Honeymoon Travel Log - Day 7; Pt. 2

Day 7, Pt. 2

Once we got over the initial shock of jumping into the water, we put on our gear and went out on a fish and clam finding mission. The water depth in Aitutaki lagoon varies from only a couple of feet up to 30 feet of water. At our stop we saw water up to about 15 feet deep. Since neither Meghann nor I are very good swimmers (even with snorkeling equipment on), we were a little intimidated.

No matter though, as soon as we jumped in the water we immediately saw a school of fish and all fear was forgotten. As we moved further out and braved some of the deeper water we eventually got separated. Those were the only 5 minutes of the trip I didn't particularly care for. It turned out that Meghann had gotten a lot of water in her mask and had swum back to shallow water to take care of it. In the mean time though I was frantically searching the reefs and deeps to try and see if she was in trouble. Thankfully all was fine. After that scare we decided to give the deeper water another go and were rewarded by finding the giant clam. Apparently there is a clam in the lagoon somewhere that is as wide as a person is tall. We didn't stop there, but this one was plenty big enough at ~ 3' long.


The snorkeling couldn't last all day though, eventually Phil blew the horn and it was time to return to the boat for some lunch and a boat ride to our final destination for the day, "One Foot Island". One Foot Island is adjacent to the island used for the castaways on the Survivor Cook Islands show in 2006. Like all of the motu, the island was covered with coconut trees and surrounded by white sand beaches. Here we were free to wander the beach for a couple of hours, do some more snorkeling and get our passports stamped with a big foot signifying our journey to the island.

At 4:00 Phil again blew the horn letting us know it was time to load up on the boat and head back to the main island and the airport. We took a different smaller boat back, but it was still comfy and we got enjoy a show of sarong tying and wisecracking by Phil before we got back to the bus. When we got to the airport, Phil hooked us up with boarding passes and we hopped on the plane back to Rarotonga. We were a bit sad to leave because Aitutaki was so beautiful, but on the other hand it was good to leave and go back to the main island where there was more to do without a guide. That way we'll always remember what a great trip it was. After a quick dinner we both faded fast. The early morning and intense sun that day really sapped our energy and we were in bed and fast asleep by 10:00.