We flew 45mins to Aitutaki from Rarotonga and descended over the worlds most famous spectacular lagoon. It is almost an atoll the main island is adjacent to the large turquoise lagoon with a ribbon of little motus scattered around it. It has the most amazing snorkelling that I have done - lots of tropical fish and giant clams.
Aitutaki is a basic island with small villages and has a population of approx 2000 people, the descendants of Polynesians that first settled in AD900. The first European contact was with Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty in 1789 - no wonder they decided on mutiny not long after.
Aitutaki's reputation grew in the 1950's as its lagoon was used as a stop over for TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Ltd) fly boats on the famous coral route. The old glamourous 50's posters of the fly boat travellers in smart fashion were hanging in the resort we stayed at, the fuel stop over enabled travellers to refresh themselves in the lagoon before moving on to Tahiti.
We hired motor bikes to explore the island enabling us to do our own thing and have meals out at other resorts around the island (loved the 'Pacific Resort Aitutaki'). Recommend a snorkelling tour of the lagoon the guides know the spots to go to see the clams and provide a BBQ lunch on 'One Foot Island' - Tapuaetai which has a passport office of sorts so you can get yours stamped for fun. Also checkout the clam farm a marine research centre project to help build the numbers of clams in the lagoon.
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| Flying over the gorgeous lagoon - thats 'One Foot Island' |
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| Arrival drinks |
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| Catching the barge to our resort |
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| Our hut on Aitutaki Lagoon Resort. |
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| The view from our hut |
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| The kids hamocking around! |
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| Making sarongs with photo sensitive ink- the lino cut outs create images in the sun. |
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