Booberrycrunch

Message: We just returned from an 8 day trip to Rarotonga and Aitutaki. Here are my humble observations/opinions:

Rarotonga -
Both the island and the water were beautiful. Not too crowded at all. Great (and I mean GREAT) snorkeling on the SE part of the island. Too many stray animals...it kind of broke my heart.

Muri Beachcomber: We rented a Watergarden Villa and were very pleased. It was set back off the beach, and very private. The hotel was immaculate and we had the whole place virtually to ourselves. The king bed and air conditioned bedroom were a welcome relief after a hot, active day.
Overall - B+

Sails Restaurant: The food here was rather delicious! I had the tuna over taro mash and it was cooked beautifully.
Overall - B+

Flame Tree: The food was good. However, I had an issue with the male manager (owner maybe?) of the restaurant. While we were dining, a little, and I mean LITTLE kitten (too little to be away from its mom) came walking and meowing up the sidewalk toward the restaurant. The manager went out, grabbed the kitten by the scruff and literally dropped it over a very tall wooden fence. Making sure I didn't rush to judgement, after eating, I asked the man what he did with that kitten. He said "I dropped it over the fence." I asked "Oh, does it live there?" He said coldly "I didn't ask." So stunned, I went out and sure enough that little kitty was meowing its head off on the other side of this fence. Thank GOD a local girl came by, and together we got that little scamp out. The local girl promised me she and her mom would take it in to the shleter the next morning (or I would have). I'm no animal rights freak, but I found this man's actions to be inhumane and unfeeling.
Overall: F-

Aitutaki -
Amazing, amazing, amazing. The lagoon is absolutely HUGE and more beautiful than I could have imagined.

Are Tamanu: We stayed in the honeymoon bungalow. It was worth it! We had a great room with a great view. The beach here is gorgeous. The snorkeling was also very, very good. The property was beautiful and the pool and the bar were both very well kept. The people were SO nice!
Overall - A+

Cafe Tupuna: What a place! You'll never dine anywhere as cute as this little open air restaurant with a sandy floor.
Overall - A

Pacific Resort: Best food on the island, but expensive. It was so good, we ate there twice and went to island night there.
Overall - A+

Bishops Lagoon Cruise: Total blast! The two guys who led the cruise were very, very funny! The snorkeling was great and the motus.... oh, One Foot Island.... you will forever haunt me with your clear blue waters!
Overall - A+

Thanks for reading.

LordBalfor

Glad you had a great time. The Cooks are indeed terrific and your report brought back some very nice memories (thanks!).

Another thumbs-up for the Are Tamanu on Aitutaki. LOVED that view from the balcony of the honeymoon bungalow and REALLY LOVED the snorkeling. Had a couple of memoriable moments there including one when a huge school of fish swarmed past me as I was wading/snorkeling in chest-deep water. The were all around me, not touching, but remaining within inches as they streamed past me in a seemingly endless mass. I dove in and swam along with them until the last one finally left me far behind. Just magic!

Ken

Auntylynne

Booberrycrunch -

Thanks for a great report. Brings back the fond memories of last year's Cook Island vacation. It was the first trip my husband and I had ever taken outside the U.S. What a culture shock that was. For the first time, we were the ones whose accents people had a hard time with.

Cafe Tupuna was such a good restaurant. I'm glad the American guy at the Airport gave us the flyer on the restaurant. The night after we ate there, we saw the woman who runs the place setting up the lunch for Bishop Tours. Such a small little island. I think the scariest part of eating at Cafe Tupuna was trying to find our way back in the dark on our rented scooter. What an adventure that was!

Thanks for taking time to post a report. I didn't know about this board last year or I would have posted one too! This year Costa Rica, next year, Fiji!!!

SimoneSassett

Hey, booberrry!!!! I'm so glad you had a good time! I hope your wedding was a spectacular day, too!

We spent many evenings at the bar at the Pacific Resort with the owner of Cafe Tupuna. He's quite a character! Imagine ditching everything in the US and living so carefree in the Cook Islands. He definitely streamlined his life! LOL

Promise me that you put some pics in your knottie bio...

simpsonc510

I will be visiting Cook Islands, Tahiti, and Bora Bora in a little over a month. I have a question.

How far from Raro is Aitutaki? Is it a do-able "day trip" from Raro? Can you go by boat?

What, other than snorkeling/diving, do you do with your time in the islands? Frankly, I'm looking forward to just chilling out. We'll be in the islands after a 2 week stay in Australia.

Thanks.
Carol

LordBalfor

Simpsonc510 -

Aitutaki is a little under 1 hours' flight from Rarotonga and day trips are available. Here are some links to companies offering such trips:

http://pacific-for-less.com/cipck1.s...taki%20Daytrip

http://www.jetsave.co.ck/aitutaki_island.htm

http://www.cookpages.com/AirRaroday/

All day trips fly via Air Rarotonga:

http://www.airraro.com/

There are freighers that travel between the islands, but they are infrequent and their schedules unreliable. Unless you are are planning to spend a number of months in the Cooks, air travel is the only realistic way to get around.

