way2blue
I love to snorkel—so after colleague cautioned years ago now that coral reefs were in serious decline—I explore tropical reefs whenever I can. The Cook Islands are fairly remote, midway between Tonga & Samoa to the west and Tahiti to the east, thus somewhat protected from catastrophic ocean warming. As with most (all?) of the South Pacific island chains, Rarotonga’s volcanic interior formed over a mantle hotspot. Persistent mantle plumes form series of seafloor volcanos as a consequence of the Pacific oceanic plate moving northward toward the Aleutian Islands that subside below the sea surface with time (same as the Hawaiian Island chain).
We joined two excursions on Rarotonga. The ‘culture night’ one was recommended by the Maori staff where we were staying. Words & photos can’t do it justice. We first walked to an ancient sacred platform of stones and our host/MC sketched the history of his ‘tribe’. He is a descendent of the first wife of the last tribal chief (who had four wives till the missionaries showed up and told him he could only have one). This highland tribe was always feuding with the tribe across the valley. The warriors took part in ritual cannibalism, meant to both humiliate the dead foe and also to capture his spirit.
On The Road – way2blue – Rarotonga, Cook Islands [2 of 2]Post + Comments (14)