Friendly English speaking people, clean villages, nice accommodations, great food, plenty of beaches, easy to rent a car or scooter and drive around the island, and only 9 hrs from LAX! November should have been the dry season in Cook Islands, however, that was not the case when we got there. Weather was a big disappointment. It was overcast and rainy on the first day, cloudy and windy on the second and extra windy on the third. We booked a tour of Aitutaki island, where we were supposed to see an out of this world lagoon, but it was not meant to happen. Despite the weather, we liked the island.
![The hotel was located on the beach with a nice area to watch the sunset](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3013.jpg)
![The small pool at the hotel](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C2913.jpg)
![These guys roamed free all over the island. In the morning they sounded the alarm exactly at sunrise. No way to sleep in.](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3030.jpg)
![We met 3 cute beach dogs. They were super friendly and always happy to go for a walk along the shore.](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C2981_mix.jpg)
![Relaxing hammock at the hotel beach](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3109.jpg)
![This little pup was watching Eug drink his cocktail :) He loved papaya!](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3138_mix.jpg)
Food on the island was delicious. We had lots of fish and seafood.
![Delicious food at Le Bon Vivant (LBV)](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3158_mix.jpg)
![Local chowder with big chunks of fish, scallops, mussels and all kinds of goodness (Kukui Hut)](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3007.jpg)
![Best tuna sandwich on the island! (The Mooring)](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3032.jpg)
On the second day, we rented a car and drove around the island. It takes 45 min to make a full circle. There are only 32 km! We stopped at different beaches and other points of interest. A local guy is known for his banana wine, all kinds of weird hard alcohol and vanilla concentrate. We went to his house for a tasting and bought some fresh vanilla bean strings. Now I have figure out what to do with them. The majority of tourists were from NZ since it less than 4 hr flight. However, during a local brewery tour half of the people were from Southern California.
![Only 32 km around the island](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3020.jpg)
![Main road on the island](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3128.jpg)
![Piggy relaxing under a palm tree (actually, it's tied to the tree)](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C3023.jpg)
Finally, on the third day, instead of exploring the Aitutaki island, we had to make different plans. We rented a car from the airport, which is twice as much as renting from the city by the way, and drove around the island and spent some time at the beach.
![Although it was chilly and cloudy , Eug went for a swim](http://s-c-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/6R8C2935.jpg)
I guess we’ll have to come back to Raro to spend a day on Aitutaki island 🙂
Leave a Reply