2018 Grand World Voyage, Day 22, Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands (Part 2 of 3)

With a little luck on our side we made it into Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands.  Rarotonga is a tricky tender port due to the winds and swells.  The Cook Islands are made up of 15 islands, spread over an area of over half a million square miles of ocean. Rarotonga is the main island in the Southern Group of the Cook Islands. Rarotonga’s peaks are high and fertile and most of the 18,500 inhabitants of the Southern Group live there. The highlight of this trip to Rarotonga was our light aircraft flight around the island...it was a great day to fly, weather and scenery wise. I have been to Rarotonga a number of times and have always wanted to see it from the air.  Air Rarotonga split our original flight for 3 people into two flights so I chose to fly twice, the first flight with Cathy and the second flight with Ann...each flight with our pilot Rob around the island was 30 minutes of spectacular scenery...from the inland valleys, plantations, emerald green motus, turquoise lagoon, reef and to the blue Pacific Ocean to see the ship.  In 2016, I made the cross island trek through the Avaitiu Valley and climbed Te Rua Manga (The Needle)... today, I was seeing the Valley and the Needle from a different view...such a magnificent site!  After the flight we did a bit of shopping and used some Wi-Fi...it was a stellar day in Rarotonga! Tendering was at times difficult today but the staff under the direction of the Hotel Director, Henk Mensink did a tremendous job getting passengers on and off the ship safely.  I was in photo heaven today so there are 3 parts to the blog....