Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

This really is a full service blog.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / Cook Islands / On The Road – way2blue – Aitutaki, Cook Islands [1 of 3]

On The Road – way2blue – Aitutaki, Cook Islands [1 of 3]

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way2blue

The 15 islands of the Cook archipelago stretch across ~1400 kms of the South Pacific.  They were first settled around 1000 AD by Polynesians thought to have migrated from Tahiti, ~1100 km to the ENE.  Aitutaki is the second most populated of archipelago, at ~1500 residents (Rarotonga has ~15,000).  Aitutaki also has a volcanic center albeit much more modest.  The island is horseshoe-shaped with inner and outer lagoons.  We stayed at a small resort facing the inner lagoon.  The husband In the bungalow next to ours headed out to fly fish every morning (intending to catch & release bone fish).  Very confusing for me as there aren’t any fly hatchings to speak of.  Found out he runs a fishing lodge in Alaska…

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AITUTAKI

I swear the propeller is attached to the engine.

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Ootu Beach

We weren’t staying near the main village, Arutanga, which faces the outer lagoon.  Nonetheless there were a few restaurants within walking distance plus a coffee shop which sold WiFi vouchers.  Our resort promised bicycles, but they were all in a repair shop.  Tried to rent a bicycle elsewhere to no avail.  ‘Fortunately’ our resort also rented motor scooters.  No helmets of course…

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Private Island

My favorite restaurant was on Private Island.  Which has a little ferry for crossing the channel.  You stand on the bank & wave for the ferry to come for you.  Very high-end resort which welcomed riffraff such as us.  The waiters here, as was common on Rarotonga, are Fijian with their traditional black sarongs.  I kept telling them how—when in Fiji years ago—I was struck by how happy Fijians are.  Walking down the street arm-in-arm, singing.  The waiters looked a bit skeptical.

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Private Island

A view from our table across the channel to the inner lagoon.

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Private Island

The dinner menu changed nightly.  This night (actually our last night), I chose Coconut Curry with goat.

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Aitutaki Golf Club

The motor scooter did allow us to explore the entire island.  Here, the golf course adjacent to the airport.

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Tai Roto Bay

Watch your toes…

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Island Hopping

We booked one excursion on Aitutaki—an island & snorkeling cruise in this little craft.  Just five passengers with Cap’t Cook as our skipper.  Perfect…

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Island Hopping

A map of the stops on our outer lagoon excursion.  I guess the island isn’t really horseshoe shaped.  More like a protozoa with a very long flagellum.  The lagoon is roughly triangular shaped, with small bits of islands (motu) defining its eastern rim.

Reader Interactions

9Comments

  2. 2.

    Chris T.

    I swear the propeller is attached to the engine.

    Camera shutters do weird things with revolving items (wagon wheels, airplane propellers, etc).

  4. 4.

    Butch

    Aitutaki was without question the best vacation of my life.  I’ll never forget walking along the beach, going back to our hotel, after dinner at a restaurant called Te Vaka, which I believe translates as The Canoe. The moon was shining, the waves were crashing on the shore, the air smelled of tropical flowers….the whole experience was incredible.

  8. 8.

    way2blue

    @eclare: That’s kinda a long story.  My spouse wanted to visit the South Pacific, and I said ‘fine, as long as it was somewhere I hadn’t already been’.  So we flailed a bit since I’d already visited several Tahitian islands and the main Fijian island.  Then my SIL came to the rescue, telling me that she’d loved the Cook Islands when they’d visited 10 years ago…  Plus Hawaiian Airlines just started a route to Rarotonga direct from Honolulu with a fairly low cost airfare.

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