Any recent Cook Islands info?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Regulated

Contributor
Messages
172
Reaction score
158
Location
SoCal
# of dives
100 - 199
Hello all,

Reviewed the scant info on Rarotonga and Aitutaki, Cook Islands. We are planning a trip in October for a week, likely 10 morning dives M-F.

We’ve read good things about Adventure Cook Islands. We will likely stay at a mid-range resort in the general area (west-southwest side of Rarotonga).

Aitutaki is a ‘maybe’ at the end for sightseeing, as Hawaiian flies in to RAR on Saturdays, out on Sundays. The Raro dive op is M-F only. That means a free Saturday. We’d spend one night max in AIT (no scuba there) before heading back on Sunday.

Any advice for us? Worth the trip? Haul our gear or use theirs?

[We’re SoCal people who dive tropics only. Happily, after 27 years dry, my wife recently reactivated her AOW cert and did Nitrox. We did 10 dives in Cozumel with Azul Divers. She was a happy little fish by the end of the week.]
 
@Regulated

I realize this is a few months old, but just saw your post.

I've dived Raro and Aitutaki, although it's been a few years. Couple of things worth knowing...

- Most of the diving is geared towards "vacation diving" (people who want to dive once a week during a stay, or someone who has come in a cruise ship). This is (in part) why most of the (few) dive ops are only open during weekdays.

- The diving is all on hard coral reefss. Much of the coral is in good shape, and most of the dives are interesting.

- Interestingly, the lagoon in Rarotonga is full of parrotfish (they have filled almost every marine niche). They are not fished because of the concern for ciguatera, so they just proliferate. This isn't bad, but it's definiely something you will notice. We did see a few sharks (both inside and outside the lagoon), but it seems they don't hunt the parrotfish either (who knew?)

- The first couple of days they are going to take you to a few of the easier dive sites. If there are other divers that have signed up, that maybe all you see for your entire week. If you can get outside the reef you will get a chance to see some very good diving...

- For Aitutaki: it's a beautiful little island (prettier than Raro). The diving is actually quite good, but the one operator on the island goes out when he wants, on his own schedule, etc. Likely good you are not trying to dive there... we found it very frustrating, but ultimately worth it when we did get out.

- Snorkeling in Aitutaki is worth it, esp. as you get out closer to the reef.
 
@Regulated

I realize this is a few months old, but just saw your post.

I've dived Raro and Aitutaki, although it's been a few years. Couple of things worth knowing...

- Most of the diving is geared towards "vacation diving" (people who want to dive once a week during a stay, or someone who has come in a cruise ship). This is (in part) why most of the (few) dive ops are only open during weekdays.

- The diving is all on hard coral reefss. Much of the coral is in good shape, and most of the dives are interesting.

- Interestingly, the lagoon in Rarotonga is full of parrotfish (they have filled almost every marine niche). They are not fished because of the concern for ciguatera, so they just proliferate. This isn't bad, but it's definiely something you will notice. We did see a few sharks (both inside and outside the lagoon), but it seems they don't hunt the parrotfish either (who knew?)

- The first couple of days they are going to take you to a few of the easier dive sites. If there are other divers that have signed up, that maybe all you see for your entire week. If you can get outside the reef you will get a chance to see some very good diving...

- For Aitutaki: it's a beautiful little island (prettier than Raro). The diving is actually quite good, but the one operator on the island goes out when he wants, on his own schedule, etc. Likely good you are not trying to dive there... we found it very frustrating, but ultimately worth it when we did get out.

- Snorkeling in Aitutaki is worth it, esp. as you get out closer to the reef.
Thank you for taking the time to post. October will be chilly south of the equator, so we switched to Kauai for the next trip. We may try Raro in March or April. Appreciated!
 
I know this is WAY late, but I HIGHLY recommend Adventure Cook Islands. Patrick was who we did our Discover Scuba dives with, and he was phenomenal. Laid back, but also very thorough and had a lot of attention to details. He really put us at ease, which is impressive as both my wife and I are the anxious types. When we went back to Raro several years later he even remembered us (We have a unique last name), and not in a "Oh yeah, I remember...you" way, but remembered details of our dives.
 
I know this is WAY late, but I HIGHLY recommend Adventure Cook Islands. Patrick was who we did our Discover Scuba dives with, and he was phenomenal. Laid back, but also very thorough and had a lot of attention to details. He really put us at ease, which is impressive as both my wife and I are the anxious types. When we went back to Raro several years later he even remembered us (We have a unique last name), and not in a "Oh yeah, I remember...you" way, but remembered details of our dives.
Helpful, thanks. We decided on Kauai for the fall trip. Rarotonga remains in the queue.
 

Back
Top Bottom