Day 23 – Feb 6 – Cooks Island

We visited Cooks Island today.

We had heard from others who had been here before that most of the time the ship is not able to let people off. There is no dock, so people have to be ferried in on tender boats. This is usually okay, but if the seas are rough, it can be difficult. In Easter Island we tendered in, and the sea was rough enough that the tender boat moved up and down about 2 feet relative to the ship as we stepped in, so it was slow and you had to be careful.

I saw the captain last night and ask him if he thought we’d be able to get in. He said he expected we would but he explained the problem. The docking area is located such that there is a strong current that moves upward in that area. This creates swells in the sea. Further, the sea floor drops off so quickly, the sea bottom is about 300 meters deep as close as the ship can get to shore. This means the ship cannot use its anchor. It must actively maneuver the entire time at port.

We were able to get to shore okay. The ship had to fight for the full 8 or 10 hours to stay relatively stationary. The tender was rocky but not as bad as Easter Island.

We took a four-wheel drive jeep tour of the island. Nice views, but a rough ride. The dirt road up the mountains had ruts about 18 inches deep by 18 inches wide. At one point we were on about a 30 degree vertical incline and the 4x4 had to stop. He “lost” a bolt and now it was only a 2-wheel drive vehicle! We got out and walked to the top then had to trek back down—quite an adventure.

Kathleen bought a nice black pearl. It is 14 mm in diameter, is very spherical, and has an interesting green and gold color. (I hadn’t planned on buying one—but it was beautiful!).