Rarotonga

Hello Everyone!

We spent Thursday 22 Jan 2026 on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. It's small, but beautiful. It's part of New Zealand but is independently governed. English is the predominant language and the currency is the New Zealand dollar.

The forecast was for continual rain showers all day, but by the time we arrived at 8:00am local time, the sun had come out and clouds were visible only in the mountainous areas of the island. I was in group #1 to leave the ship. This was another "tender port" because the harbor was too shallow for our ship. So, we anchored in deeper water and used the small tender boats to disembark.

Rarotonga Sightseeing

When we reached the pier, we got aboard these open air "buses" and headed for Muri beach, about a 15-minute drive around the perimeter of the island. The seats on the bus were just plastic lawn chairs, and they were not fastened to the floor. Clearly, US DOT rules do not apply here!

Open Air Bus

The bus took us to a small but interesting museum documenting the history of New Zealand and Rarotonga. It was interesting to learn that more modern DNA and other research indicates that the first settlers to Polynesia were from Taiwan, about 3,000 BC. I remember learning in Geography class (do they even teach that anymore?) that we once thought that early Polynesian settlers were blown by trade winds from South America to Easter Island, where they expanded from there. 

The original Taiwan expats were thought to have used single-hulled canoes to "island hop" to islands near Taiwan. As they expanded their explorations, they graduated to larger double-hulled canoes like the one shown in the picture below.

Double-hulled Canoe

After browsing the museum and visiting the obligatory tourist shop adjacent to it, I walked across the street to a pathway leading to Muri beach. It's a classic South Pacific beach area with a large, shallow area suitable for wading and snorkeling. The sky here was exceptionally gorgeous, but I'm noticing that is a common theme throughout all the places we've been so far.

Panorama of Muri Beach

One bit of serendipity was running across a pretty fairy tern and her chick sitting on a branch in one of the trees on the beach. 

Fairy Tern

Fairy Tern Chick

The naturalist and nature photographer we have on board with us passed on some interesting info about the fairy tern. It lays its egg (always a single egg) directly on the branch of a tree, with no nest beneath it. The egg is somewhat bumpy and irregularly shaped to help keep it from rolling off the branch. Both the male and female incubate the egg for about 35 days, simply straddling it without fully sitting down. They grip the branch with their feet and balance the egg so it won't fall off on windy days. Once the chick is hatched, it's immediately on its own to grip the branch (with oversized feet) and stay balanced. The parents are especially attentive, bringing food and fending off predators, but the chick hangs on by itself. Fascinating!

As I said earlier, the skies are stunning here, and Muri beach didn't disappoint. Here's a shot looking out from beneath the many trees lining the beach. I liked how the branches and the people on the beach are silhouetted against the sky and sea. Note how far out a couple of the people are, and the water is still barely knee deep. This would be a perfect beach for people with toddlers!

Muri Beach

I also noticed this small island just off the beach. It looked like one huge, volcanic rock. It's a testament to the tenacity of nature that so much lush vegetation has taken hold on what is essentially just a rock!

Small Island off Muri Beach

After exploring the beach a bit, I walked back to the museum and caught the next bus back to the pier. I wanted to walk around and explore some of the shops, cafes, and other small businesses along the road ringing the island.

A Chance Encounter with a Truly Intrepid Traveler

I stopped for a bite in a small cafe and had a delicious sandwich. It was on a soft onion bagel and was loaded with smoked salmon, capers, lettuce, and a light aioli dressing. I shared a table with a 30 yr-old British woman who had a fascinating story. She moved from England to New Zealand about two years ago and became a teacher. She eventually decided to move back to England, but is taking several months off to travel through a majority of the islands in the South Pacific along the way. By the time she reached Rarotonga where I ran into her, she'd already been to more islands than I can remember. She visited Fiji, Tuvalu, Tonga, New Caledonia, the Solomons, and Vanuatu, just to name a few. She was headed to French Polynesia to see Tahiti next. After that, she'll fly to Quito, Ecuador and begin an extended trip around South America. She said she had plans to circle the continent and see all but about three countries in S.A. She'll be getting back to England just a couple of weeks before our ship does.

