Rarotonga, Cook Islands

 Jan 22, 2025

"Kia orana" ~ Means "May you have long life."

Rarotonga is the first "new-to-us" port on our itinerary. We were supposed to visit it in 2016 on our 30 day HAL cruise, but the ocean was too rough for tender service. We had to settle for "scenic cruising" around the entire island, but weren't allowed to set foot on this little patch of English protectorate, the largest of the Cook Islands. Our previous islands have been decidedly French, but for a bit going forward, all our stops will have a British past.

You can tell the Brits have been here. Everyone drives on the left, and we saw at least one "roundabout." (We call them traffic circles in the States.) English is spoken as well as the Maori  tongue. 

Like all the islands we've visited since leaving Hawaii, the geography is strikingly similar. The interior is ruggedly mountainous and any roads cut through the dense undergrowth are not generally traversable by less than a four X four filled with stout hearted folk! Most people use the coastal road that rings the island to get from one place to another. There is a flat plain of arable land where most people choose to live. 

And where they bury their dead.

Homes tend to remain within families because it's likely that grandma and grandpa are entombed in cement vaults in the front yard. There's not enough topsoil to allow anything other than above ground burial. 

Tender service to the island was an adventure. The waves heaved with a three to four foot swing between the Sky and the tender boat. Fortunately four able crewmen were on hand to tell us when to step and to steady us as we made the transfer. Still, I was thankful for a fresh scopolamine patch while we rocked and rolled!

Our excursion took us to a little museum where we were treated to the most thorough explanation of how the ancient seafarers migrated from Asia and Africa. They didn't just row the double hulled canoes. They had twin sails which they used to sail tacking against the prevailing wind and current. That way, if they traveled far enough without sighting land, they could turn around and be fairly assured of being able to make it home with the aid of those natural propulsion devises. They made use of studying the apparent location of our nearest star--the sun--to navigate, along with studying cloud formations (which tend to pile up over land masses) and of course sighting seabirds.

The museum lecturer also posited much lower ocean levels in the ancient past, which allowed for land bridges from Asia to Australia and some of the nearer islands. 

This double hull canoe was highly ornamented with carved sides. While possessed of lovely lines, it certainly showed the ancient Polynesians had to travel light!

In 2016, our Polynesian Cultural guide told us that a muumuu was like a bank. A man knows what's in it. He's just not sure how much.  

Our tour included some beach time, so I'd dressed in a muumuu over my swim suit. Unfortunately, the tide was out, making this beach unsuitable for swimming or wading. And more than a little odiferous. Heavy sigh...

So we headed back to the lovely Sky and spent some time in the spa. 

Are we spoiled rotten or what?