Cook Islands - any rec not experiences?

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Don't dive or do an education with Pacific Divers @ Muri Beach. In our experience Pacific Divers was very chaotic and the motivation of the tram was very low. Read: taucher.net/tauchbasis-pacific_divers__rarotonga-bericht-flz101176 (Sorry it's in German... pleas use an online translator to translate it.) This guy did very similar experience.
 
Thanks everyone for your contributions and advice.

We have been back for a week, and I thought it was time to write a few words about our trip.

We flew with Air New Zealand in both directions, via Auckland outbound and via Sydney on the return trip with Qantas ( code share partner) for the last leg to Melbourne. We stayed at the Pier Villas which was booked on Airbnb.This was about a 15 minute walk to Dive Rarotonga, and I can highly recommend staying there.

Dive Rarotonga was our operator of choice and we booked for seven days diving over the 12 days we were there. The weather gods were against us and we only got to dive 4 days. We re-scheduled one day so we could do a day trip to Aitutaki. All diving was led by a guide with the boat on a mooring and the skipper on board. We were very happy with Dive Raratonga we took our own gear but the hire kit looked to be invery good condition. The dive sites were a bit limited due to the weather,and of course was improving as we left.

Aitutaki was a day trip and involved flying with Air Raratonga on a Saab 340 so no diving the day before and no diving on Aitutaki. We did a package tour which included a lagoon tour. There is a dive shop on Aitutaki so if you decided to stay a few days diving is an option.

The diving we did was nice and easy with a water temp of24-25 degrees Celsius

Transport
There are numerous car and bike hire businesses but if you are hiring a motor bike or scooter you need a bike license, which you can get, if you do not have an existing license. There is a bus service that runs around the island, one in a clockwise direction and one anti clockwise. You can hail the bus anywhere and it will stop pretty much anywhere on the coast road.

Shopping
Be warned, there are pearl farms and lots of shops selling pearls. My partner spent most of of her non diving time pearl shopping.
There are at least two supermarkets and a number of smaller stores around. The supply ship was late so a lot of items were out of stock or in short supply. A lot of fresh food was expensive by Australian standards, but remember unless it grows there it is shipped in from New Zealand. Take away booze can not be purchased on a Sunday.

Sight Seeing.
There is a cross island walk you can do which the signs say will take 3-4 hours or a shorter walk to the needle for an amazing view which is a good 75 minutes walk in each direction at least. It is hard work and you need to take a lot of water.

Summary
We had a really good time, and enjoyed the diving. We would be more than happy to use a Dive Raratonga again.
 
I'm glad you had a good time. What a shame about the weather!
 
I'm seriously considering 12 days or so on Rarotonga & Aitutaki for me and my wife early this summer. Have been seriously considering Moorea & Rangi but the cost would be very high and we have what will be a pretty expensive family trip in 2021 to Italy for my wife's parents 50th anniversary. Cooks isn't the best diving but the water, beaches & topside scenery seems amazing and very relaxing. Seems like a great value for the money when looking at the Costco travel packages and actually not a bad flight from LAX. Have a romantic & relaxing setting with no kids and get in some decent diving, snorkeling, water activities, hiking and great scenery!

Would love to hear more about which resorts people have stayed at and how the accommodations were.

Thanks for any advice!
 
we stayed at the muri beachcomber which is in a great location. Right next door to the muri night market.. and across from the best burger joint on the island.

the rooms are clean and in great shape. (by island standards) The have free bikes, SUPs and kayaks and a lovely deck that over looks the lagoon. The perfect spot for a quiet beer or 12 after a long day in the water.

You can also walk to the dive op from there which ticks another box for me.

Shoot me a PM if you have any specific questions.

Cheers

Nate
 
I'm seriously considering 12 days or so on Rarotonga & Aitutaki for me and my wife early this summer. Have been seriously considering Moorea & Rangi but the cost would be very high and we have what will be a pretty expensive family trip in 2021 to Italy for my wife's parents 50th anniversary. Cooks isn't the best diving but the water, beaches & topside scenery seems amazing and very relaxing. Seems like a great value for the money when looking at the Costco travel packages and actually not a bad flight from LAX. Have a romantic & relaxing setting with no kids and get in some decent diving, snorkeling, water activities, hiking and great scenery!

Would love to hear more about which resorts people have stayed at and how the accommodations were.

Thanks for any advice!
Can’t help with advice on the resorts as we stayed at a Air BnB, but if you want to self cater I can pass on the details, it was beachfront. All the resorts we tried were happy to have walk in customers, either for drinks or meals..if you do go hiking, take way more water than you think you need

Hope you have a good trip
 
I'm seriously considering 12 days or so on Rarotonga & Aitutaki for me and my wife early this summer. Have been seriously considering Moorea & Rangi but the cost would be very high and we have what will be a pretty expensive family trip in 2021 to Italy for my wife's parents 50th anniversary. Cooks isn't the best diving but the water, beaches & topside scenery seems amazing and very relaxing. Seems like a great value for the money when looking at the Costco travel packages and actually not a bad flight from LAX. Have a romantic & relaxing setting with no kids and get in some decent diving, snorkeling, water activities, hiking and great scenery!

Would love to hear more about which resorts people have stayed at and how the accommodations were.

Thanks for any advice!

I love Raro. It reminds of what Hawai'i might have been without colonialism and overdevelopment. we stayed at Te Manava for a week in July of 2017. At that time it was the nicest resort on the island but a word of caution: you’ll need to go get clean water for drinking and cooking every day and wifi costs. A lot. However the hosts were a very nice British couple and we loved the pool though it was unheated.

Husband dove with pacific divers and said he got headaches after every dive so perhaps bad gas (he’s a master diver). Food was overpriced and not terribly good, the Saturday and night markets were wonderful. The island is extremely small, you can drive around the entire thing in less than an hour.

Our diving was reflective others’ experiences. Lovely visibility but not much to see life wise. However, tons of coral.
 
I forgot to add te manava didn’t have any facilities but offered a free on demand shuttle to their sister resort with a restaurant, spa and kids club. My seven year old adored the kids club. We
 
I wonder why there's not much fish life there. I'm pleased to read your comment about the coral. My visit was 20 or so years ago and there was a Crown of Thorns infestation making a mess of the corals. Many sharks and decent number of reef fish but no schools of fish that I can recall. That said, we did encounter a huge tornado of barracuda, so my memory of other schools could be wrong.

I was enchanted with the island, though found it expensive and no enjoyable meals to my taste. I stayed on different sides of the island at beginning and end of my trip. Very glad I did that.

I'd already spent quite a bit of time in San Pedro town, Ambergris Caye by that point in my diving life and couldn't help but note, that on the Edgewater Resort side of the island, we never once saw a boat pass. It was sublime.
 
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