The Charm of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific

 

Cook Islands

DAYS 26-29 -  Captain James Cook discovered many islands in the South Pacific, and our cruise included stops at three of these small, beautiful and charming islands, Rarotonga, Niue and Tonga on Sunday through Thursday, January 30th to February 3rd.  Nearly 170 islands are located within the Cook Islands and Tonga Islands area; many are not inhabited.

What happened to February 2nd?  Well, we lost that day (Wednesday) as we ventured across the International Date Line!

All of these islands are very laid back, extremely friendly, and self supporting with all of the fishing, chickens, fruits, and vegetables that are found all over each island.  Coconuts, bananas, mangos, avocados, papaya, pineapple, and melons are everywhere.  The islanders have small markets in the center of harbor villages, and many just sell their surplus from little stands in front of their homes.  Another wonderful feature…almost all of these Cook Islands have no snakes or poisonous creatures of any kind!

We particularly enjoyed Rarotonga Island.  It has magnificent mountains with dense rain forests, thousands of flowers of every hue, white sand beaches and turquoise bays all around the island formed by protective coral reefs.  We could not dock at several of these islands because of these barrier reefs, so our cruise ship anchored off the coast and ran our tender boats back and forth to shore all day long so we could explore each island at our own pace.  We saw many darling one-story beach condos and apartments that could be rented for $800 - $1,000 per month, all with direct access to the sandy beaches in front of them.

To see these islands you can take one of two buses that travel the perimeter roads on these islands.  They travel clockwise, and counter-clockwise, every hour…it was so easy to get on and off these buses to explore these islands.

When we leave the Cook Islands we will be traveling south/southwest for two days to arrive in Auckland, New Zealand on Sunday, February 6th…marking the first month of our cruise which left Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on January 5th.  We will be stopping at many ports on the North and South islands of New Zealand, taking us more than 10 days to explore.

Here are a few selected photos from the charming Cook Islands:

Looking back at our anchored ship, ms Amsterdam, from the shores of Rarotonga Island.

One of the Cook Islanders who greet cruise guests as we arrive…Larry enjoys this part…they all seem to be this beautiful!

The Governor’s Palace on Rarotonga Island.  You can see the beautiful weather we are having this entire trip…no rain storms or rough seas during the entire first month of our voyage!

Thunderous “blow holes” along the coral coastline sound just like a stallion snorting as they explode high into the air on the island of Tonga.

Look closely at the black spots in this photo…those are fruit bats asleep and hanging upside down in the trees during the day!  They have a two-foot wing span and they help with island plant pollination, along with the island’s honey bees that create some of the world’s most treasured natural honey nectar.  Photo is from Tonga Island.

We were fascinated with the Tapa Cloth designs created by island artisans who pound tree bark to paper thin thickness and then apply natural dyes with brushes made from seed pods.