Local wildlife...
The daily trips to the lagoon are organized by several local operators. They were all good, but we enjoyed most the smaller ones. Here with Captain Lawton from the Glass Bottom Boat, one of our favorites.
Relaxing in the gorgeous Aitutaki Lagoon Resort.
More unforgettable Pacific sunsets...
Another lagoon excursion - great swimming, great walks, great lunch, great company.
Sander's palm on honeymoon island. A small distance form the many other palms, mainly honeymooner’s. Aitutaki is a favourite with travel-happy newly weds...
Island night: island dancing and island lavo food. Many places have them on a weekly basis, but we have found and enjoyed most some of the more genuine ones, where locals came to eat and watch and take part in the dancing as well.
Tangaroa again, and our Captain with a local friend. In the morning, before our excursion, I commented how pretty her hair decoration was – and by the end of the day she turned up in the harbour with a gift for me, the same crown made from frangipani and tiare, gardenia, the national flower.
Flowers are a central part of the culture of the Cook Islands and are used by almost everyone, as decorations or worn in the hair and as a garland.
The red-tailed tropicbird, which the sailor calls the bo’s’n–bird and the Polynesians the amokura, or atavaké, is one of the more beautiful birds of the mid-Pacific.
We saw many of these medium sized white birds with their black eye marking and elegant long red tail streamers around Aitutaki. The Maori used to set a high a value on these long red tail-feathers.
"We watched the birds at every angle of flight, every rate of speed; not rarely they passed below us so swiftly that their plumes behind seemed but a diaphanous flash of strange brightness; sometimes more slowly in the sunlit air the hyaline red followed a ruddy haze, as a meteor’s radiance is shed astern. When floating with motionless wings, web, as well as shaft, were perfectly plain to the eye." -- Guthrie-Smith
Our Norwegian and local friends...
We met the children after the Sunday church service; the singing at the service, with its harmonies, was wonderful.
And again, everyone wanted to help with Sander. Everyone, everywhere, all the time. Even when he was grumpy. Their love for the children was overwhelming, in a purely good sense.
Exploring the island. We were warned about the mosquitoes in the Cook Islands – but they were not much of a problem on Rarotonga. Aitutaki was another matter…
Preparing for a canoe race.
Lounging on our beach with new friends. The water is shallow for hundreds of meters all the way to the reef, and it was so warm that we could sit in the water for hours, a book or beer in hand, small fish swimming all around us. On some days the water temperature was above 33 Celsius.
Sander preferred to sit in the large kitchen sink, and attempt to sink the kitchen. Alternatively, he'd sit on the terrace in his baby bath, enjoying the lagoon views.
Again, flowers everywhere. Flame trees were blossoming, so was the hibiscus and frangipani. The smell along the road was intoxicating.
Sunsets, our walking time.
Back in the lagoon...
Can you spot the baby?
An island all to oneself...
A local fisherman and his daughter.
And the local basketball team...
Back in the water - we could not keep out for long.
And this is how we will remember Aitutaki.
Indeed - he was... but he may later not forgive us for taking him there while he was too young to remember.
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Silvija Seres, December 2007