Barely 48 hours after touching down, I was on a plane again. Destination Aitutaki, Cook Islands, for a repeat of the trip we took two years ago.

We went with a different tour operator this time, and we were super happy with every aspect of the Ocean Swim Holidays experience. Steve, the owner, is hands-on for every aspect, and was in the water with us every day.

We stayed at Ranginui’s Retreat, which was a little step up from last time, and located closer to restaurants etc. Plus, the boat came to us, instead of having to drive to and from the port.

Again this year, we met a lovely group of NZ and AU swimmers. JP and Debbie were the only other couple from our club.

The colors are unbelievable. The wind blew pretty steadily the whole time, and the water was a bit cool, but still… wonderful.

Again this year, we got to swim with whales. It’s really cool.

There were smaller critters too. The roosters were surprisingly considerate in their crowing.

That’s Avatea Cafe, which claims the best fish tacos in the Pacific. I need to do more research to be absolutely sure, but these were awfully good.

On our last day, we went back to the church to hear the magical singing.

We were joined by a bunch of kids going through some sort of police-led camp experience… kind of an outward bound thing I think.

All in all, a fun trip. It’s a small island, and we feel like we’ve pretty much seen what there is to see now. So, I don’t think I’d go back unless some compelling reason prevented itself. But swim holidays are still fun, especially if we found one with more for the non-swimming partner. Next stop … who knows?