Aitutaki. You think Rarotonga is laid back until you board Air Raro and fly north over the empty Pacific for a couple hours ...
I thought I'd write a little about the context of these photos, like how in the world I got so lucky as to see this place. If you don't care, scroll down, there are 20 more photos. (Hey, I took 200, so 20 is restrained, right?)
Aitutaki Atoll and Lagoon: a place where the colors intoxicate the soul. I was truly blessed to have a chance to go there in November 2003. The trip actually came together because I had nowhere to live for a month and I balked at renting a condo in Hawaii, where I live, at vacation rental prices. Might as well go somewhere else, and I had always wanted to see at least some of the South Pacific.
These photos start with the plane descending over Aitutaki lagoon, arriving at the crowded airport tense with security concerns, off to a bar (of course) at a place I could not possibly afford to stay but which had a lovely poolside bar.
On the way to the bar we had our first motor scooter wreck, tried to go up a dirt road, hit a huge rut, and over we went, over the side of the road ending up hanging upside down at a sharp angle just shy of a cliff. Yikes!
We still made it to the bar by sunset, a bit scraped. We call my scooter burn scar on my leg my little Aitutaki tattoo. No one rents a car on Aitutaki, everyone rides mopeds, but there are actually lots of mishaps.
The next day we climbed the "mountain" and looked down on the lagoon. Aitutaki is an atoll (flat) and has "mountain envy" of its rival island Rarotonga. Supposedly the Rarotongans ripped off the Aitutaki mountain and left them with a bit of a stump--it's still a good climb in the near-equatorial heat.
The best water is out in the reaches of the lagoon where the motus lie. Motus are islets. These are basically uninhabited, without fresh water or utilities or roads or anything much, except that One Foot Island has a post office. Yes, you go there and get a special postmark.
We took two lagoon cruises and for one day bought a day pass to the other high end resort, a truly pristine and calm spot called Pearl Lagoon Resort. It costs $600 a night to stay there, but only $20 to go for a day and act like a guest ... lol ... some of the pictures are from there.
One of the motus was the site for the BBC reality documentary show called Shipwrecked. They stranded two tribes, men and women, for a really long time, maybe two months, and rolled the cameras. It was a oontest, but the game never ended as it was meant to. The men got bored, bribed a local with a boat and got themselves ferried to the main island to Crushers Bar, where they got shitfaced and totally busted. So the women won the game, but they all got sent home after that. Their pathetic camp is still there, and a calendar marked on a tree.
The Shipwrecked calender and about 40 more pictures are online here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/404916908
if you like these photos, go there and watch the slide show and see the pictures in higher resolution. btw, it's actually tricky to get good pix there because the light is so intense and washes the colors out pretty easily. The expanses of blue and green are pretty abstract ... the colors of the water really are as you see. I did not change the hues, but there's some fun to be had making the scenery psychedelic by playing with the colors.
We went to "Island Night" at Crushers bar to see real Maori dancing (not like a fancy floor show) ... and that will be Pt II. If I get it done.
Kia Orana! 
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We catch sight of the landing strip ... hold on!
This is the main and only terminal. There was no security screening. We felt like we were finally far far away from anywhere.
The Pacific Resort infinity pool. A truly elegant and unpretentious resort ... we stayed down the road.
The lagoon and the Pacific beyond the reef, as seen from Aitutaki summit.
A perfect crescent beach, with no one on it!
A sandbar ... or a nebula
One Foot Island -- the next four shots are from our short stay there.
An arch. Why I know not. Need there be a reason?
As we pull away from shore ... the arch remains, cryptic landmark
A large lagoon cruiser ... they come in various sizes ...
cruising back to the main island, passing motus in a sea of green
Day pass heaven, palms perfectly spaced for hammocks
Pearl Lagoon ... I was going to jump in the water when a huge moray eel swam by and I thought better of it
Shipwrecked was filmed in this western motu region of the lagoon.
one of the few motus volcanic in origin ... most are coral-based
giant clams, while snorkeling off the western motus
striations in sand, water and sky
tidal vestiges leave fingers in the sand
Ah, dazzling One Foot Island, hope to see you again someday.
One (or two) for the road, and it was back to Raro!
I thought the polished wooden bar was exquisitely crafted. I don't chronicle every beer. 
http://community.webshots.com/album/404916908
*to see the other photos, captioned, full screen*
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