Back on Rarotonga, we were picked up by our accommodation for the last 2 nights of our trip, Rarotonga Backpackers.  We were staying at the beachside (they also have a hillside location) and the waterfront bungalow ($80 US per night) was beautiful. The bungalows are up on stilts, with an unobstructed view of the ocean, framed by palms.  The sound of the surf could easily be heard through the window, as the reef is so close in (as compared to Aitutaki, where the reef is far out from shore). There is a small swimming pool outside the common area.

  Inside the recently built unit, there was a hot water shower, complete furnished kitchen (but oddly enough missing a microwave). Outside on the balcony there was a gas grill.  This would have been a beautiful setup had we been there for longer, or had it been sunny. 

The only negatives for the room were the fierce presence of ants at the smallest bit of left food, and the lack of privacy in some of the room because of a missing curtain in the kitchen area looking straight out towards the pool.  (All the bungalows were missing this curtain, I guess they just forgot to order enough curtains!)

It rained both days we were in Rarotonga.  Not a light rain, either – more of a torrent downpour interrupted by brief periods of lighter rain.  

The following day, our last chance for sun in Aitutaki, didn’t pan out much better than the previous days, unfortunately.  Gray and overcast. However, we were fortunate that the lagoon cruise we had arranged ( Glass Bottom Boat Cruise) turned out to be a private cruise around the lagoon: all other guests had cancelled last minute, but the owner decided to run the cruise anyways.  Given the cost of gas, we’re sure he didn’t make any money ferrying the two of us around, but it was a great treat for us anyways, and hopefully we’ll drive a little business his way with this review.  The cruise cost us $65 US per person.

The tour comprised several parts. Turtle and ray viewing outside the lagoon, 2 snorkeling stops, a BBQ lunch of fresh  fish on the boat, and a stop on Honeymoon Island for swimming and photos. Usually, his cruise stops at One Foot Island, but it (and several other motus) had been taken over by the production of Survivor: Cook Islands.

We started out with a 1 hour cruise outside the lagoon. A word of warning: The sea can get pretty rough, and I was glad I’d brought dramamine (motion sickness tablets).  I wish I’d taken them farther in advance however.

The glass bottom was very clean, and we saw several turtles underwater, as well as surfacing next to the boat.  He said that such sightings are a regular feature of his trips – he’d even named one of the turtles – but he never feeds them (neither did he feed anything on the trip, except for some bread to the fish at the snorkeling stop). We also saw some manta rays cruising along the bottom of the sea bed.
Back inside the lagoon, we headed to the giant clam farm, and he explained the difference between the local and imported giant clams.  Next we stopped at the first snorkeling spot, moored just off Honeymoon Island.  He provided us with fins, but we had to have our own snorkel and mask. A word of warning:  the current was pretty strong here. He didn’t come in the water with us, and I didn’t get the feeling he was watching to make sure we were ok (as they always do at Club Med).  The schools of fish were beautiful, and some very nice coral formations. We also had the chance to see a giant clam on this trip.

Next, we stopped at the motu just beside Honeymoon Island. We wandered around the island (a 45 minute walk) and checked out the birds, while he prepared lunch. The motu had nice soft sand, although it was only a narrow strip, and coral dominated the rest of the island. Lunch was on the boat (unlike a lot of other tours, which have it on land under overhangs- I’m not sure if this was because we were on Honeymoon and not One Foot and so he didn’t have access to his normal spot).  Lunch was fresh reef fish that we had picked up from a fisherman – turned out to be the same guy who provided the snapper for Tupuna Cafe).  In addition to the fish, there was lots of chicken, fruit, bread, salad, etc.  A very nice feast!

Next we stopped on Honeymoon Island and wandered around the sand spit.  The sun teased us by almost breaking through, but didn’t quite manage.  But at least it wasn’t raining.  There isn’t much to do on the island – just swimming, shell collecting, and walking.  Lots of photo opportunities – this (and One Foot Island) is where so many Aitutaki postcard photos are taken.

Back on the boat, we headed to our last snorkeling spot, which had some even nicer schools of fish, a wreck to explore, and fortunately, no current.

He dropped us off at the dock at 4:00, where our transfer took us back to the boat.  Transfers were included.

The next day was our day to kayak on Ootu beach. The weather had other ideas however, and it rained almost all day.  We sat and played Scrabble. Ian won. 

