second time around

I’m slowing it down a bit now. Saturday night I eased into Rarotonga and the hotel transport was nowhere to be seen. I checked in with the Air Rarotonga office to see if my vouchers were there. They weren’t. When I got to Rarotonga last Monday they had for no apparent reason sent my vouchers on to Atiu and said I should get them when I arrived there. But when I got to Atiu and asked, they said they had sent them back to Rarotonga on the earlier flight but that they would get them sent on the next flight, Wednesday which is the same flight I am catching to Aitutaki. The Wednesday flight didn’t have them and I almost missed the plane while the Air Raro guy had me in the office on the phone with the door closed. Fortunately my host at the Atiu Villas, Roger came running around to the window yelling, “your flight is taking off!!”. We flagged down the pilot who opened the door back up and I got on. Off to Aitutaki and when I left there on Saturday I asked and she said, “oh yes, we had them and sent them back to Rarotonga.” So I guess my vouchers have done more traveling than I have. A friendly shuttle driver was taking a bus load of Tahitians to their hotel near mine and gave me a lift to the place.

Sunday is a day of rest in the Cook Islands, and I did enjoy it. Monday afternoon I had a much better two tank dive. Visibility was good, and we saw lots of things; turtles, a huge octopus, lion fish, trigger fish, Scorpion fish and even a white tip reef shark which are fairly odd to see at this end of the island. There are plenty of Kiwis (New Zealanders) here and they are a very friendly lot. I was invited to share tables and just generally taken in and chatted with. I have gotten two invitations to “stay with us when you get to New Zealand, here is my card, please call.”

Tuesday I rented a scooter and cruised around the island. They are having a week long “Constitution Celebration.” I missed the parade on Saturday, but all week they are having competitions of teams from each island showing off dance, singing and chanting. When I stopped at the “trade days” booths for shopping and eating I ran into several of the folks I had met in Aitutaki; Dave and Elizabeth from snorkeling and even the German mom and daughter from Atiu and again from Aitutaki. We had a wonderful curry chicken “family” lunch.

That evening I went to the competition and was blown away. The teams were each around 30 to 50 singers/dancers which is incredible when you think about how small the population is on some of the outer islands (500-1000). The performances were spectacular, interesting design and choreography to express the theme: The signs of my community/Island. Three hours of a great show. Then I rode my scooter back to the hotel, the headlight was less than one might hope, but there was enough traffic and some occasional streetlights so I made it in one piece. The speed limit is 40, but thats in kilometers per hour which is about 25 miles per hour.

Wednesday’s morning dive was even better, I was a little iffy in the stomach when I got up and couldn’t decide if it was the roasted chicken, the curry chicken or the Island version of Jim Beam (at least the bottle looked the same, though the liquid was a little pale). But I am glad I went anyway. We went to the south end of Rarotonga and six of us plus two crew took the six foot wide boat out through the winding seven foot wide reef passage in the breaking surf. The dives were great, 100 foot visibility and a good group to dive with. A spotted eagle ray just kept circling right below me for my last 3 minute safety stop, very nice.

Wouldn’t you know the transport out to the airport was as good as it was coming in. I went to the desk at 2:15 PM and was told the ride would be there at 2:30. Saw and said goodbye to the Italian newlyweds. At 2:35 I asked them to call, as they told me they were not booked to take me to the airport, it was another transport. They were “looking for the driver.” I explained the situation again and they called Another team, the Raro Tours again! Lynne showed up and took me to the airport, even though I didn’t have any voucher to give her. She explained that this happens a lot with JetSave, and Gaynor in particular. She says yes, yes, yes but doesn’t get it booked. I got to the airport, and checked the bag, went to the departure bank and paid the $55 departure tax, did the security line, (oops fill out the papers first) then scanned me. My hip didn’t make the hand scanner beep, but I wasn’t arguing. Stand in the left emigration line only to be told “Tahiti is the other line.” A sign would have been nice. Finally in the departure area with six minutes to spare. Duty free anyone? 1.25 liter Jim Beam $20 but now I have $19.20 left in New Zealand/Cook Island dollars. I thought about pan handling for a buck, but noticed a second duty free shop and lo and behold they had Early Times whiskey for $18!!! SOLD. The plane ride was smooth, a bunch of teenagers were returning to Tahiti after a visit to Rarotonga. They were happy and singing. There was also a little girl, maybe 3 or so who wandered the aisle and was fine leaning on my leg and looking around.
The Cook Islands were thought to be settled by people from French Polynesia. Their languages are very close, and the people share a very close connection with each other. The dancing, drums and other culture aspects are very similar, so there is a lot of visiting back and forth. That explains why the domestic airline Air Tahiti flies to and from Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
A smooth meet at the airport, transfer to the Intercontinental Tahiti Resort and into my room. Quite the posh place, a huge pool with waterfall, lagoonaria for swimming and tonight on their “motu” is the Heiva celebration, a mini version of the cultural festival that was on the island the past week. I had some dinner and now am getting ready for my trip over to Rangiroa tomorrow.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 4th, 2011 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.