Cook Islands (South Pacific Islands)

Looking out the window on this dreary Sunday makes me dream of some sunny beach somewhere in the Southern Seas. I have the most beautiful lagoon of the world in my mind, Bora Bora of the Society Islands, vulgo Tahiti. Or maybe number two - Aitutaki of the Cooks.

We are sitting in a small Brazilian made "Embraer Bandeirante" cruising in low altitude across tranquil Southern Pacific waters. It is only a 50 minute flight from Rarotonga, the main island of the Cooks, to the magnificent lagoon of Aitutaki. As we approach the 3 km long landing strip, that used to be an U.S. airforce base in WW II, we can make out the white breakers on the reef and the iridescent shades of turquoise right below…

There is even a nine hole golf course with fairways and greens quite differently "groomed" than the likes of Pebble Beach or Augusta, if not to say consisting mainly of a certain semi-rough. Well, we didn´t come here to play golf so on we went into our "Lagoon Resort", the only one on this small island which otherwise offers just a few beds in a couple of **hotels.

The bungalow for 3 nights was spacious and had a large terrace facing the lagoon. The first night made us gape with awe when looking at the starry sky of the down under hemisphere with the "Southern Cross" clearly to make out.

In the morning we were off for the most famous spot in Aitutaki lagoon: One-Foot-Island. These little specks of sand with palmtrees are called "motus" and this one has the shape of a footprint when viewed from the air. The crew handed us mask, snorkel and fins and then we dived down into a colourful world of tropic fish, which had been lured by skipper Leo with some chunks of food from the lunch he was preparing.

One Japanese woman he handed a carcass of a tuna and right after she had stepped off the vessel swarms of hundreds of fish circled her and tried to get hold of some tuna-bits. She was really stunned and started yelling in despair while dropping the carcass. Everybody thought she had been nibbled by some predator but soon our group had a good laugh and Leo excused himself for having not told her what to expect twinkling boldly with his right brow…

Snorkeling around for more than an hour had gotten us hungry and we wolfed down the delicious grilled tuna with herbs, vegetables and rice accompagnied by a well chilled New Zealand Steinlager. Siesta time we spent in the shade of some coconut tree, carefully avoiding the ones that were loaded with fruit. My wife and I could have enjoyed that laid back atmosphere for days, but one hour before sunset we boarded the catamaran and on the way to our resort Leo and his crew made local music with real primitive instruments and sung their lovely tunes.

At night we had an after dinner show with the "special island night" performed by some thirty young dancers, drummers and singers with the enthusiasm of a Caribbean steelband while their parents were looking on and cheering any single performance.

Our last day we rented a small Suzuki 4 wheel drive and drove for 2 hours on every meter of the few roads there exist. We watched kids in school, were welcomed in backyards, had a chat with local fishermen and drove right to the top of the hill having a magnificent 360° view of this island in paradise – Aitutaki.

Getting to the Cooks is easy by Air New Zealand either from Auckland or Los Angeles via Tahiti. You may book the flight to Aitutaki right at the Raro AP (and look out for cheaper fares during the day), there are several daily, except on Sunday which is THE real quiet day in all the Cook Islands, there are also packages together with hotel accommodation.

I had a special Round-the-World ticket from Star Alliance, that was around € 1800 and from the many miles flown we had our next trip to Spain earned already.

Infos on accommodation and flight schedules can be found in the web, just fill in "Cook Islands" in your Google search engine and you´ll find yourself in an instant in the ever romantic South Pacific.