After 5 ½ days at sea we finally reached our first port of call: the lush little gem of an island called Rarotonga, part of the Cook Islands. It was hot and sticky (even Deborah was sweating) but it was so nice to be on terra firma again. The island didn’t have a dock sufficient to handle our behemoth of a vessel so we had to tender ashore, which, after a delayed start, went smoothly with minimal drownings. We walked up to the Saturday Market so Deborah could make her contribution to the local economy and take care of some small gift purchases. She gave most of her business to just one vendor, who in turn rewarded us with a coconut drink straight from the shell. I’ve heard it’s a laxative so we refrained from buying any additional drinks.
We arranged our own circle tour around the island by hopping on the local bus. We stopped at a beautiful beach to swim...well, stand really, in the lagoon. There were little fish circling around us and occasionally startling Deborah. I thought they might give us one of those nibbling pedicures you hear about but apparently they either weren’t that hungry or found our feet too distasteful. The hordes of tourists from our cruise ship nearly overwhelmed the bus system but everyone seemed to make it back on board. Next up is another sea day (just one thankfully) followed by Tahiti.
The market.