The day wasn’t a total washout, however.  For dinner, we went out for our best meal of the trip at Tupuna Café, which was the highest recommended restaurant on Aitutaki, according to our guidebook.  The restaurant picked us up for $10 NZD each. (it was way too far to walk, especially at night).  The seating was covered but outdoors, with a sand floor.  Very tropical and pretty!  Ian had the catch of the day (snapper) and it was perfectly cooked, nicely spiced, and melted in my mouth. I was lucky, as I got the last piece they had – there was two other large tables at the restaurant full of Survivor production crew, and they had taken most of the fresh fish (a common problem while we there, in addition to  a lack of Diet Coke on the island, all taken by the crew!). Wendy had the vegetarian option, which was a delicious eggplant stuffed with vegetables and cheese.

 

Since every hotel was full of the crew for Survivor, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.  We toured the island by bicycle – and saw no other tourists. There aren’t many sights to see around the island, but it was a pleasant way to spend an overcast day. 

We tried to eat at the Spider Chinese Restaurant and it was absolutely terrible, awful, disgusting. Simply put, it was the worst Chinese food that we had ever, EVER eaten.  Fortunately, it was take-out (take away), so we could dispose of it in the privacy of our hut after a  couple of bites.

 

Our stay on Aitutaki was unfortunately not very well timed.A lot of the lagoon was closed down due to the filming of Survivor: Cook Islands.  A couple of months before the trip I had spend several hours on the phone calling every hotel in Aitutaki desperately looking for any room, and we finally found Matriki Beach Huts. It’s lower-end then what we’re used to, but beggars can’t be choosers.

The Beach Huts are rather basic. The toilet is in an outhouse (although it’s a pretty swanky outhouse, with a flush toilet and sink). The showers are cold water only.  There are two huts: One that has an upstairs and downstairs unit, and one ‘beach hut’ a little bit closer to the beach. The downstairs unit has the shower ‘en-suite’, a very nice feature, while the upstairs unit have to walk down the stairs outside to get to their shower. 

However, the upstairs unit has a nicer balcony with a better view of the ocean.

The hut itself was very well screened off from mosquitoes, so the lack of windows was not a real problem.  However, the lack of screens in the shower meant that while we were cursing the cold water, we were also swatting at mosquitoes.  A little rougher than we are used to, and made worse by the fact that we started this vacation treating ourselves at Club Med!

 

The hut was fully furnished, with lots of space, a big kitchen with sink, fridge, portable stove (gas burners), toaster, and kettle. The appliances are all new and all worked very well. 

The huts are on a perfect location on the nicest stretch of Aitutaki beach.  There is great snorkeling right off the beach, the water is warm and very, very clean. The beach goes on forever in either direction, and is soft white sand. Lots of interesting shells to find, too. The only downside, while we were there, was the enormous population of sea cucumbers – both the carcasses on land, and living ones everywhere on the ocean floor.  Sports sandals are thus a must, just because of the cucumbers. They won’t hurt, but when you step on them, their insides squish out and make quite a mess.  (However, the stone fish that are also hiding in the sand will hurt you, so if you don’t wear sports sandals for the cukes, you will want to wear them for the stone fish!)

Ian and I spent 3 weeks in the South Pacific, visiting Tahiti, Easter Island, and the Cook Islands. We finished up in the Cook Islands. We backtracked once again to Papeete where we stayed with our by-now good friend at Chez Myrna, and then it’s only a short 2 hour flight from Papeete to Rarotonga.  Upon our arrival in Rarotonga we checked in to our ongoing flight to Aitutaki, but before boarding, we set out to find an ATM.  We were still nervous after all the problems we had in French Polynesia. We had to walk about 10 minutes from the airport, but we found a convenience store – in went the card, out came the money, just like every other country in the world except French Polynesia!

The first day, we saw some of the moai that are located close to town – in fact, they are right in front of the Mana Nui Inn (we could see some from our balcony!).  We saw Ahu Tahai, Ahu Akapu, and Ahu Tautira.  It was a great introduction, and took only 2 hours at a leisurely pace.

With the help of a rental car the next day, we were able to see most of the moai.  Although we saw some people walking the sites, or biking, we would recommend against it.  The distances to get to the best sites are considerable.  Unless you are planning to spend a week, we doubt you could fit everything in.

We arranged the rental car from Mana Nui Inn – it was a 4×4 jeep, in good condition. No A/C, but it’s really not needed for Easter Island.  Standard only, I’m not sure if there are any automatics on the island.  It cost us $60 US/day.  Apparently you can find $50/day in town, but it was more convenient to get it from our hotel.

