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.