We have just arrived back on Rarotonga after spending the last few days on the island of Aitutaki. A beautiful lagoon surrounded island about 45 minutes northwest of Rarotonga by plane. The pace is slower, the people absolutely fantastic, and the diving and snorkeling were incredible.

We arrived after midnight on Sunday (early Monday a.m.) on the 'Red-Eye' flight. We were driven to a lovely place called 'Paradise Cove' where we had a room in the main house which we wouldn't exactly call paradise; we had a night visitor that prompted us to muse, 'We're going to need bigger geckos!' But the beach side bungalows seemed impressive. They were also $160NZ (about $120 US) per night. Not exactly within our travel budget.

The 'Cove' is run by a native of the Cook Islands and her husband a transplanted US ex-pat. She was a genuinely nice and warm woman we wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. And he was a victim of the Nixon administration. Very interesting!

We woke up the next morning and Val took a lagoon cruise while I went diving. As far as the diving went, it was sooo much nicer than Rarotonga. The coral is much healthier and colorful and there are a lot more fish of all sizes. On my second dive we came upon a huge (at least 30) school of spotted eagle rays. Unfortunately, the visibility was a bit cloudy in the area they were hanging around, but the photo I took shows at least 15-20 of them. We also saw a few very large turtles which I got some photos of.

The lagoon cruise was a very relaxing tour around several of the smaller islands within the lagoon. Puna, our host on the Aitutaki Adventure boat, was one of the most genuinely gracious people I've ever met. Thankful that we chose to spend our day with him, and he meant it! Several of the other tour operators had larger glitzy operations, but I must admit I really enjoyed the personal attention afforded the 8 of us on board. First we went to a lovely snorkeling spot just off Honeymoon Island. Perfect because in fact we had a couple on their honeymoon on board. I spoke with one of the other guests who as it turns out had been in the Cook Islands 40 years previous. He was a well respected "papa" (elder) who had come to the islands as a missionary back in the '60s. Very interesting fellow indeed. We had the loveliest lunch served to us on a beach on 'One Foot Island.' When you see pictures, you'll know why. It is the perfect representation of a foot from above. The snorkeling again was great. If you get a chance to go to this little island in the Cooks, don't make the mistake I did. Take your passport with you. One Foot Island has a post office where they will stamp your passport as a memento of your stay. Kitschy, yes, but what stamps do you have in your passport? This was an opportunity missed!

Yesterday we rented a scooter so we could see the entire island. This took about 1/2 hour :) We tried to snorkel from shore but after walking almost a quarter mile, the water was still only up to our waists. It was still OK. There were lots of healthy heads of coral with lots of juvenile fish swimming amongst them. This is a good sign. We also went to an Island Night last night. For anyone who has even been to Hawaii, it is similar to a Luau, but on an island with only 1600 people, it is pretty authentic and on a much less grandiose (read pretentious) scale. The dancing was great! The singing heavenly! The village group that performed for us included 3 sets of dancers, a dozen 'mamas' singing and 5 or 6 fellows on traditional drums. One group of dancers had 7 young children, two boys and 5 girls. The youngest girl couldn't have been older than 4-5 and basically just stood there looking pretty scared about the whole thing. The other kids were very good, but you could tell they were still learning. The other 2 dance groups were made up of 5-6 men and 5-6 women. They rotated dances, some mixed and some segregated. All in all, it was a fun evening. We had dinner with a couple from Finland that were on a two month around the world trip. Their route was quite different than ours. Finland-NYC-Machu Pichu-Cook Islands-New Zealand-Australia-SE Asia and then home. They are planning a year long trip in 5-7 years. Best of luck to them. We know it's possible if they make it their dream :)

That's about it

Until next time, Happy Trails,

E & V