Our First Aitutaki Trip.

We had visited Rarotonga a few times and everyone had always asked us if we had been over to Aitutaki, but we hadn’t, so we decided to do more than take a day trip on our next visit in 2004.

The trip was planned, we were going back to the Cook Islands, this time we would land in Rarotonga, stay there for two days, to get into Island Time, then at 8am on the 3rd day, we would catch a flight over to Aitutaki, spend 3 nights there and then return back to Rarotonga for another 8 nights.


We landed in Rarotonga in the early hours of the morning as usual, and got taken to the resort to get a couple of hours sleep before breakfast. We awoke, to the sounds of the waves on the reef, the sun was shining bright, it is amazing how you can leave New Zealand in August, when it is so cold and wet and within 4 hours be on a hot tropical island.

We had our breakfast, hired a scooter, and headed down to the police station to get our bike licence. I went in, filled out the forms, got my picture taken and then was told to come back in half an hour to get the licence. So we headed off to the Café for a nice cup of coffee, and to just relax.

Ok, we got the licence, and off we went, around the island, stopping at places we remembered from our previous trips, then we ended up back at the resort. It was midday, time to sample the duty free and relax on the lounger for the rest of the day. Leaving all our worries back in New Zealand and just enjoying the sun, and the relaxing sound of the waves.

Right, we have now got into Island time after two days in Rarotonga, now we are heading off to Aitutaki. We get picked up early and taken to the Airport, to catch a flight on Air Raro to Aitutaki, its about a 45 minute flight. As you approach Aitutaki, you look out the window of the plane, and if your lucky, you will see the beauty, the lagoon of Aitutaki, multi turquoise colour, the lagoon is around 12km x 15km, it is dotted with little Islands around the edge, and then there is the main Island.

We landed and the door opened and out we got, this was a lot hotter than Rarotonga. We waited in the airport, an open area with a roof, no walls, and believe me, you are glad that the air can flow through there so you can keep a little cool. We hopped in the bus and off we went to our resort.

This was going to be a little different for us, we decided we did not want to stay in a flash place, we wanted to experience a little of the old ways ( but not to the extremes ) so we were staying in a kikow hut. These have a little bit of a wall, enclosed, approx ¼ -½ up the wall, and then Chicken wire the rest of the way up to the roof, the roof is made of thatched coconut fond’s, and it has a wooden floor, inside is a bed, and a mosquito net. This is all that you need we thought to ourselves, there was a toilet and show block about 15metres away.

The manager of this place came and asked us if we needed a scooter, and we said we did, so she rang someone on the island, and 2 scooters turned up, one was for us, the other was to take the person who dropped our off back to where they had come from.

We jumped on the scooter, and off we went, exploring the island, we made into the main area of town, stopped and had a walk around and then off we went again, onto dirt tracks, stopping and looking into the inner lagoon, what an amazing site, so beautiful , we stopped at one little bay, and the beach looked red in colour, so we stunned, so got off the scooter and walked closer to the beach, and then, before you could say Aitutaki, the beach turned back to the usual white sand.

We were a little worried, was the heat getting to us, had we not had enough water. We stayed very still, and then slowly, the sand started to become red again, mmmmmmm, clever, there we were, standing very very still, and out came thousands of little red crabs. As soon as we made a movement, they instantly dug themselves under the sand.

We left them in there little secluded bay and off we went on our scooter again, avoiding the big deep holes in the dirt track as we went, Shirina holding on tight and thinking I was a crazy driver. We made it back to a road and found our way back to where we were staying.

We asked the manager if she knew of any lagoon cruises we could take the next day, and she suggested some to us. We did not want to go on a cruise with a lot of people, we wanted a small group, and found one to go on, we booked our trip and were informed that we would be picked up at 8:30am the next day.

We were picked up by a 4x4 and taken to the wharf, jumped on the boat, only 10 people could go on the boat, just perfect, exactly how we wanted it. We headed out into the lagoon, and were taken to an island, far out, away from the main island. This island was called Honeymoon Island, and was absolutely amazing, it was basically all sand, and in the far distance, at the far end of the island, there was a little clump of trees. We were dropped off and told we could snorkel here for a few hours and that the operator would just go back and get our lunch and then meet us at the other end of the island.

We all put our masks and snorkels on and hopped into the water. What an underwater paradise, the fish were so friendly, swimming around us, all colours, it was like we were in one of those documentaries on TV, the bright fluoro colours, and then on the bottom there were Giant clams, their flesh again were different colours, some like tiger stripes, other camouflaged, what an underwater playground, time passed so fast.

Soon it was time to get started on the walk to the other end of the island, half way there and we start to wonder if we will ever get to the other end, its so far away, the sky is as blue as you can imagine, no clouds, the sun is hot, we all stop and have a drink of water, and then off we go again, finally reaching the clump of palm trees at the end, there is a little shelter, and just as we arrived, just like he would know, the operator pulls up in his boat and starts unloading little containers.

We have a beautiful lunch, made up of local food, and sit and chat for a while, before we all jump in the boat and head off across to the other side of the lagoon to one foot island, and have a quick stop there before heading back to the main land.

We had some tea from the place next door to where we were staying, and then sat on the beach, and watched the sun set, this place, this island, what a place, and beautiful friendly people.

The Next day, we spent at the place we stayed at, just relaxing, taking in the beauty, the amazing sites. We realised, that Aitutaki was a lot more relaxed than Rarotonga, and a lot hotter also. In the morning, you would get up, go have a shower ( cold ) and by the time you had made it back to your little hut, you felt like you needed another shower , as you were so hot again. Our first trip was spent mainly exploring the western side of the island, in a slow, relaxed style, which I would highly recommend to anyone who has the chance to do a trip like we did.

We caught our flight back to Rarotonga late in the afternoon, vowing to return on another trip. When we got back to Rarotonga, we found the water when we went swimming to be a lot cooler than in Aitutaki, and the temperature was a little cooler but still beautiful and warm.