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CooksInfo - General

WEEK ENDING  Wednesday 5 December 2007

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How to get here | Yachts | Weather

Where in the world...

Map of the Pacific showing the Cook Islansd and air links

Fly due south from Hawaii for about six hours and you should reach the Cook Islands which are the mirror image of Hawaii south of the equator (in terms of position if not size).

The fifteen islands and atolls form a sprinkling of land within two million square kilometres of the South Pacific Ocean.

To the east Tahiti is about an hour's flying away  Our nearest neighbours to the west are Samoa and Nuie but with no direct air link it takes a lot of travelling to reach them, usually via New Zealand.

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How to get here

Once upon a time the Cook Islands had its own international airline! Not surprisingly for a country with less than 20,000 inhabitants most of whom live on Rarotonga, an island 32km around, Cook Islands International did not survive for long. In the past we have also had services from Polynesian Airlines, Air Nauru, Hawaiian Air and Canada 3000. At the moment Aloha Airlines and Air New Zealand operate the international flights in and out of Rarotonga.

Air New Zealand Currently have eleven planes a week connecting Rarotonga with Auckland, Papeete, Los Angeles and Nadi.

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Yachts

Anchoring down at the Avatiu Harbour in Rarotonga will cost an average sized yacht NZ$5 a day with larger sized yachts (eg twenty metre) $10 a day. commented that with the fee, guests will have access to hot showers and toilet facilities located at the Ports Authority building, a washing machine and drier including fresh water on the wharf and rubbish collector bins.
The Harbour Master is Don Silk
Although there is no chandlery, CITC hardware store, which overlooks the harbour, has a range of ropes and marine paint.

most yachts anchor in Avarua harbour

Avarua Harbour is popular with yachtsmen from the end of April until October - outside the cyclone season.

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Weather

The Cook Islands does not have a long range weather forecast. We get daily forecasts from Fiji. Generally speaking the long range forecast is fine and sunny with definitely no snow.
'Winter' is the dry season - from April to November - when daily temperatures are up to 26C but it can drop to less than 20C at night. (On really cold nights it can get as low as 14C.) In the wet season, from December to March, daily temperatures can rise to 28C or more. On Rarotonga we judge how hot the weather is by checking how much the tar seal on the roads has melted!
The hurricane (tropical cyclone) season runs from November to April but fortunately cyclones are not common.

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Weather links
Check how much cloud cover there is over the South Pacific at the Naval Research Lab, Marine Meteorology Division, Monterey, CA.

Naval Research Lab at Monterey has southern hemisphere weather photos
This picture shows the position of Rarotonga.
IT IS NOT CURRENT. Go to Monterey to see the latest.

The Weather Underground has daily forecasts for places all over the world, including Rarotonga.

Check today's weather in Rarotonga at The Weather Underground
Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Click here for forecast

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