Aitutaki


Arutanga Church
Photo by: tensaibuta, Creative Commons

The Aitutaki Cook Island is considered as Cook Island’s jeweled lagoon. Aitutaki offers a very beautiful tropical environment and a very popular tourist destination. Aitutaki has similar longitude and latitude as Hawaii except that it is located south of the equator and not north. A triangular shaped island rising from 4000 meters beneath the Pacific Ocean floor, the island of Aitutaki is consists of 12 coral islets or ‘motu’ and three inactive volcanoes.

It was first believed that the first settlers who discovered this island came during the Great Polynesian migration around 800 AD, two centuries after that the great chiefs from Samoa met and agreed on a pact forces at sea to conquer its surrounding inhabitants. Today Aitutaki is now a very popular tourist destination.

The life in Aitutaki Cook Island is very easy and moves at a wonderfully relaxing tempo. The beautiful lagoons in the island can be accessed using traditional outrigger canoes or by using paddled boats. Its ‘motu’ or coral islets located outside the perimeter of the lagoon offer a very romantic place to stay during sunset. It is also a wonderful landing place for a days cruise. The most visited islets are Akaiaimi and One Foot Island.

The people that reside in Aitutaki Cook Island are very hospitable and naturally friendly. Their generosity is spontaneous and warm, and shares a genuine concern for others and to their old traditions mostly through song and dance. The climate here is very relaxing and warm. June to August marks the cooler months, whilst November to March is normally the wet season.

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