Rarotonga is modern and fairly well developed, with many restaurants, shops and plenty of touristy things to do like 4x4 tours, lagoon cruises etc - yet still quiet and laid-back enough to be peaceful and relaxed. A pretty much perfect combination in my opinion.

Aitutaki is much less developed and remote feeling (though I understand that they actually have a cash machine there now). Not much to do there but play in the water and tour the motus - of course both of those things are INCREDIBLE experiences and should NOT be missed.

Ken

simpsonc510

Ken,
I appreciate your response. Maybe a day trip to Aitutaki... then again, maybe not. We are going to play it by ear and just relax! We only have a few days in the Cooks, then off to Tahiti and Bora Bora. The 4 x 4 tour and a lagoon cruise sound wonderful though!

I've read about minor food problems?? Do you have any suggestions for do's/don't's re:what to eat? We like seafood and assume there will be plenty of it in the islands.

I'll be sure to file my report after I return home. Thanks!
Carol

LordBalfor

Carol - The only food issue to be concerned with there is ciguatera - a type of food poisoning that comes from eating fish caught within an islands' lagoon. It's pretty common thoughout the region, but ALL of the restaurants are well aware of the issue and you can rest assured that fish served in these places will NOT be from the lagoons. Other than that, you will find that you do NOT generally need to be concerned about the food. I do recommend bottled water - not because the local water is inherently bad, but just because your body would need some time to acclimate to it and your stay in these places is brief.

As a general rule, food in the Cooks is not really all that wonderful - especially compared to French Polynesia where we found the food to be fanastic. It's not bad food, it's just not all that exceptional.

Also - a couple of things:

1) Aitutaki and Bora Bora are somewhat similar in regards to the fact that the dominant feature of both is the awesome beauty of their lagoons and the magic of their motus. Bora Bora however is much more developed whereas Aitutaki will give you the feeling of being on a very remote tropical island. These are, in truth 2 of the most exotic and beautiful places on earth and both are worth checking out.

Rarotonga and Moorea "feel" sort of similar as well - though again, slightly different. While on Tahiti, I would try very heard to take at least a day-tip over to Moorea (you can take a short, relatively inexpensive ferry).

All told, these 4 islands are what Arthur Frommmer (the travel writer) proclaims to be the 4 most beautiful islands in the South Pacific. I would guess he's probably right.

Ken

simpsonc510

Thanks to everyone here on this board, the Australia/Cook Islands/Tahiti/ Bora Bora trip was absolutely great!

I did do the day trip from Raro to Aitutaki and loved it. Thanks for the information about it. The boat ride on the lagoon there was so peaceful! The next time I visit the Cooks, I'll try to spend a couple of nights on Aitutaki, maybe at the Pacific Resort.

I enjoyed the Cooks more than Tahiti and Bora Bora, mostly because I thought the people there were much friendlier. Also, Raro and Aitutaki are not as commercialized as French Polynesia. (No McDonalds, or any other chain for that matter)

Don't get me wrong, Bora Bora is gorgeous! You could definitely find a place there to relax and read a good book, but you would hear the traffic on the street, dogs barking, boom boxes in cars going by, etc. I was disappointed in that aspect of it.

Booberry... I also ate at Sails restaurant and enjoyed it. It was a very short walk down the beach (or along the road) from the Pacific Resort.

Melissajoy

I want to visit the Cook Islands and New Zealand (or Australia) with my husband in late September 2005.

Can anyone tell me how long the flight is from San Diego or Los Angeles to the Cook Islands, and then from the Cook Islands to New Zealand?

I have started researching on-line but I can't find info about those flight times.

Lots of good info on this posting...thanks for sharing!

Cook Islands sound very beautiful and not too built up. does anyone know if one of the other islands would be more convenient for someone flying from San Diego to the island and then going on to Australia or New Zealand?

Auntylynne

Melissajoy -

We flew last year from LAX directly to the Cooks. I believe the flight from LAX to Tahiti (you have to have this stop over for whatever reason) was about 12 hours. You hang out in Tahiti for about 2 hours I think and then from there its another hour and a half. Whatever it was... It was long. Worth every minute once you get to the islands.

We didn't go to New Zealand so can't answer that. Fly New Zealand Air if you can. We bought our tickets from a travel agent in Hawaii. I wish I had her name. She is somehow affiliated with Castaway Beach Villas/Muri Beachcomber hotels I think. We had a pkg quoted including air with these properties but didn't do the pkg thing afterall and ended up booking our flights through the travel agent only. I wish I had her #, but at least contacting these properties is a start.

Here is another source I found on Yahoo when trying to give you more details. They specialize in travels to the Cook Islands and New Zealand. Maybe they can give you a good fare or package.

email: [email protected]
Telephone: 800-576-7327, Colorado, USA

Good luck and happy travels!

Kiwi_acct

Hi Melissa

I can help you with that question regarding Cook Island flight times. It is about a 4 to 4.5 hours (Winds permitting) flight from Rarotonga to Auckland. BTW most flights from Raro leave in the wee small hours and get to NZ in the early AM. A good flight to catch a few zzzzz's on

Cheers

Steve