiritu Santo).
Finish up my Aitutaki visit I snorkel the lagoon, just outside my beach hut. Wow,,what a snorkel event. One of the best snorkeling afternoons I've ever experienced. Cool coral heads mixed with white sand bottoms, just 3-4 feet in depth. An huge giant claim, Surgeon fish, parrot fish, hog fish, small grouper, Sargent fish, Pipe fish. Such fun.
Back on a plane, hop back to Rarotonga for a night - then onto Semoa (via Auckland). Always another hotel and flight to manage. Somehow I manage, avoiding any catastrophes or major delays. Forward, ever forward.
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