Rarotonga, capital and largest island in the far-flung Cook Islands, is rarely visited by passing sailboats. The
name "Rarotonga" means "in the
direction of the prevailing wind, south". Sailing 550 miles into southerly
winds can be quite unpleasant, so most passagemakers choose other routes
west--generally through Samoa, or one of the northern islands in the Cook Island
archipelago.
Knowing it was a long out-of-the-way sail, cruisers gathered
in Bora Bora prior to their own departures west invariably asked why we were
going to Rarotonga. There were actually
several reasons:
5. Though we would appreciate the U.S.
products found in American Samoa, when given a choice between
a heavily U.S.-influenced culture and a more remote one, we opted for the
latter.
4. Rarotonga is to New Zealand
as Hawaii is to the U.S. Though the Cook Islands are a
separate entity, they speak English and use New Zealand currency, so it's a
prime vacation destination. Surely thousands of Kiwis can't be wrong!
3. We were ready for some good long hikes, and Rarotonga offers great hiking.
2. Cook Islanders are reputedly the best dancers in the
South Pacific. Enthusiastic about the dancing we had seen so far, we wanted to
see the performances we knew would be plentiful around their Constitution Day
(Aug. 4).
1. The #1 reason Rarotonga
was on our itinerary--and the reason we gave inquiring colleagues--will be
disclosed in a subsequent post. (Mystery! Suspense!)
It turned out the passage was indeed challenging, the harbor
lacked services for cruisers, the bureaucracy was cumbersome & expensive,
and the weather at that latitude was significantly cooler than French Polynesia. That said, we loved Rarotonga!
It was beautiful, everyone was incredibly friendly (and witty), and the dancing
was better than we could have imagined. There were no other cruisers there, and
we felt comfortable immersing ourselves in island life...
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| Prior to entering a country, boats raise both a courtesy flag for that country, and a quarantine flag (yellow). Once clearance has been issued, the quarantine flag is removed. The 15 stars on the Cook Islands flag represent the 15 islands gathered into one nation. |
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Avatiu Harbor, where our boat was moored, is in a beautiful setting. Second Wind isn't in
this photo, but I couldn't resist: it's a postcard showing the Picton Castle--the ship Katelinn
came here on! What a fun find that was!
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We knew the first week of August had Constitution Day
celebrations, but we hadn't realized it was the 50th anniversary of their
independence from New
Zealand.
We couldn't believe our good fortune: we'd arrived just in time for an
entire week of festivities! People from all over the South Pacific had come to
celebrate, from the Prime Minister of New Zealand to children from remote
islands who had never left their homes before (we got to listen to the former
and talk to the latter).
Highlights included Island Night, in which groups from all
the inhabited Cook Islands performed, and International Night, which featured
expat groups from Australia,
New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, and French Polynesia.
What a feast of music and dancing!
The dance moves are similar to what we'd seen in Tahiti, but
Cook Islands dancers sing while they dance (rather than have separate accompanying
musicians). The result is electrifying; when the first dancers burst into
exuberant song, our hair stood on end! We steeped ourselves for days...
No
photographs were allowed in the performance venue, but I got some from the main
outdoor event. I love one because it contains a little of everything: the ocean
in the background, dancers are from the
local university (don't they look glorious), and local residents in the
foreground, decked out in floral head wreaths. When everyone joined in singing
their national anthem (in Cook Islands Maori language), we were deeply moved...
Though these groups were all younger people,
multi-generational dancing is common.
Nothing could be more heartwarming than seeing women in
their 70's get on stage and shake their hips like they were 20; they still had
the moves, and they were radiant! Some groups had small children on stage, too;
if they were too young to wiggle, they were held by men, not women. There was
so much joy in their dancing and singing that it truly was infectious; when I
get home and sashay around the kitchen, my own wiggles will never be the same!
In order to explore the island thoroughly, we rented a
scooter for a week. There must be more scooters than there are people on Rarotonga; they were everywhere! It was a fun and easy
way to get around.
Some sights around the perimeter (there's just one road
going around the island):
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Black Rock, where the spirits of the deceased are believed to return to their origin |
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| Muri Lagoon, as picturesque as any place could be. We hoped to snorkel here, but it felt too chilly, so we contented ourselves with a beach picnic. |
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| Cook Islanders are very proud of what they refer to as their "island paradise". Rarotonga was the cleanest island we have visited so far (with the best recycling since Seattle), and there are brightly painted picnic tables in many places along the perimeter road. Public access to the lagoons and beaches has been preserved in most places, instead of being preempted by resorts. |
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| They are also proud of their history as navigators. It is likely that vakas from Rarotonga populated several other South Pacific islands (including New Zealand in 1350). Ocean-going vakas--which carry 16 people for extremely long distances--are sailed today as a way of continuing this impressive heritage. |
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| Though the church yards double as cemeteries, it's very common for people to have graves in their yards, usually between their house and the road. Even the most modest home will often have elaborate burial sites. |
And we did get to hike! It takes about 5 hours to traverse
the Cross Island Trail, through plantations (bananas, taro) and jungle to a high point called the
Needle, then down to the other side.
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| Inspecting bananas |
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| Root systems provided foot holds and hand holds... |
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| ...but in some cases, ropes (provided) were necessary! |
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| View at the top |
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| The Needle (visible from miles at sea) |
Back in town, I don't know what was more distinctive at the church
service--the singing or the hats! Floral head wreaths are common, even on
non-festival days; on Sunday, those wreaths are placed on, or replaced by,
brightly colored hats. The variety of colors and shapes was impressive, and any
dozen women would have had a dozen wildly different hats. I didn't want to
intrude but did capture a couple of them from a respectful distance...
We don't spend much time shopping, but we do try to find
some memento from each country.
At Rarotonga we came away with a CD of their high-spirited
music (yes, I will be dancing!) and some fabric to make curtains for our house,
hoping to keep part of Rarotonga near us
always.
