Cruise The World With Us

Tuesday – February 25, 2025

Today we anchored outside our first atoll. An atoll is a ring shaped coral reef with islands and a lagoon inside the ring. This atoll was used during World War II as one of the stepping stones in the Pacific for materiel coming from Hawaii. The lagoon made it easier for amphibious aircraft to land because the water within the ring was calm and shallow. In today’s media you will find several photos taken at the Aitutaki Airport showing how this area played that role in World War II.

There is no port large enough for our ship to dock nor was there a channel wide and deep enough for us to transit to shore. So tenders were used as we have at several other ports. When the tender reaches the coral ring the water calms markedly. When returning to the ship the tender rises and falls up to four feet making it tricky to disembark. So there were plenty of Magnifica staff to help us as we boarded and left the tenders.

The population of Aitutaki (pronounced as eye-2-tock-e) is less than 2,000 and the major source of income is tourism. Our tour guide/driver today was Kim. I forgot to get a photo of her. She has a partner and a son and I’m guessing in her 30’s. She spent time in New Zealand after high school but returned to be near family. As we drove you got the impression that everyone on the island knows everyone else. As she drove we heard personal stories about the areas we would be visiting which made it a nice ride. She also happened to be a good driver so the ride was comfortable – we were in a van which held 15 and it was packed.

Kim told us a couple unusual-to-us items about Aitutaki. The island is ruled by a king or queen who are crowned through lineage. Only the royalty and ministers are buried in a cemetery behind the main church at the city center – all others are buried in plots on the grounds of individual families. In the videos you will see burial slabs in many of the yards of the houses. There are no dogs on the islands. The story behind that is that long ago the king’s child was attached and killed by a wild dog. In reaction the king had all dogs on the island killed and forbid any to be brought to the island in the future. Chickens are everywhere. People have plots to grow their own bananas, coconuts and taro (starch like a potato but doesn’t taste like one).

There were not, in my opinion, attractions on the island for lots of still photography so I took many videos clips as we were driving around. In many of them you can hear Kim’s comments. I’ve tried to label each clip with what will be shown or explained. One of my favorite comments from Kim had to do with her pig. Many families raise pigs that are slaughtered for Christmas dinner. Kim had two such pigs – a sow and the sow’s brother. When it came time to ready the pigs for Christmas, they couldn’t kill them. That was two years ago. Both pigs have continued to grow and now are quite large. Kim said many times the pigs eat better than her. You’ll find stills of the two pigs in the media – you might have to enlarge the phots to see them but both are relaxing (sleeping) under foliage.

One of the first places to which we drove was a point where we could observe an island named “One Foot Island”. It got its name from an event that took place years ago. A father and son were fishing in an area that was to be reserved for royalty. The penalty for doing this was death. Someone told the king about the fishermen so he sent warriors to kill both father and son. The two of them took a canoe to an island and when they arrived the father told the son to walk in his footsteps so it would appear only one person was there. When they reached the trees the father instructed the son to climb up and not to come down until after the warriors left. The son did as he was told – saw the warriors arrive, confront and kill his father and leave the island. The son climbed down and escaped. Once people discovered what happened to the son the island was named “One Foot Island”.

Our next destination was a raised lookout. Along the way we drove through the only banyan tree on the islands of this lagoon. Banyan trees can grow to be quite massive. This tree was over 100 years old and was of decent size. Kelsey got a photo of a part of the trunk and it is included in the media.

We drove through an area called “Hollywood”. It was so-named during World War II because any famous Americans came there and the military personnel hung out in the area during R & R.

After Hollywood we saw the area Kim called government grounds. They have a sizable solar cell array which provides 70% of the electrical power for the island (30% from a petrol powered generator). This area also housed most of the heavy equipment needed to “run” the island.

Next was the elementary and high school area. Kids were not in school today because there was a celebration to take place in the main area of town in mid-morning.

We arrived at the lookout point and had a nice view of the area – even saw our ship on the way up and back. It was far enough away that we didn’t get any decent photos. But we did get some nice pictures with a portion of the reef and lagoon in the background (plus, of course, a selfie).

On the way down from the lookout we drove around the original runway used during World War II. It is no longer in use because the island doesn’t have the resources to maintain it along with the main airport runway. After the runway Kim announced that we were driving by her house and she pointed out her two pigs lying in the shade.

Next we drove through the Aitutaki golf course. It has nine holes, is open Thursday and Saturday each week, has no trees and a yearly membership of $100 NZ (New Zealand – about 1.7 New Zealand dollars per US dollar). The golf course is next to the airport where we stopped for a few minutes. There are no planes permanent to the island. They have around 10 flights per day during busy season and 5 per day in the off season. Busy season is May through November when people from New Zealand vacation here.

At the airport we found information about Aitutaki’s contribution to U.S. efforts in World War II. There are still photos of some of those posters. I was hoping we might see a plane land because a group of tourists arrived just before us with suitcases and it looked like they would be flying out. No such luck.

We boarded the van and took a short drive to a beach near the airport. It looked as though many Magnifica passengers were already there and enjoying the sand and water. We could tell they were from the ship because each had a bright orange towel which the ship provides (and you don’t want to loose unless you want to part with $30). Kelsey and I took some photos of the beach area and while there found one of the members of our dinner group – Kelly – in the water. I included a photo of her.

After leaving the beach we headed for the dock. Along the way Kim pointed out the highest point on the island. There are no roads to the top but you can walk up a fairly steep hill. The high point is about 400 feet above sea level. She said she hadn’t been up there for over 10 years and didn’t know if it has changed over that time.

We arrived at the dock, said goodbye to Kim and boarded a tender for the ship. I took video of the entire journey (about 10 minutes broken into two parts) so you could see the change in water color as you travel through and outside the lagoon. There is also video showing the rising and falling of the tender as people were helped off.

We returned in time for lunch in the restaurant (lunch is served 12:00 to 1:30). There were a couple items the girls wanted photographed and they are included in the media. During the afternoon I took several photos and videos of the waters around the island and the tenders as they were coming and going all day.

It was hot during the time we were in the van and the sun. I think we all took naps in the afternoon then got ready for dinner (more food photos). Following dinner I was able to get a time lapse of the said away and some coloring from the sunset but the ship was headed into the sun so I couldn’t get the sunset itself.

Tonight’s entertainment was a group of seven musicians named Viva Napoli. They performed songs in Italian so I don’t know what was being sung but they did it with enthusiasm.

You’ll find the video and photos from today here.