Sunday Day
16 – Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Val and I were up bright and early this morning to watch our arrival at
Rarotonga. It was a beautiful sunny
morning except for the large cloud hanging over the island, there was even a
rainbow hanging over one end. We were
soon anchored outside the harbor and the tenders were being unloaded as today
would be another tender day as the harbor was much too small for a ship of our
size. The island looked wonderful and we
couldn’t wait to get ashore. Today we
were going on Captain Tama’s Muri Lagoon trip arranged by Barb of our Cruise
Critic roll call.
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| Arriving in Roratonga |
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| Tendering gets underway. |
Before I go on with our day, here is a little background on Rarotonga in
the Cook Islands. It is the largest and
most well-known of the thirteen Cook Islands.
A quote from the guide book says. “It is doubtful a more idyllic island
paradise exists – all the alluring scenes described in the ‘Tales of the South
Pacific’ can be found in this round Garden of Eden. The town retains the nostalgic atmosphere of
an old South Sea trading port and has been fairly unaffected – even with a rise
in tourism during the past few decades.
There are no high-rise hotels, no beach buggies and no traffic
jams.” From our viewpoint from the
balcony as the island came into view, it looked like this might be true. The island has mountains in the interior
which slope down to the beaches and lagoons.
The language is English and the currency is the New Zealand dollar.
After a quick breakfast, we met our Cruise Critic “roll call” group and
were shortly on our way to the tender for the short trip ashore. Once on the pier, the open-air buses from
Captain Tama’s were waiting for us and we were soon on our way to Muri
Lagoon. It was about a half hour’s drive
to Muri Lagoon where we checked-in and climbed aboard one of the two glass
bottom boats that were waiting for us.
After a scenic cruise across the lagoon we reached a spot where we would
be able to snorkel. This would be our
first try at snorkeling so we were pretty excited. It turned out to be a wonderful experience, swimming
in the warm, clear water of the lagoon
and seeing all the beautiful fish and coral was amazing. The guides on the boat were great, giving out
information on the lagoon, the local area and culture, as well as entertaining
us by singing and playing the ukulele.
After snorkeling we climbed back on the boats and made our way back
across the lagoon to a motu (small island) where lunch was set up for us. It was an excellent lunch of fresh fruit,
salads and barbecued fish. After lunch
we were free to wander around, swim and enjoy the beautiful setting. The entertainment consisted of local music, a
demonstration on the process of getting the milk and meat out of coconuts, and
a few other things. Val and I spent most
of the time exploring the island, wading in the lagoon, and of course taking
many, many pictures. There were others
in the lagoon snorkeling, kayaking, swimming and enjoying the beautiful day. There
were also several local dogs really having a great time wading in the water and
trying to catch fish. The weather was absolutely perfect with mild temperatures
and humidity. Being near the equator it
was pretty warm in the sun, but it was very pleasant in the shade provide by
the many trees and a stiff breeze also cooled things down.
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| Lunch is being prepared for us. |
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| We're not sure what these slug like things were, but they were everywhere in the shallow water and we had to be careful not to step on them |
All too soon it was time to catch our boat back to shore and make our way
back to the ship. Back on the dock we
walked around and looked at the booths set up by locals selling their wares. By that time it was getting late and we
didn’t want to miss the last tender back to the ship. Being Sunday, most of the restaurants and
shops were closed as even the allure of tourist dollars didn’t make them break
with tradition.
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| The Westerdam anchored in the harbor. |
Back on the ship we washed the salt off ourselves and our gear and then
rested until dinner. As I say every day
– after a good dinner and time in the casino, it was off to our room ending
another great day. I will say that Val
had a good night in the casino, I was jealous.
Tomorrow is our last sea day before our string of ports.
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| We say goodbye to Rarotonga as the sun sets. |
