14.1.13 Monday

Woke to dead calm conditions so wandered down the beach 50m or so to the moored Vaka that was being stocked for the day of lagoon cruising to see if they could fit another 7 onboard. After a few phone calls to see if there was enough food, we got the thumbs up so spent the day on the lagoon, in a modern day 21m Vaka that looks traditional but is made of aluminium and powered by some cleverly concealed 200HP outboards.

Cruised across the lagoon to the tune of a couple of local comedians playing their ukuleles and guitar to a range of tunes from the represented nations. There is a bit of a party atmosphere to this cruise with a lot of emphasis put on the fact that there was a bar to access, and surprise that guests were not availing themselves of this service more (it was 10am). Visited the beach where seaplanes used to land before the airport existed. Seaplanes hoped across the pacific, from NZ to here then on to Tahiti. Film stars used to visit and stay on the island. Off to the volcanic island in the middle of the lagoon, where our guide pointed out the birds, and informatively told us that these birds are known locally as ‘White Birds”. They are white, and they are birds, and that was the limit of the information given about this area. We got out for a wander around the island for 10 mins, and snuck in a quick swim to cool off as well. The island is clearly a breading or nesting ground for the ‘white bird’ of Aitutaki as there were plenty of them in the air and in the trees.

We continued on to a marine researve and had the first snorkel of the day. They anchored in waste deep water and we swam around the boat and out into the deeper water with several coral outcrops. The water here was about 3-4m deep and Olivia is confident enough now that she was happily swimming along without assistance. I stayed pretty near but she was happy enough for me to dive down to the bottom periodically. Ben was off exploring with Di trying to keep up. The big girls were off doing their own thing, Danielle darting from here to there, then from there to here, and Sophie and Pen diving down and checking out the corals and the array of tropical fish. Eventually people started to drift back ot the boat and we did the same. There was some excited activity at the back of the boat, and as Livie and I made it closer we realised that there was some fish feeding going on with the little black and white, Sergeant Major fish hanging around and ripping into the bread, and also a large Trevally cruising around all of the people at the back of the boat. I was standing at the boat talking to Di, then put my masked face under the water to see where the Trevally was and Boom! He was right there swimming towards my mask about 1 metre away, it gave me a hell of a fright and made me jump. Of course the Trevally thought nothing of it and swerved and carried on to the next person. The kids were having a great time swimming after and touching the trevally, that was about the same length as Ben but of a higher bulk and weight.

The Conch shell was sounded to signal it was time for everyone to get aboard again and we had lunch as we cruised around the corner to one foot island. The lunch was a delicious mix of island fruits and veges made into various salads and some very nice barbecued tuna.

As we arrived at One foot island a dark cloud blew over and an almighty downpour started which lasted for most of the 2 hours that we were there. It was still very warm of course so the swimming continued, but the walk around the island seemed less appealing in the torrential rain. We spent some time looking a the Giant clams. There were six giant clams in a reserve area that had a bunch of native clams and corrals on underwater stands, and were surrounded by a few corals and six live giant clams with a number of empty clam shells as well. It was surreal coming to the surface and seeing from below the heavy rain hitting the surface of the water. Lots of jumping off the boat and having fun.

The conch shell sounded and we cruised back to ootu beach. The sun came out as we were leaving one foot island, so we cruised back in sunshine and calm conditions. We had a Sarong tying demonstration, and some local legends told to us on the way home. We had a nice time meeting the people on the trip who included a couple from Brisbane and their family. The mother was originally from the cook islands although her fair skin and blond hair seemed out of keeping, however her grand mother was the “queen” of the Cook Islands, so I guess the heritage was there despite looks. We also had an interesting talk to the Doctor that Di saw in Rarotonga who was here for a day trip with his wife and daughter. Overall a good day out.