Rarotonga, Cook Islands Trip

At the end of August, Katie & I and Nathan & Megan flew down to Rarotonga for a 5 day surf/business trip. A friend of ours from High School is opening a small Bungalow style lodge there and we're working with him to create the brand and build a website. So obviously we had to check out the place in person to get a real feel for what we'd be working with. . . :)
The Cooks are located in the South Pacific, southwest of Tahiti and southeast of Tonga/Samoa. Needless to say the island is beyond beautiful. Perfect, empty white sand beaches, tons of sea life, crystal clear water, lush mountains, really friendly people, etc, etc. Definitely a unique place to go. The waves were really crazy - some of the beast waves I've ever seen in person and some of the scariest as well. The breaks were all really shallow, with really sharp live coral and urchins lurking right beneath the surface. Words actually don't do it justice - surfing there is on a whole different level. I think if we were there longer I probably would have gotten a little more accustomed to it. It was more of an eye-opening experience than a real surf trip as far as the waves were concerned. Anyways, we had a blast with Nathan and Megan and Aaron Anderson & Brett Meyer who were staying there - thanks for the great hospitality! So here are a bunch of pictures:

This is a view of the landscape


Here are some local dancers


These are the bungalows we stayed in, as viewed from the reef pass


Empty beach right out front of our place


Nice little sea snake swimming out on the reef


Here are some pictures of the surfing -
Most of these spots were accessed by walking out through the urchins on the dry reef and punching through to the outside, or paddling out the reef pass and coming straight in on the dry reef when exiting the water. . . dicey. . . :)





This is Nathan, paddling out about a mile to the barrier reef and then punching through the 8-12 foot sets, breaking over dry reef. I watched from the beach. . .







Here we are at a little waterfall





Scooter is the main mode of transportation. It takes about 45 minutes to ride around the whole island. There about 15 islands in the Cooks, Rarotonga being the main one.