Aitutaki

Published 8 Jun 2026 · Cook Islands · Comments

NOTE: It appears I'm having problems with the videos. It will have to wait until Moorea (3-4 days) to get it fixed. Fingers crossed!!

27 May 2026

Our trip to Aitutaki was a quick 50-minute flight. Flying onto this tiny island was like landing in a sea of blue and green. At first, I saw a really small island and thought – OMG that cannot be Aitutaki. I knew the island was small but that was too small. No, that was one of the motus off the island.

The Aitutaki Airport makes Raro look like LAX. As we walked towards the entrance (or exit depending on which way you are headed), there was a woman asking each person where they were staying. She then proceeded to yell out the name of hotel or guesthouse. As “Rino’s” was called out, we were met by a lovely lady dressed in a colorful muumuu and a traditional head garland called an Ei Katu. Auntie introduced herself and graced us with our own beautiful leis.

Arriving at our guesthouse, we found that there was a slight mix up with our reservation. Ani (one of the owners and manages the bungalows and the car rentals) Her father George Rino started this business years ago. Sadly, he passed away in 2024 at the age of 90. But I digress. Due to a website mix up, Ani thought there were four coming in our group. Apparently, the reservation got duplicated. I felt bad but she wasn’t concerned.
Cars are not plentiful on the island but are necessary, especially since we (the Burke’s) don’t ride motos. Although we had asked about renting one – it didn’t happen, but Ani did her magic and came up with one from Aquila Rentals – a van.

Aquila drove the van to us and then we had to drive back down to finish the paperwork. At that time, we arranged to get a smaller car on Saturday – three days later. That car we have for a week and then we’ll get another car from Ani. Whatever works!!

Hoping for one of Aitutaki’s famous sunsets – we waited only to be washed out by the rain but then it surprised us yet again.

We found dinner at a small kiosk not far from us –Koru’s WokKai. It was there that we met Francis for the first time. This lovely, strawberry blond New Zealander ended up being a constant on our trip.

We took takeaway and headed home to catch a little of a back light purple sunset.

28 May 2026

We were still becoming familiar with the island and there was a place for breakfast not far from WokKai – Tavake.

It’s small but the coffee looked and smelled good. Jim ordered the big breakfast and me – the small breakfast (yes, the actual names on the menu). Now, I know it said that the dish included spaghetti, but I was thinking – noodles of some sort. Well yes, it was spaghetti, very similar to Chef Boyardee – nope I could not eat it. I don’t eat it at home – can’t eat it here. It’s truly the only thing so far on the whole trip that just wasn’t working.

Rino’s Bungalows is an ocean front duplex and #8 was our room. It was quite roomy with a small couch, small kitchen, a good-sized bed and a porch overlooking the South Pacific Ocean. I believe there are only nine rooms. There is a single building to our left, which is occupied, we were in the duplex with no one else, a two-story building behind us with four rooms and another single-story building behind the single building with two rooms. The rooms are basic but very clean, have A/C and were the right price.

The beach is beautiful but a bit more muck than sand though it looks rather deceiving. There are other places to swim on the island but right now I’m not swimming.

Why? You ask. Well, I promise that my goal in life is not to visit a hospital in every country we travel to but – it seems that that is what has been happening. Backstory – when we went to swim with the turtles, while walking into the water I scraped my foot on a piece of coral on the beach. I did wash it out when we got back to the condo but probably not well enough. Coral is known to cause issues and no, the old wives’ tale, that sea water is good to heal wounds is just that – a fallacy.

This scrape is just above the arch of my right foot. For the past two days – it’s continued to get redder and more uncomfortable. So, what does one do – ask Google of course. “Coral cut that is red and painful is probably infected.” Off we go to the Aitutaki Hospital. There is no urgent care here – only the hospital.

As you can see from the pictures – it’s not very big. First room is the reception area. I was brought a paper registration form to fill out. Through a door is the triage area. I’m told their computer is down, BP didn’t really work and I was sent to commercial style scale to get weighed. She trusted me to give her the correct answer which was in kilos so I couldn’t lie. I was sent around the corner to see Dr Po (Ponia Solomona who is a native of Aitutaki). A very nice man. He looked at my foot – “yup – it’s infected. No allergies to medication?? OK, we’ll start you on Augmentin”. I walked down the hall to the pharmacy, and they handed me the meds. $30 NZD (about $27usd). I asked if they took credit cards…oh no – cash only and they will email me the bill for the emergency room visit via email. I have no idea how I will pay that bill. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. No swimming for a few days – which is a little-like heart breaking just sitting and watching the beautiful blue water. But – septicemia is not something I want either. FYI….I HAVE NOT posted this on FB. It’s not a secret but didn’t want all the questions – I’m sure you all understand.

