Cook Islands Diving
Of the fifteen islands which make up the Cook Islands, 2 are famous for their diving potential. Rarotonga is the primary Cook Islands diving location and at present it has 3 full time diving operators. Aitutaki is found 140 miles north of Rarotonga and has only 1 dive operator. The underwater diving and snorkeling around both islands is high quality, and as the majority of the dive sites are inside ten minutes of the coast there's no wasted traveling time.
Diving in Rarotonga
Rarotonga is enclosed by a coral reef, however it is far more developed on the northerly side of the island. Here you'll find a big variety of reef dwellers and also species like turtles, sharks and Napoleon Wrasse.
The sea life is used to divers being present and it not atypical to be ready to get sufficiently close to take decent pictures. As with the remainder of the island, the sea floor drops strictly just past the reef and the 50m sheer drop is among the top attractions of the northern side.
The southern side of the island has a shallow lagoon and a lot less coral. The lagoon floor is famous for its trench-like passages where sharks, manta rays and turtles dwell in the daytime. These passages need to be reached by ship, however the trip is again only about ten mins long. Just past the little expansion of coral the seafloor plunges in a near-vertical drop which is simply detectable thru the clear waters. As well as the coral reefs and sheer drops, Rarotonga also has 2 ship wrecks that are OK for exploring. These used to be one of the key attractions of Cook Islands diving but a recent storm has left them badly damaged and a little deadly in some areas.
Diving around Aitutaki
Diving around Aitutaki is very like diving around Rarotonga except you get the best of both worlds. Aitutaki has a giant lagoon and numerous tiny islets, all of which are trapped by a prospering coral reef. The diving here offers the sea life of the lagoon and that of the reefs and the impressive drop offs of the sea floor.
Learning to dive in the Cook Islands
Cook Islands diving is ideal for amateurs and the ones that only dive now and then. There are only a few challenging sites and all of the favored dive sites are inside twenty-five meters of the surface. Rarotonga alone has over thirty sites to select from, plenty of which are accessible from the shore. There are 3 full time diving operators on the island of Rarotonga plus some that only work part time. The full time operators all offer trips out to the dive sites and most run underwater diving courses for beginners too. Before being permitted to dive in the sea, divers need to have passed the basic systems certificate while on the island or be ready to prove they're already qualified. If this basic coaching isn't finished then divers aren't permitted to use the company gear for their Cook Islands diving expeditions
Cook Islands diving experience.
Diving expeditions are run year round in nearly any weather. The water temperature round the 2 main islands is always warm - 25C in July rising to about 30C in December before dropping again - and the average visibility is 30-40m though this frequently rises to 90m or even more. The sole weather problems the diving operators ever have is the wind ; however they don't often cancel dives due to it - they just move to a dive site on the opposite side of the island.