The Cook Islands
Kia Orana! ("Welcome!")
The what islands? That's right, the Cook Islands. I
never heard of them before this trip either, but Mike
has always wanted to dive there. The Cook Islands
consist of 15 main islands east of New Zealand in the
South Pacific. The total population is approximately
18,000, however close to 40,000 Cook Islanders live in
New Zealand. In fact, Cook Islanders are New Zealand
citizens but not vice-versa. The New Zealand dollar
is used on the islands. Currently, 45 cents (USA) is
equivalent to one New Zealand dollar. Most of the
tourists we met here were from New Zealand. We also
met several people doing the same type of "Around the
World" trip as we.

Rarotanga
Rarotonga is the main island of the Cook Islands. Still, it's area is only 67 square kilometers. Michael and I drove around the circumference of the entire island on a motorcycle in only 45 minutes! Half of the Cook Islands population lives on Rarotonga (9,000). It is such a beautiful island! It really is a paradise. Micahel and I stayed at the Edgewater Resort for three nights and the Reef Comber for one night. The resort is not at all like the type of resort you are probably imagining, though. Yes, it is located right on the ocean, and does have a swimming pool, white sand, tennis courts, and lots of palm trees, but a resort? It would probably be called "The
Edgewater Motel" in L.A. Nonetheless, we still really enjoyed our stay there.

Joy's afternoon nap

We rented a motorcycle because that is how most people get around the island. We had to go to the Cook Island police station to get a Cook Island drivers license for Michael. So now, Michael has a CA driving license and a Cook Island driving license. Michael plans to use his new license when he gets pulled over in L.A. Smart - huh!?! I think not!

Michael and I explored the island the first two rainy days. There are no traffic lights on the entire
island. The only paved road is the one that goes along the coast. There are tons of wild dogs, and we actually got chased a few times! The homes are all very small and most of them have 1-3 graves on the front lawn! There are roosters, goats, and pigs everywhere!

Mike feeding the roosters and chickens that woke us up EVERY morning!

There are also several churches on the island. On Sundays, everything is shut down
completely! Michael and I tried to find roads that lead up to the mountains, but every side
road we found eventually dead-ended at someone's home. The people were extremely friendly. You can tell that they are all very proud of their country. Everybody seemed to know eveyone.
We had the opportunity to snorkel and scuba-dive while in Rarotonga. Michael had a very unpleasent encounter with a HUGE eel while snorkeling! We went diving with the Cook Island Divers. They picked us up at our resort and then we headed down to the harbor. We dove
with two guys living in San Diego and one guy from England. It was such an honor diving with one of the men from San Diego because he is a very successful author on diving. You can find his books if you go to "Amazon.com" and conduct a search under his last name: Fenner. The dive was an advance dive. We went down 85 feet to discover a Japanese ship wreck (1984). The
current was very strong and there were huge waves! The most excitting fish we saw on this dive was a lion fish which can be extremely poisonous, but very beautiful.
Aitutaki
Aitutaki (pronounced I-to-ta-key) is said to be
without doubt, the most beautiful lagoon in the South Pacific.

Joy is "The King of the Lagoon!"
The island is approximately 2 degrees north
of Rarotonga. The climate is warmer and much drier
than Rarotonga, however, it rained 3 days out of our
four day stay. The population is about 1,800.
Michael and I took a small plane ride to this
island. Wow! This is the smallest airport I think I
will ever be at in my life! The landing strip was
simply a stip of dirt! We stayed at the Sunny
Beach Lodge and had a very relaxing time there.

The dining hall at our Aitutaki lodge

We were told that when you visit Aitutaki, you must do
a lagoon tour. So, that is what we did during our one
sunny day. The lagoon tour was so amazing that it
made our trip to the Cook Islands worth it! Words
and pictures cannot describe how beautiful the lagoon
is. Each tiny island reminded us a little bit of
Giligan's Island. The boat's first stop was on the
shore of Honeymoon Island. We snorkeled for about one
hour.

Michael snorkeling in Aitutaki ALL day
It was the most amazing snorkeling we have ever
done in our lives! There were eight HUGE clams all
nesled together!

This is an acutal giant clam! The first thing Joy says is,
"Do you think there will be pearls in it?"

Our second stop was at BBC Island. The reason
why the island is called
this becasue it is where the British Broadcast station
(AKA BBC) filmed the show "Shipwrecked." The recent
American film "Survivor" was based on this show. The
final island we went to is called, "One Foot Island."
There is a long story about how this island got its
name. Michael or I will be happy to tell it to you
when we return. We had a bbq seafood lunch on this
island. We also did some more snorkeling, sunbathing,
and exploring here.

Overall, our stay at the Cook Islands was great! Do
we recommend it to anyone? Only if you are into
snorkeling and scubadiving and want complete isolation.

Well . . . we're off to Fiji! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Miss Cook Island let Joy wear this!

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