Aitutaki is home to one of the world's most famous lagoons. Situated among 15 islets, people travel from the world over to visit this gorgeous spot.
→ Check out the reel I made about Aitutaki Lagoon!
The Cook Islands are a self-governing overseas territory of New Zealand located in the south Pacific Ocean. Made up of 15 islands stretching across 236 square kilometres, the Cook Islands are home to 18,000 people.
On my mission to visit and share every country and territory in the world (a total standing at 269), I sometimes end up booking trips to visit some of the world's most remote places and undertaking serious bucket-list worthy adventures.
We are basing ourselves in Australia for a year, traveling around the country in a campervan. Given it's the biggest country in Oceania, it's also the perfect opportunity to visit some of the many islands surrounding it across the Indian and South Pacific Oceans.
I spent six weeks backpacking around Australia back in 2019, one of my first solo adventures and my first on a one-way ticket. During my two years I would end up living down under, mostly based out of New Zealand, I also visited Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Samoa, scratching the surface of these fascinating island nations dotting great expanses of open ocean.
Of the 15 islands in the territory, we visited two: Aitutaki and Rarotonga. These are the most-visited; Aitutaki being famous for its lagoon and Rarotonga being the main island where the international airport is and the majority of Cook Islanders live.
This blog post specifically covers the day tour I did of the Aitutaki Lagoon. I wrote a separate complete guide to visiting Aitutaki which covers how to get there, how to get around, where to stay, where to eat and what to do on the island.
For information on how to get to Aitutaki, check out my complete guide to visiting the island. Below I have outlined the specific information for the Aitutaki Lagoon.
The only way to explore Aitutaki Lagoon is with a guided tour. There are loads of different options, enabling you to choose something that suits your preference for length of tour, group size and boat type.
Staying on Atitutaki: If you are staying on Aitutaki, then you should book a day boat tour. All accommodations can help with booking these as it is the main attraction on the island.
→ Check out all the different types of tours of Aitutaki Lagoon.
I did a day tour with Bishop's Cruises, the tour company partnered with Aitutaki Village, where we stayed. They booked the tour for me at reception, which was very convenient.
Staying on Rarotonga: If you are staying on Rarotonga, then you have the option of doing a day tour to Aitutaki Lagoon which includes a roundtrip flight between the two islands as well as the lagoon boat tour.
Not all boat tours of Aitutaki Lagoon go to the same spots. Most will visit One Foot Island, the most famous spot in the lagoon, and most will include snorkeling stops and lunch.
I did my day tour with Bishop's Cruises. Here is the itinerary we followed and the stops we visited:
Ootu Beach
We departed Ootu Beach in the morning, boarding our covered boat with about 20 other people on board. The boat has a maximum capacity of 35.
Akaiami
Our first stop was the pretty little beach at Akaiami. It is the third-largest island in Aitutaki and also has one place to stay for a proper island escape.
We stopped here for a brief walk along the beach and a chance to take photos of the photogenic palm trees.
Akaiami is probably best known in recent history for being a stopover from the 1950s-60s for TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Limited, the former name of Air New Zealand) flying boats on the Coral Route.
Moturakau
Our second stop was on the volcanic islet of Moturakau. This island is unique to the 15 islets of Aitutaki because it is the only one that is volcanic; the rest are sandy.
We did a short guided hike around Moturakau to see the volcanic landscape and spot the adorable white pirake birds.
It was apparently also once a leper colony and was recently used for two different TV series: the British TV series Shipwrecked in which 16 people were left on an uninhabited island to fend for themselves, and Survivor: Cook Islands which was season 13 in 2006.
A pirake bird
Snorkeling
Our third stop was a snorkeling session off the boat near the famous sand bank of Aitutaki. I don't have an exact Google address for this, but these are the coordinates where we snorkeled. Each boat will have its preferred spot.
There wasn't a ton of coral but there were some gorgeous, bright and very large fish to see!
→ Check out the reel I made about snorkeling in Aitutaki Lagoon!
Sand Bank
After snorkeling, we stopped at the famous sand bank leading off of One Foot Island. There was the option to walk across the sand bank to the island, a super photogenic and unique experience crossing such a vast part of the ocean on a shallow sand.
One Foot Island / Tapuaetai
Our last stop of the day tour was at the most famous island in the Aitutaki Lagoon, One Foot Island. It's real name is Tapuaetai but it is in the shape of a foot, hence its nickname. We had lunch here prepared by the crew and time to wander the island and swim in the calm waters off the beautiful palm tree-lined beach.
Our boat parked at One Foot Island
Our lunch spot
Lunch!
Walking out on the sand bank
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Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
