| Cook Islands are self-governed, but in a free association with New Zealand. There are 15 islands in Cooc Islands, and Rarotonga is the largest. The citizens are automatically given New Zealand citizenship. |  |
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Rarotonga is very reminiscent of Tahiti & The Society Island, but lack the warm lagoon off the beaches. Long most of the coast are coral reefs directly off the beach. Just south of the island has a kind of lagoon, but it is the reason why we get into the boat. Anchoring is therefore outside the reef - in fairly deep water. This is not ideal, and the only thing that could resemble a port was closed for drainage when we visited. It was therefore a fairly rough meeting with Rarotonga. It is also winter in the time we were on the island, and it was actually pretty cool. Rarotonga is located as far south as the 22 degree south, and it shows. Night temperature falls below 20 degrees, and we had to find the blankets again! |
After the great sunamien that ravaged including the Pacific in 2004 has received notification and emergency response focus. Rarotonga dropped slightly from the time, but had a powerful sunami in 2008. It is set up trails everywhere, so everyone should be able to reach safety.
The conditions for diving were fantastic. We could dive straight from the boat, and visibility was about 40 meters - completely transparent water! This beauty - a Giant Trigger - was pretty close. They are very teritoriale and can be quite aggressive. |
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Oscar has found a White Tip Reef Shark. They are not so large, and is most looking for sleeping during the day. Maximum length is 1.8 meters. This was about the length. This shark is normally harmless to divers. It is at night it is active, and when it is an aggressive shark hunting for fish on the coral reef. Nor when it is threatening to divers, but the risk of being mistaken for a fish is significantly greater when it is dark. |
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Giant trigger - teritorial and completely fearless. |