Day 52: Aitutaki, Cook Islands

Scootering Paradise

We had heard some good things about the Cook Islands from some folks in Moorea, and everything was true. Before seeing our itenerary, I had not heard of this place. I’m glad that there are surprise places like this left in our big world, with amazing beauty and lovely, friendly people.

We rented a scooter to explore the island for the day. Aitutaki is an atoll which consists of a group of small islands surrounded by a barrier reef. We made stop to pick up snorkeling gear and headed around the island to the blue lagoon. The snorkeling wasn’t great there, but the shallow lagoon was as warm as a bath. We continued on to explore different parts of the island and found a spot with good snorkeling. We noticed that there were a LOT of sea slugs. The coral seemed stressed, and the water was so warm, that it felt hot in places. It didn’t seem to have as many fish as Moorea, but it was still pretty good. We stopped into a place for lunch, but they were absolutely slammed. Considering that the population is about 1800, when you more than double the population for a day, the locals can get pretty overwhelmed. We left the busy place and headed over to a place we’d passed earlier off the beaten path, and had a fantastic lunch, and talked to some interesting people. We met the owner of another restaurant and inn from New Zealand.

The locals are able to purchase a home for $4000nzd when they have a kid, so there are no mortgages and not much to spend money on. Just catch a fish and pick a coconut and some Tarot. A very simple place full of happy people was what travel means to us.