We headed to Manuia’s Kitchen for dinner. This roadside stand has a couple picnic tables in front and a steady takeaway business. The menu was huge, as were the portions. The only thing small was the prices. My burger was delicious and massive. Jim ordered the Pizza Chicken burger sandwich. Let me explain. The roll on the top was like a small pizza and then in between was a piece of fried chicken and sauce. He was perplexed as to how he was going to eat it. Two huge sandwiches, an order of fries and two sodas $35Nzd/$20 Usd. Can’t be beat!!

29 May 2026

Today would have been Mom’s 95th Birthday.

It seems like all we do is gaze out at the beautiful sea and eat. It wouldn’t change today. A lunch place in the village, Mouari’s, has a FB page and they were advertising a BBQ lunch today for $20. We really need to learn that when it says BBQ we only need to order one plate. That “plate” had rice, potato salad, chicken, pork, steak, sausage and breadfruit. The breadfruit is right up there with breakfast spaghetti. We didn’t need to eat for the rest of the day.

30 May 2026

We headed back towards the airport to try Koru Café for breakfast. It gets great reviews and is owned by the same people as WokKai.
Who was working at the register? Francis!!! Then it made sense – café in the morning and WokKai at night.

After ordering breakfast, there was a deluge of people from an open-air truck that pulled up. We came to find out that “Le Truck” is owned by Vaka Lagoon Tours in conjunction with Day Tours from Rarotonga.

It is possible to come to Aitutaki from Rarotonga for just a day. Starting with a pickup at your accommodation in Raro, the flight leaves Raro Airport at 0800, getting into AIT about 0900. We’re told the plane rarely has any empty seats and it’s the same size plane we flew over – about 35 people. Le Truck picks them up from the airport and takes them on a tour of the island. I’m not sure exactly what they see but it takes about an hour and then, before they go out on a six-hour lagoon tour to different motus for snorkeling and lunch, there is a quick stop at Koru for coffee/pastry etc. This happens every day but Sunday. The price is about $750 NZD/$450 USD. People rave about this trip. the Lagoon tour alone is $299 NZD/$177 USD.We now know that we need to get to Koru before 0900 or after 0945.

There are about five or six companies that do lagoon tours. We will be going out Friday June 5th with Teking Tours – smaller boats, less people but also gets great reviews.

Dinner would be food with a view. We headed back past the airport to Blue Lagoon and had a waterfront seat. Sunset would be over the hill to our west but a lovely setting non-the-less.

Jim had Donburi Salad. We had no clue what it was but knew it was fresh fish. It ended up being a good-sized piece of lightly seared tuna, rice and salad. I had the fish and chips special – both were good – Jim’s was better.

31 May 2026

Breakfast again at Koru – it’s gotten to be our “go-to” place. Good food and we definitely don’t need lunch. Francis was there again along with Tetea (not sure of the spelling), a friendly young man from Indonesia with a great smile and Kylie (aka Princess). Being Sunday, it was quiet.

I don’t know if it’s just “location-location” but a simple dish like scrambled eggs tasted so good.

A little housekeeping today. Well, sort of. We dropped the laundry off just across the street. The washer at Rino’s wasn’t working. Yes, I know it’s Sunday and most everything is closed but the people who run the laundry are Seven-Day Adventists and they go to church on Saturday. Everybody else goes on Sunday.

Out to dinner at one of the resorts tonight – Tava’e. There are some high-end resorts on the island, some over $1000 per night Ours is not one of them. But it suits us just fine. We could have stayed at a resort, but it would not have been waterfront, and it definitely, would not have been for two weeks. (Our $110 per night vs their $350+++per night.) But dinner is open to everyone.

One hint: even when you think you don’t need to, always make reservations. It’s appreciated and we have always gotten good seats when we have. At Tava’e, we were overlooking the water right at sunset.

When we were having dinner, we learned that they would be having a BBQ with traditional dance show on Tuesday – Our 36th Wedding Anniversary. Sounded like perfect planning.

01 June 2026

The King’s Birthday/National Holiday in England, NZ and the Cook Islands

I had to do a little research on this. June 1st is not King Charles’s birthday, nor was it Queen Elizabeth’s. Per Google, “The June date for the monarch’s official birthday celebrations was a British tradition dating back to 1748. It is celebrated on the first Monday in June in England, NZ and the Cook Islands. In Australia, it is celebrated on the second Monday in June.
In England (not NZ but they do in Australia), these celebrations include Trooping the Colour which is an annual, centuries-old military ceremony held in London to celebrate the British Sovereign.

