South Pacific 2002: 5 - Rarotonga, Cook Islands

We were to arrive in Rarotonga at 11 AM and leave at 6 PM, but once again the ship was late in getting to our destination and the arrival time was advanced to noon. One of our fellow passengers had a pretty valid comment when he said that he could not understand why, over two nights and a day of passage, they could not speed up enough to have an 8 AM landfall and give us a day on these islands.

By the time we were cleared by immigration and the tenders were set up for disembarking it was 1 PM. We cannot get into the small harbour here, so the ship anchored just off the reef near the harbour and the tenders were to take us in. The crew really did not seem to have a great deal of experience or knowledge in the process of getting the tendering done. Eventually it was decided that the ocean swell was too great to manage, to the tender stood off until the ship could reposition to act as a breakwater. This required the moving of the loading platform to the other side of the ship, and occupied another hour. If the light sea here was causing problems, I don't think that we will do well at Pitcairn Island!

We finally made it to shore at 2:45 PM. Being a Saturday afternoon, compounded by the fact that the final rugby game was on between the Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea for qualification to advance to the next round for the world championship, virtually nothing was open. It mattered little that the largest cruise ship ever to call was here. We were also, I'm told, the only cruise ship to have stopped here this year.

Once on shore, there were no taxies, tourist cars with drivers or anything else to greet us. There were a couple of stands selling black pearls and sea shells, and that was it. In the area were three different car and motor bike rental places, all of which were closed in spite of the cars and motor bikes being on display in front. Chasing the almighty dollar is obviously not part of the lifestyle here!

As we worked our way down the street towards "downtown", we found that a fellow from England who was with two women from the USA was doing the same thing, so we took to trying the locked doors in turn, until we finally came to a shop selling souvenirs, jewellery and black pearls that was actually open. A discussion with June, the proprietress, revealed that she couldn't think of anywhere to rent a car, or get a car and driver, but that as she planned to be around until 5, she offered us her van.

We had tied up with the other three people by this point and as a group we gratefully accepted her offer. As June was much happier lending the vehicle to someone who was used to driving on the left side of the road as they do here, Nick, the Englishman, got to be chauffeur. There was plenty of space in the van for all of us, so away we went.

It turned out that Nick's group were well prepared for any eventuality. When we stopped at the first beach, it turned out that he had arranged for someone in the dining room to fill water bottles with white wine, and some of the bar staff to fill a bag with mixed nuts. He'd then made off with some glasses, so we drank and snacked in fine style.

The island is only 30 km around so we were able to be back in the appointed two hours, having made some stops, but not having had time to swim once again. The place really does run on a very relaxed and easy going schedule, though. We filled the van with diesel before returning it, purchased some "Cook Lager", the local beer, and got back only five minutes late.

The island is very mountainous in the interior with a flat area all around the outside. Some of the steep spires in the mountains are quite amazing. There is a reef surrounding the island quite close in, protecting miles of beautiful white sand beaches. In spite of the warm water, the swimming did not appear to be terrific as in most places the water was quite shallow out to the reef, and the sand had a lot of chunks of coral and rock on it. The island is covered with beautiful flowers and tropical vegetation.

According to local legend Polynesians have inhabited the island since about 500 AD, coming from the Marquises Islands via Tahiti. Although the islands are named after Captain Cook, he only made landfall at one small uninhabited island called Palmerston, and never did find Rarotonga. He also did not name the islands, although he charted some of them. The original Maoris of New Zealand sailed from Rarotonga to first populate New Zealand.

Having had to have the car back early, we had no problem boarding the ship on time. The sailing time had been set back by one hour due to the late departure time, more a financial decision than anything likely. The around the island tours with three people to a car were sold at $100 per person and it would have had to be refunded if the sailing time had not been extended.

Tomorrow will be another day at sea, followed by a morning exploration of the island of Taha-a-Motu Mahana and then anchoring at Bora Bora overnight and for the following day. Both these destinations are in French Polynesian. The weather has remained fine, and the seas calm.