Almost all the moai can be seen by driving around the ring road around the island, which is paved (except for a few km).  We did a nice short hike up the volcano at Rano Raraku for a nice view of the eastern part of the island. Rano Raraku is the "Moai Nursery".  It is thought that most of the moai were carved out of the volcanic rock here, and many can still be seen in place on the mountain, at various stages of construction.  It was one of the highlights of all the sites we saw.  Right next to it, Ahu Tongariki, is the most impressive display of moai.

The other must-see ahu for us was Ahu Akivi, which is the only ahu where the moai are facing the ocean, instead of towards the land.

The beach at Anakena is also well worth a visit.  There is an impressive set of moai overlooking a beautiful, sheltered beach in a bay.  It is the only place we saw outside of Hanga Roa selling drinks/refreshments.

We also visited the Orongo Ceremonial Village, which was a bit of a disappointment (we spent more time talking to the guy at the ticket booth than we did at the site.)  However, the drive up to the village, as well as the views of the volcanic crater of Rano Kau, definitely made it worthwhile.  There is an island they used to swim to as part of the Birdman Cult.  You can see the islands of Motu Nui, Motu Iti and Motu Kao Kao – just off Cabo Te Manga. The last ceremonies actually took place fairly recently – ending in 1866.

The museum Museo Anthropologico Sebastian Englert is a small two-room museum north of town.  If it turns cloudy, it’s a good thing to check out, with a good background on the history of the island.  Make sure to ask for the English binder to provide translations of the signs.

Restaurants
We ate at two restaurants during our time on the island.  Our first dinner was at Jardin del Mau on the seaside, which offered pasta, a great vegetarian option on the island.  Wendy was very happy with her meal, but my mahi was not worth the price. Our second meal was at Kai Mana in town, which was also quite good, with a very friendly owner.

We also snacked on empanadas, (like a pastry sandwich, which is fried).

We had a great time on Easter Island!  Everyone we met was very friendly and kind.  It made the stay a real pleasure.

My wife and I took a 3 week trip to the South Pacific in July of 2006.  We visited the islands of Bora Bora, Moorea and Tahiti in French Polynesia, followed by Easter Island (Chile) and finally Rarotonga and Aitutaki of the Cook Islands.

The flight from San Francisco to Papeete is not a very long one.  There are basically two ways to get there: either via LA or via Honolulu.  LA was cheaper for us.  The flight from LA took only 8 hours – a mere nothing, especially when compared to our last marathon flight to Delhi.

We flew Air New Zealand from LA.  It was a comfortable flight with acceptable airline food – the seat configuration of the 767 was nice, in a 2 – 3 – 2 format, which guaranteed a 2 seat row for my wife and me. 

We never managed to get either of our bank cards to work.  We have both Cirrus and Plus bank cards and they have worked faithfully all over the world.  We tried to withdraw money using both cards in several banks in Papeete, several more in Vaitape, Bora Bora, and yet more in Moorea.  They never worked.  We finally did succeed in getting money out using a credit card (Visa).  Of course this means we were stuck paying hefty cash advance fees.  If you live in a country other than the US, you should consider establishing a positive balance on your credit card, and maybe more than one.  We met many other people from other countries who had the same trouble we had.  Make sure you know the PIN number for your cards and bring extra US dollars or Euros just in case.  Many cheaper hotels and stores will not take credit cards.

Our hotel was the Mana Nui Inn. They met us at the airport. Watch out when you arrive: They make everyone x-ray their baggage as you exit the airport (?!) and the machines are not guaranteed to be film-safe.  They will pass your film around without question however.

The Mana Nui Inn is located about a 10 minute walk from town (Hanga Roa), at a beautiful location overlooking the sea, with beautiful sunsets every night.  The wind can get pretty strong, but we still had some nice walks along that stretch of the coast.  The hotel owner or her daughter will pick you up at the airport, and greet you with a flower lei.  It cost us $45US/night.  The room is very clean, with its own bathroom and hot shower (run the hot water in the sink at the same time – then there’s enough pressure and the gas stays on and the shower is great).  The views are fabulous, and we were made to feel very at homme.  We were greeted with fruit juice as soon as we arrived, and gave us a great map with pictures of the sites, and explained everything there was to do on the island.  We had a great breakfast every morning.  They also drove us back to the airport and gave us good bye necklaces they’d made themselves at the end of our stay!  The daughter, Patricia, speaks great English as well.