How to get here |
Yachts | Weather
Where in the world...
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. |
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.
This picture shows the position of Rarotonga.
IT IS NOT CURRENT. Go to Monterey to see the latest.
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