There were no tours scheduled for Raratonga. The ship anchored off Avarua, and the seas were high. It took a while to get the tenders lowered and operational, and it was obvious that the ride would be a wild one. I took a video of a tender starting out for shore and happened to catch a second one coming back to the ship. Just as they drew even with each other, a wave came right over the top of the one coming back (see picture). It was clear proof that the trip would be exciting. While I was still filming, the cruise director came on the ship's loudspeaker to announce that the ride was very rough and the captain had decided that only "very agile" passengers with no mobility problems would be allowed to go ashore. David decided he did not feel agile, but I thought it would be great fun, so I went ashore alone.

Getting aboard the tender was the first challenge . The tender and the loading platform were executing an interesting dance where they moved up and down about three feet in relation to each other, and you had to time the point in the dance where they were close enough together to have a chance to make the transition without injury. The crewmen were timing it and would almost throw you into the tender at the right time. But they were very good, and no one fell. Of course, we were all very agile.

Avarua has a breakwater, so once the tender made it behind the breakwater the sea was very calm, and debarkation was pretty tame after the excitement of getting on. It was a Sunday, so most shops and the native markets were not open, but there were vendors near the harbor, and I was able to buy more pareos. I did not find postcards, so there will be no postcards from the Cook Islands – sorry. I walked around the town and down by the seashore for a while, taking pictures of the things that caught my eye. Like all the Polynesian islands, Raratonga has lots of beautiful flowers. There were some interesting houses, and a large stone sculpture of what looks like a very stylized ancient chief (or some such – I have no idea what it really is).

There is evidence of British heritage: they drive on the left and the yield signs say “give way” instead of “yield”. There is a very impressive set of mountains, and the fishing boats are gaily painted. After a couple of hours of wandering around, I went back to the harbor and boarded the tender for another exciting ride. I was not disappointed: it had all the moves of a bucking bronco. I sat in the front and shot another video of the view from inside the tender. It is probably of no interest to anyone but myself, but to me it is a very good reminder of a very challenging ride.