Cook Islands

Overview

The Cook Islands were once part of NZ, but are now in “free association” with NZ — meaning residents can come and go to NZ as they wish, and they share a currency, but by and large it’s its own country (there are recent disputes that the Cooks made some form of trade agreement with China without, to the NZ government, sufficient communication). They are sorta kinda on the way back from NZ — you can fly Auckland to Rarotonga (the largest island in the Cooks), then at this writing once a week fly Rarotonga to Honolulu without backtracking the 4 hours to Auckland.

Tiffany had in a previous life been to Rarotanga in the late ‘90s. She had always wanted to go to a more-remote secondary island called Aitutaki. We spent 4 nights there and loved it. It’s very sleepy, but the lagoon in the center of the island is … about the most gorgeous spot on earth we’ve seen. There are a bunch of boat vendors, not sure ours was the best, but they all go to the same spots, a few snorkeling spots and a few islands that are just spectacular — straight from a Windows NT background. Some people do a day trip from Rarotonga, but we were glad to spend the evenings here, and just enjoy the sleepiness. There are 1800 residents according to the internet, and it feels it — super empty. Our resort — the Pacific Resort — was gorgeous.

Rarotonga was nice, but a bit of a disappointment. TIffany had been to the Pacific Resort (yes, same chain) in Rarotonga, and 25 years ago there was an incredible reef right outside the resort. Sadly, evidently due to chemical outflow from nearby farms … the reef is completely gone in 2025, which was super sad to see. The Aroa Lagoon Marine Reserve next to the Rarotongan Beach Resort was a quite different experience — we felt sorta bad walking right through the hotel lobby to get to their lagoon (you can also get in from a nearby park). The first 50 yards or so from the beach were sad, lots of dead coral just as you anticipate from too many tourists, but if you just make a small bit of work to get a bit further out, it was the best beach snorkel of our lives, just amazing variety and super accessible.