Monday, July 2: Out on the water

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Today we participated in our first (and probably only) official tour. Long story short, we were disappointed.

The premise: take a glass bottom boat out to the reef for snorkeling, then go to a small island for a meal of fresh fish and information about the local culture and traditions, and then back to shore.
Heading out to the reef

It could have been so amazing, but no. Maybe the best part of the trip is that it is prompting us to think how we can approximate what we were hoping for in other ways.

1) Glass bottom boat. A glass bottom boat is only cool if you actually go places that are interesting to look at. With the speed we traveled out to the reef, it was impossible to see anything more than bubbles. Then the boat got parked in a place were only a rare fish swam underneath.

Nothing to be seen through the glass bottom boat
2) Snorkeling. Today was my turn to snorkel since SOS went snorkeling the other day and CutieBabyBoy is still uncertain about getting into the biggest bathtub he has ever seen. I saw some cool fish, but not nearly the quantity SOS raved about the other day. Plus we hadn't been told how long we were going to be out there so I kept worrying that I was going to get too far from the boat and then have to rush myself to get back without everyone eyeing me.

3) The small island was kind of fun, but we had not anticipated the wait time between arriving and eating. Keeping a tired boy entertained and the general lack of shade did not make for a restful wait as they had suggested.  Believe me, being stranded on a tropical island, even if you are provided with food, fresh water, and "environmentally friendly" toilets, is not all it is cracked up to be.
On the island with no shade

4) Meal of Fresh Fish. Meh. We've had amazing fish while here. This was not it. With the exception of fruit, the side dishes added nothing. This, by far, is the worst food we've had prepared for us on the island. TiredBabyBoy perhaps didn't help a great deal when he threw sand on SOS's plate. For clean up, we were all told to scrape our plates and then rinse them in the lagoon. Why does that make me feel uncomfortable?

TiredBabyBoy playing in the spot where everyone later rinsed their dishes.
5) Information about Local Culture. We did appreciate the coconut husking demonstration and the drum rhythms, but the sarong-tying lessons and general talk was riddled with crudities and sexual innuendo. Billed as a family event, instead a number of families sent their young kids off to the beach to play rather than stick around.
Local drum rhythms by our tour guides

All in all, totally not worth the money we paid. This also makes us rethink the other organized touristy things that we had half toyed with. If this one received such rave reviews and was so disappointing, dare we try the others?

But we have decided that we need to get back on the water in some sort of boat, and we need to go snorkeling again. Fortunately we still have a few more days to do so.

Comments

Anonymous said…
if you're still interested in 'local culture', let me know. my supervisor's most recent research is based in the cook islands. -otheous
7:46 AM
slowlane said…
I think all good academics should come up with at least one project that requires research in the Cook Islands. It's tough work, but somebody's got to do it. :)
9:02 AM
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