This photo shows the Quest anchored outside the reef at Aitutaki. This fact of life means that many boats opt to visit other islands and those that do visit Aitutaki are constantly aware of the weather - making sure the wind doesn't shift and put your home onto the reef. The small pass (on the left of the photo) is adequate for your dinghy and also for shallow draft vessels. We had tried to anchor here in 2005, but north west winds and swell made the area impossible. 

The lagoon around Aitutaki is spectacular. It is certainly a diving destination. While we were there episodes of  "Survivor" were being filmed on the islands, creating a lot of employment for locals, but limiting the activities of the tourists.

While walking along the main road in Aitutaki we found the main travel agent for Air Rarotonga (right).

We like this photo because it shows some typical scenes: The covered tank on the right is a water collection and storage system. the cover collects water, keeps the tank cool, provides a place to hang laundry in case of rain and a table for eating outside under the cool cover. In the front yard are the graves of departed relatives - a common sight across the South Pacific. The neatly trimmed front yard is also common and in some communities you can be fined if your yard is not "clean." Our guide in Aitutaki had a side business of mowing lawns.

The main Church in the Cook Islands is the Cook Island Christian Church (handed down from the London Missionary Society). Our guide was a youth leader in the Church and gave us a little musical treat when we came into the main sanctuary.

Our guide took us up into the hills where roads were both paved and dirt. The main form of transportation for the local people was motor bikes.

It was fun to get up into the hills and see some of the rural living. Animals don't actually run free on this island like they do on many of the South Pacific islands. This can be a real health hazard on some of the smaller atolls.

This beautiful scene (left) shows some of the resorts on the island. Beautiful, don't you think!

Hope you're not tired of these "typical scenes," (right) but I always like to get a flavor of a place, and I think this gives you that: brightly painted house with porch and sun shades, nice lawn with hedges (which often start by just putting sticks into the ground and they sprout all by themselves - we saw this across the Pacific from Central America to Fiji), a satellite dish and other modern accoutrements.