She's making the trip solo, and carrying only what will fit in carry-on luggage. What an adventurous spirit! She said she'd keeping a journal of the trip, and I told her it would make an interesting book.

Photos from My Walk

I snapped several photos on my walk. Here are a few I particularly liked.

If you look carefully, you can see our ship anchored offshore, right in the middle of the picture. I liked this picture for the foreground and for the stunning mix of cirrus and cumulus clouds.

Captivating Sky on the Shore of Rarotonga

Viking Sky Anchored Off Rarotonga

Flowers grow extraordinarily well in tropical climates and are everywhere you look. Here are a few I saw along the way today.

I saw a small cemetery during my walk. It's a common practice in these islands to bury family members in these above ground graves. I noticed several clustered together here in Rarotonga, but when we were in Tahiti, we learned that most people are buried on the family plot of land. The land and house are passed down from generation to generation, and having the ancestors buried there is motivation for the youngsters to hold onto the family plots.

Cemetery on Rarotonga

In my continuing quest for unusual snack foods, I saw these chips for sale in a market here. One was honey soy chicken (doesn't sound too bad!). The other was "cheese and bacon attack". They may have omitted the word "heart" between "bacon" and "attack"...

Honey Soy Chicken-flavored Chips

Cheese Bacon (Heart?) Attack Snacks

I also went into a store that looked like a scaled-down Home Depot. I didn't take any pictures inside, but they sold the kinds of things you'd see in any of our big box home improvement stores. There were plumbing fixtures and fittings, electrical supplies, wall coverings, flooring, lumber, tools, gardening supplies, and so on. I found it interesting to see how their standard plumbing and electrical fittings differed from ours. Yeah, I know, I'm weird...

Back On Board

When I got back on the ship I took a shower and then wandered around taking pictures, mostly of the stunning skies. Here's a panorama I took as we were sailing away from the island. It's off the starboard side, looking roughly eastward back toward the island.

Panorama of Rarotonga

This was a bit earlier, closer to the island. Again, a lovely sky.

Jagged Volcanic Mountains of Rarotonga

Here's another view of the island as we departed:

Rarotonga, Cook Islands

As the sun began to set, the sky seemed to explode with color and abstract beauty:

Sunset Off Rarotonga

Sunset Off Rarotonga

Speaking of abstract beauty, I was captivated by the mesmerizing view of the ever-changing hues and the randomness of the patterns in the wake of the bow wave from our ship. This picture is from the balcony of my stateroom, looking directly down at the water. Click here for a video of the wake, with a slow pan up to the island and the western sky beyond.

Wake from the Ship's Bow Wave

Books on a Boat

One of my readers (I'm looking at you, Lori!) wanted to know if there was a library on the ship, so I thought I'd send several pictures. There's no single, dedicated library, but there are sitting areas scattered around the ship with all sorts of interesting titles. There's no catalog, so you just wander around and see what you can find. There's also a book exchange area where you can take one and leave one. Most of the titles are history or travel related - there's not much fiction. But the topics are broad.

There's also a display dedicated to Viking heritage. 

Viking Heritage Exhibit Area

Viking Heritage Exhibit Area

I was interested to find that Viking heritage extends all the way to the modern day. It turns out that the symbol we use for Bluetooth devices is composed of two Viking runes associated a 10th-century Viking king named Harald Bluetooth. He Christianized and unified the Danes along with parts of Sweden and Norway. The symbol is a mashup of two runes depicting parts of his name.

Viking Runes forming the
modern Bluetooth Logo

Crossing the Date Line

We're now headed for Waitangi (Bay of Islands), New Zealand. It's a long way away, and we'll have four days at sea before we arrive on Wednesday 28 Jan. But we'll entirely lose Saturday the 24th because of crossing the date line! When we go to bed tonight it'll be Friday night (23 Jan), but when we wake up it will be Sunday morning the 25th. I guess I can legitimately say that's a day of my life I'll never get back! I wonder if Viking will give me a pro rata refund...

Until next time, 
Cheers,
Jim