Hello,
We are from the UK and have been seriously looking at booking our honeymoon in the Cook Islands. We will be aiming for late June and early July and this has been recommended to us by the travel agents as they say although it is their winter it is the "drier" season. From reading up I can see the temperatures at this time are lower and what Id like to ask is will I be able to wear a bikini and have a good sunbathe ? When it rains at this time is it more like showers that clear quickly - or is it dark and drizzly for days on end like here in the UK?

Have also read some info on Dengue Fever outbreaks in rarotonga and was wondering what anyone thought about it and whether it should put us off going?

Any tips or advice most appreciated.
thanks!!

Hi, I might be able to help with some advice. Friends of mine have been to the Cooks Island. I just got back from Vanuatu (about the same latitude). We were there in mid June, and the weather was great, around 25-26 degrees, with 20 degrees overnight, and water temps - just yummie (we swam & snorkelled every day). Some days we walked in the shade of trees so as to not get sunburnt. Yes, June is a drier period, which means its not the cyclone season, and another thing the humidity is far less, in fact you don't notice it.
We met people who were talke anti malarial medicine (just in case), however, we hardly notice any mozzies, and just rubbed a bit of repellant on. I doubt that you would have any trouble with Dengue Fever, as the mozzie problem is mainly in the summer when they have heavy rain, and high humidity.
In Vanuatu we had one afternoon with showers, but only brief, then sunshine after that.
I think you are picking the "prime" time of the year to visit. Relatives of mine have been there, and just rave about the place.
Happy Honeymoon

Yep I agree with Trop - weather would be lovely. If you are worried about Dengue then make sure that you always have insect repellant which contains Deet.
I doubt you would get drizzle days like the UK.

Thanks ever so much for your replies! I cant wait to book - we are getting the quotes from our travel agent today! So hopefully I'll be able to sunbathe while my fiance wont find the heat too unbearable!

I'll remember the Deet repellant too thanks

Well, I usually warn people about the weather/water perhaps being a bit too chilly from them if they choose to go to the Cooks that time of year, but generally those are people coming from a warm climate area such that it will be cooler in the Cooks than it is at home.

Temperature is largely subjective, in other words a 60 F day in Chicago in January feels pretty darned warm whereas a 60 F day in late July would feel pretty chilly. For you, coming from the UK (where it is a cooler climate), I suspect you will find the Cooks to be delightful that time of year. If you were coming from Southern California then I would suspect otherwise, but from the UK, it should be great.

One additional note regarding the weather. Aitutaki is both sunnier and warmer, so if in any doubt about whether it will be warm enough for you then perhaps you should spend MOST of your stay on Aitutaki rather than Rarotonga. Aitutaki is almost certain to be warm enough for you.

Regarding rain - even during the "rainy" season, rainfall in the Cooks is MOSTLY in the form of hard but brief showers mixed with sunshine (and more often at night).

Finally, dengue is not really an issue at all during the "winter" months. It's USUALLY not even a problem in the "summer", but I can't recall ever hearing about a problem with dengue in the "winter".

Ken

Hello Pinksparle,
We are from the UK and Raratonga is one of our favourite places in the world. We have been twice in July/August and the weather was like a perfect UK summer's day both times (I know we don't get many of them these days in the UK!). We did experience some short, sharp showers, particularly on our second visit, but still got pretty good suntans. We are returning to the Cooks next Monday (can't wait!) but staying on Aitutuki (Etu Moana) this time, purely for a slightly different experience. We have stayed at Palm Grove, Raratonga previously and loved it. We have one night on Raro on our return and have booked the Sunset Beach Resort just to try it out as it gets really good reviews on Trip Advisor, but we would have been happy to return to Palm Grove.

Gaynor

Hi Pinksparkle. Just come over from the YAWY forum. glad you found Fodors as I suggested - I find it very useful!

I see there is another recommendation for Palm Grove - we loved it as you know!

Hope everyone's comments have put your mind at rest - let me know how you get on with your plans and see you back at YAWY!

Rosebery

Thanks for your replies! We are currently looking at staying at Sea Change for 7 nights and Pacific Resort Aitutaki for 5 nights.

Am sure coming from the UK its got to be hotter (i very much hope so!!!). Really want to get a nice tan while we are there!

Roughly how much do you reckon a meal out for two costs with drinks? Just to get a feel of how much spending money we'd need.
thanks for your help rosebery!

thanks xxx

We have just flown to Auckland on our way back from the Cooks. Etu Moana was a lovely resort on Aitutaki and we are glad that we stayed there. We visited the Pacific Resort and the Aitutaki Lagoon resort and felt that Etu Moana was right for us. The weather was great, but there are lots of mosquitos on Aitutaki (less on Raro). On our way back we stayed overnight at the Sunset Resort on Raro - OK but not a patch on Palm Grove in our opinion. Whilst Etu Moana on Aitutaki was lovely and more luxurious than Palm Grove on Raro, we would go back to Palm Grove if we return to the Cooks in the future.

Pinksparkle - on average, we found that it was quite a bit cheaper to eat out in the Cooks than in the UK, with even the most expensive main course dishes coming in at around the £8 - £9 mark. A bottle of one of the cheaper wines was around the £10 mark - a touch cheaper than the UK I guess, but not as much as I would have thought.

Bearing in mind the ease of getting to supermarkets (or not as the case may be!) we found it far easier and possibly cheaper too to eat out, than to cook in our bungalow.

Hope this helps

Rosebery x