Great snorkelling right here!

After lunch I decided to go out in the single kayak again. This time I paddled right around the private island just across from us. This is the Aitutaki Lagoon Private Island Resort.

This was another 2 km paddle and again took just on 30 minutes. This time most of the first half was into the wind and then a cruise back down the channel separating the island from where we are. When I told Steve I had done this he said that we aren't supposed to do that! The shallow areas can damage the kayak but I never hit anything and I have already been and done it!

We then headed off to the Koru Cafe to pick up our chicken breast, greek salad and fresh Ciabatta loaf we ordered yesterday. This will be dinner tomorrow night. Since we were there, we decided a couple of Coronas and a side of chips would go down well!

Then it was back to the bungalow to collect our snorkeling gear and check out the pools just up the channel past where the Island Resort ferry boat crosses. This was an amazing find with plenty of coral heads and water from 1m to 3-4 m deep. The number of fish there was quite amazing. Loads of tiny bright blue reef fish, Angel fish and schools of dozens of others which I can't even name. There was even one Bluefin Trevally swimming around. It was about 50cm long so not fully grown.



I also saw quite a few Guineafowl Pufferfish which are quite distinctive with all their spots. These were about 40cm long.

Note that these photos are not mine - saved from the Cook Islands Biodiversity site!


Popular posts from this blog

Whew - On board in Auckland

Image
An early start. The alarm woke us at 3:15am - but we were more or less awake anyway. A TXT from Air New Zealand warned that Christchurch might be affected by fog. Fortunately, no such bad luck and we were airborne at 6:10. Somewhat chaotic at Auckland airport with all the security checks but we finally made it to the gate just in time to board. Now sitting in our seats waiting to go. Rarotonga here we come.
Read more

Action day

Image
Today we decided get on and do a few things. Steve gave us the car for the day and we drove down the island to check out a Cafe we had been recommended. Avatea Cafe is relatively new and well reviewed so we have booked for dinner tonight. On the way back, we did a bit more shopping and found another new shop (opened in December) so managed to get some hydroponic lettuce for our lunch of (leftover) steak sandwiches. On the way back we stopped for a quick snorkel at the top end of the island. The water here is a bit too shallow for easy swimming (especially as it was low tide - Ed) but there were plenty of small reef fish to look at. The steak sandwiches were great - see photo. Then it was down the road 500m to the sailing club area where I hired a windsurfer for a couple of hours. Not being familiar with the gear it was a quite messy sailing experience but good fun. Unfortunately, I ran over a small coral head on the way back and managed to snap the fin off. Now I have to try to find a ...
Read more

Wednesday (for us)

Image
 Decided to have a quiet day today and started with a walk along the outside of the airport. This is not a 'tourist' zone as it is close to the edge of the atoll with the airport runway alongside.  The sea is crashing onto the coral platform about 100m away. Last time I walked along here there was plastic waste everywhere. This time, almost nothing which is great to see. We met a local fisherman with a bag of about half a dozen small reef fish. His equipment was very primitive. Just a 2m bamboo pole with a piece of fishing line attached and a small hook. It obviously worked. No need for expensive fibreglass/carbon fibre rods and fancy pancy reels. There are also quite a few rusting lumps of metal from who-knows-when. Possibly WWII but maybe just dumped in more recent times. Here's the remains of a tractor: Next up was a swim in the lagoon to cool off (note different swimsuit) A lovely day so we then took a double kayak for a paddle to see if Miriam could get in and out. No ...
Read more