It takes 12 hours by plane to fly from Los Angeles to Cook Islands, in a uncomfortable plane, but still it's worth the pain. We enjoyed the landscape; mountains (or hills?) in the middle, great beaches at the sides and gorgeous lagoons in the shade of turquoise until the reef, where the waves hit the corals endlessly! o要 our first day we rented bikes and biked around the main island, Rarotonga (32km) ! After that (pain) we decided to go around with a scooter! Much more fun!
Local life is slower than in Europe, way slower, but you get used to it fast. Why would you want to hurry anyway.
You learn to take it easy, lay o要 the beach and go to swim when it gets too hot to cool down. And after day at the beach, you enjoy few coctails in a beautiful resort. We found it ideal to live in a youth hostel very cheaply and then use the 200euro/night resorts beaches, bars and entertainment.
U get the luxory, just sleep cheaper. | |  | |
After spending (enough) time in Rarotonga we headed to a smaller island, Aitutaki, by container ship (delivering goods, like coke and pigs) for 18 (LONG) hours. We were seasick the whole time! What misery! The waves were huge and I just felt my stomach moving up and down... up and down...
Aitutaki was great though. We had nice little beach bure in a place called Matriki, with small kitchen to cook and (cold water) showers. Was all we needed. Very peacefull and very recommended.
We did some snorkling witch I enjoyed a lot, went kayaking and swimming o要 resorts, had few
coctails and went to a lagoon cruise with a guy called David. Lagoon cruise was great and we had nice time: went to see the dolphins outside the reef, saw 4 different islands and snorkled outside the "honeymoon island". David showed us how to open a coconut with his bare teeth and offered great lunch too. Honeymoon island is great, u can walk to another island next to it o要 low tide! o要e foot island is the o要e you always hear about, but we didn't like it especially.
What a great day... and few days later we heard his boat had flipped around outside the reef and people were trapped under the boat and smashed against the coralreef... I guess we were lucky.
| | a day after our lagoon cruise
this is the official news from the cook island newspaper about our little lucky escape and the next days event :
Tourists 'lucky to survive' reef horror in Aitutaki 19 June: A group of tourists is 'lucky to be alive' after being dashed o要to the reef and trapped beneath their boat when a dolphin watching expedition in Aitutaki went terribly wrong.
The group of three young English women and a German couple all needed hospital attention after they suffered horrific coral cuts, bruises and other injuries when their launch flipped over in high seas o要 the reef at Papau.
The group were pounded o要to the reef and briefly trapped under the boat before scrambling across the razor sharp coral to safety as huge waves crashed over them.
One of the girls described how the water turned red with their blood as they tried to make it to shore.
Their lifejackets, which were torn to shreds in the accident, helped keep them afloat while they were trapped and protected them against even more serious injury.
The bloodied and terrified tourists were rescued by another boat and rushed to hospital by concerned locals.
One of the women, English tourist Rebecca Wood, was admitted to Aitutaki hospital with a broken arm, but she later discharged herself.
The group lost their possessions including cameras, passports, wallets and mobile phones in the accident but say they feel lucky to be alive after the lagoon trip, run by the unaccredited company Aitutaki Safari Tours, ended in horror o要 Sunday.
Yesterday the three English visitors were recovering back o要 Rarotonga, where they were still receiving medical attention for their wounds.
Wood, 28, said that the day had been "perfect" until skipper of the boat, David Nicholls, decided to head into open water to look for dolphins.
The group were handed lifejackets and the launch headed through the passage at Papau at around 4pm.
"I think he [Nicholls] realised that the waves were bad but he didn't say anything," said Wood.
"We turned around and tried to make re-entry back into the passage and I've been told he went 'oh my God we're going to turn', and the next moment I was underwater.
"I hadn't a clue what was going o要, all I remembered was this huge wave coming over us.
"I was pushed down twice and I resurfaced under the boat. Everyone was stuck under the boat and I was the last person to come to the surface."
She said that after she came up she could see the boat's propellers in front of her and could hear the other tourists screaming for her to get out. She thinks she broke her arm in the initial crash, but said she was not sure.
"Then we were scrambling across the reef, but the waves were so big that every time we tried to stand or sit up we were pushed back. The waves were coming high over us and I was doing somersaults across the coral.
"I was just trying to save my own life. We were getting thrashed across the coral left, right and centre."
The crew of another boat helped them to Papau motu and then ferried them to the landing near the Samade Bar o要 Aitutaki, from where they were rushed to hospital.
"I was in deep shock and we were all absolutely drenched in blood," said Wood. "But we were lucky to be alive."
She said that since the horrific accident she had received "nothing but kindness" from the people of Aitutaki and Rarotonga, but added that she was considering taking action against the tour operators who she accused of acting "irresponsibly".
The incident has been investigated by the police in Aitutaki, who say it is the second time a launch belonging to Aitutaki Safari, which is not listed in the phone book or known to the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, has been involved in an accident o要 the reef.
Senior Sergeant Tangaroa Vaikai said he was not happy about the incident but added that he was unable to take action against the operators.
"Our investigation has been completed," said Sgt Vaikai. "But we can't do anything at this point because there is no law in place.
"Luckily those people had lifejackets o要, but they received serious coral scratches and their property is all gone. They have very, very serious cuts. It could have been worse."
He said that although the boat had now been recovered the tourists' effects, including cameras and documents had yet to be found.
He revealed there had been a similar incident last year.
"We are not happy with the way they are taking people out when the sea is high. Our advice to tourists is not to go with them."
That advice was repeated by Cook Islands Tourism chief Chris Wong, who encouraged visitors to take trips with accredited operators who had to stick to safety guidelines.
David Nicholls, who was skippering the boat and was also injured, said he was "unable" to talk to Cook Islands News when contacted by phone. - J Harwood |
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