We made it to Koru for breakfast, just before “Le Truck” pulled in. It seemed like most of Aitutaki was there in addition to the tour group. We were able to secure a picnic bench outside, but tables were scarce and they were closing early at 11am.

Taking the long way back, we stopped on the far side of the island at a shop called “Stonefish” where they sell t-shirts, singlets, shorts, etc. with the Stonefish logo. I inadvertently left one of my rash guards at our first stop on the cruise. I found a very cute replacement that will be great for our Arizona weather.

We also talked with Ani when we got back to see if we could move to the smaller cottage (9). Why? Because of the view – it’s totally coconut treeless. She said “Sure”, but it would take a day since she was down on help. Seems to be a constant everywhere.

Even though we hadn’t moved in, we watched the sunset, with a glass of wine, from our soon to be new veranda.

02 June 2026

36 years for us

Breakfast at Koru – it’s nice to have a rhythm…and…we got there before Le Truck. Now it’s a bit of a game.

From there, we headed to the Vodafone Store. Here is the scoop on phones and internet in the Cook Island.

At Ariki Bungalows and Jacqui’s Retreat, we had WIFI. I got a SIM card (for an old phone) when we arrived in the Cook Islands for calls texts etc. The cruise had great WIFI and there was no one we needed to call so we did without any additional phone service. I use my current phone for pictures, a Samsung S23+ Ultra and the camera is great.

Arriving into Aitutaki, we still had about 10gb of the original 20gb data left. WIFI at Rino’s wasn’t working so that 10gb quickly disappeared. It’s not surprising with my two phones, plus one for Jim, two Kindles and my laptop that those 10gb disappeared quickly. Also, the signal on this island isn’t great to begin with. I ended up adding 3gb of data a few times. Finally, enough was enough. I went to the Vodafone store in town. I had heard that there was a way to get an eSIM here in country. Usually, you must download before you travel. I don’t know how she did it, not asking, but the lady in town got me an eSIM for my current phone with 20 gb of data. Fingers crossed that it would last for a week. This also makes my life much easier by only having to carry one phone.

I know that whole thing was sort of “techy” but if you are traveling, it really helps to be able to be connected and to understand how.

The other thing I did was to pick up a small sketch pad in the local grocery store. With the trees around, I’ve been having the urge to sketch. Let’s make one thing clear, I am not an artist, nor do I hope my work will be in the Louvre one day. But I thought I’d give it a try. I even surprised myself.

The BBQ at Tava’e was very nice. Such a great way to spend our anniversary. And who was the first person we see – Aunty. She is everywhere and it turned out she was the Mistress of Ceremonies.

Aunty Nane had been buzzing around, asking people where they were front and if there was a special occasion.

Before dinner started, Auntie read all her little notes. This is when we learned that we, again, were the only people from the US.

The dinner service started with a prayer. It was very wedding like. The tables were called up to the HUGE buffet is an orderly manner. Food, food and more food – all local specialties. My favorites: tuna sashimi, a salad of different chillis in vinegar, pasta and potato salad, cheese bread and pork that had been cooked in the ground (that is what the islanders refer to as BBQ). My favorite dessert was a simple vanilla ice cream coated in fresh coconut.

Then came the entertainment. Local musicians and dancers (as Auntie would call them – the boys and girls). My hips hurt just watching them. Those girls can sure dance.

03 June 2026

A quiet day in Aitutaki. Tried a new place at breakfast for coffee and pastry. Bubbles on the Go had good coffee and freshly made meat pies – my mince and cheese pies was great. We also talked to a couple – Charlie and her boyfriend Angus both Glider instructors from NZ. I saw them at the BBQ. I think she and I are the only gingers on the island.

Just a thought:

When we first got here, I really wasn’t sure what all the excitement and awe was all about. It could have been that I was tired and my foot hurt. But after being here for a week, I’ve found myself doing things I had just put off or put on the back burner at home. I finished reading a book that has been on my Kindle for two years and started another one. I started sketching – just because I could.

Since we left home, we lost a very good friend after a long bout of cancer and two other friends, both suddenly. I think our time here in Aitutaki has told me that we don’t have to race through life. The end will come soon enough. But sometimes, there is time to “just BE”.

Most of you know me well enough that as soon as I get home, I’ll be off again but I’m going to try and remember our time here with thoughts of how life can be savored.

No big dinner tonight. After watching another beautiful sunset. We walked over to WokKai, saw Francis and had a simple meal of chicken wings and chow Mein with prawns.

I'll leave this post with the peacefulness of sunsets.