Suggestion on what to do in Rarotonga?

I have never been to Rarotonga before. :)

I was wondering for these who have been there, What did you do there??

We are only there for the day :(

I have never been to Rarotonga before. :)

I was wondering for these who have been there, What did you do there??

 

We are only there for the day :(

Hi,

Are you cruising, if so what Cruise Ship and the date.

Zac

We have been to Rarotonga a couple of times. You can catch a bus to ride around the island. From memory, the circuit is 64km. A better way to see the place is to hire a car, then you can stop off whenever you want, although you will probably be surprised how quickly you get back to where you started.

We have called there twice . There is really only the one road which circles the Island. First time we took a bus to Muri Lagoon beach and had a beach day. Second time they started running the tenders ashore ,but then the sea got up and the tenders going ashore were cancelled . It was touch and go getting those who had gone early back to the ship . They got thrown around and one of tenders got a smashed door and window. There is no sheltered anchorage so the ships have to anchor in open sea.

We have been twice. First time on the Pacific Dawn, hired a car and took our time circling the island.

Second time, on Dawn Princess we couldnt anchor, so circled the island by ship and did a drive by;p

Apparently not many ships can anchor as the sand moves and is not stable.

Good luck and I hope you get ashore, it is such a lovely place that we have wanted to go back for a land holiday, just havent made it yet!

Best places for snorkeling within the reef: Fruits of Rarotonga hands down, Black Rock if you are not a confident swimmer and Aroa Beach for a decent snorkelling/swimming combo. If you go to the correct places you will see fish up to a meter long along with schools of hundreds of fish in as little as 1 meter depth. The snorkelling in Raro is truly incredible and is one of the main reasons I keep going back. Within the reef the water is up to 3, maybe 4 meters deep depending on tide, outside the reef the water drops to 4.5km deep. Stay away from the edge of the reef unless you are doing professional diving or similar.

Best Place for swimming (i.e. no rocks): Muri - don't swim if it has been raining a lot as there is a lot of runoff off the island, also Aroa Beach as above.

Do not go to Raro without reef shoes - Stonefish in the water will kill you if you step on them barefoot (rare but does happen, seen one). and the coral will cut you up. If you hit coral put antiseptic on the wound within one hour - salt water will not help and the wound will get infected.

Do not swim near the inlets, its incredibly dangerous.

Otherwise raro is a super safe and amazing place to snorkel.

Hi,

Are you cruising, if so what Cruise Ship and the date.

Zac

Yes, i am cruising :), on the Maasdam in October 2018.