Place · Cook Islands

Aitutaki

A 50-minute flight from Rarotonga to one of the most extraordinary lagoons in the South Pacific.

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Cook Islands Dispatch: A Birthday Escape to Aitutaki

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Dispatch · AitutakiAitutaki

Cook Islands Dispatch: A Birthday Escape to Aitutaki

I surprised Noah with a birthday weekend on Aitutaki — a private motu, a lagoon the color of nothing I've seen before, and one big mistake: we only booked a long weekend.

Stills

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31 Jan

Palms leaning out over the lagoon

31 Jan

The sand track through the palms

31 Jan

Out on the sandbank at low tide

31 Jan

The coast from the air, coming in

31 Jan

The overwater bungalows along the lagoon

31 Jan

A single palm over the shallows

31 Jan

Palms, loungers, and a hammock

31 Jan

The bungalows seen from the water